For my boyfriend's 50th birthday in February, we are thinking about visiting Texas for a week. We'd like to visit San Antonio and Austin, and Corpus Christi is a must (USS Lexington). Of course, I've always wanted to go to Dallas...

Anyway, here's my plan so far. Fly from Chicago to Dallas, and then spend the week wending our way to Corpus Christi for a flight home from there.

Does this sound doable in one week (Sat-Sat)? Any suggestions?

PS I'm salivating at the chance to do some trip planning!!!!!

Why don't you fly to Houston instead of Dallas? If you come at the end of February, the Livestock Show and Rodeo will be going on--always good entertainment, although some shows get sold out fast. The drive to Austin, etc., is much shorter, and you could end up back in Houston for the flight home. I've lived in both Dallas and Houston, and far prefer the latter.

The Lexington is neat, I enjoyed it.

usslexington.com

Of course there are small beachfront hotels all around it, and I forget the name of the 'city' across the bay to the east of it, but it's worth a look also.

You can keep SA, but that's just my opinion.

A week sounds doable to me. Not knowing what you want to do in each city, with the exception of Corpus Christi, your week could look something like this...

Sat-Mon, Dallas
Mon-Tues, Austin
Wed-Thur, San Antonio
Fri-Sat, Corpus

The longest drive is between Dallas and Austin and that is only, I'm guessing here, 3-4 hours. It's about a five hour drive for us to Dallas from S.A.. Depending on where you're going in S.A. (downtown?), Austin is about an hour or so away. The drive between S.A. and Corpus is a little over two hours.

I've made it from Austin to Dallas in about 3 hours or so depending on traffic and road construction, but if you're not wanting to just drive straight thru (the drive is incredibly dull - nothing to look at except cow pastures), there's several small sites to see on the way thru. Waco has a few small museums (TX Rangers, Dr Pepper, etc), Salado has some great antique shopping, West has the best kolaches... Not sure what kind of sites you want to see, but I'd recommend the Bullock museum in Austin, the botanical gardens in San Antonio, and of course the Alamo, and the market place.

Don't forget Billy Bob's Honky Tonk in Ft. Worth. Well worth the stop!

I lived in Dallas for 25 years and seriously think you should visit Ft. Worth.
I cannot imagine living in Houston, lol.
M (SMdA, Gto., MX)

Fort Worth really has more to see than Dallas-wonderful museums in the Kimbell, Amon Carter and Modern Art, as well as Billy Bob's in the Stockyards, etc. Of course, shopping is king in Dallas, especially at Northpark. As mentioned, Waco has a number of very nice small museums, especially at Baylor, the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame, and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. There is also a warehouse district full of unique shops and restaurants near downtown Waco. The Texas State History Museum (Bob Bullock) in Austin, as well as Sixth Street would be fun. San Antonio is wonderful-stay on the Riverwalk and eat and shop...see the Alamo. San Antonio is uniquely Texas.

With all due respect to our friends in Dallas, I agree that Ft. Worth is better. But having said that, I found Dealy Plaza and the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas to be fascinating. If you are a history buff you will know this pertains to the assination of JFK. So IMO this is the biggest don't-miss in Dallas, otherwise my favorite parts of the DFW area are in FW.

You must go to Bourdro's in San Antonio. It is my favorite restaurant on the Riverwalk. Be sure to have a mojito or a prickly pear margarita. Don't eat too much guacamole because you will want to have the brownie with two decadent flavors of ice cream for dessert.

(Yea, brownie... doesn't sound so exciting... but it really is!)

Thank you to everyone for your replies. I'm sure I'll have more questions as time passes....

Why,if I may be so bold, does your boyfriend wish to spend his birthday in Texas?
I sense your wishes in your post, but what does he want to do?

I second logandog's question...what is it you are looking to do? From the suggestions here, it's obvious that there are a number of things available (especially if the entire state is at your disposal).

With all due respect to my FW friends, The JFK museum is not the only thing Dallas has to offer (although I do admit FW has some great museums). There is also the Dallas World Aquarium (which is one of the best I've ever visited anywhere). Dallas Museum of Art (doesn't quite compare to the Modern in FW though). Nasher sculpture garden (awesome).

Another thing to note is that February is sometimes kind of a cold and dreary time, at least in north Texas, so be prepared for that.

Anyway, if you could tell us more about your interests, you'd probably get more targeted advice.

Good Luck!

My boyfriend's father passed away about two years ago. Said father was stationed on the USS Lexington during WWII.

So that is the "highlight" of the trip for B/F, but we want to work in other things and of course celebrate his big birthday.

Our interests are historical. For example, we'll visit the Capitol in Austin

If that's the case, if you make it to Dallas, dealy plaza & the 6th floor museum is a must. They do such a wonderful job setting the stage & mood for the terrible event that happened. I wasn't born at the time, and I really got the feeling like I was there experiencing it as everyone else did on that day. After visiting, go see the JFK memorial next to the old courthouse. Very powerful. It stinks that Dallas is "famous" for that kind of a morbid incident (at least they have the show to fall back on), but they've managed to present a fitting memorial worthy of JFK's short legacy.