Where should I take my parents for a TX vacation?

[everdreaming]

My parents are coming for the holidays and now that I finally confirmed I won't have to work during the 6 days that they're here, we're talking about driving somewhere.... we just haven't figured out where to go.

I love Austin, but generally go for music and shopping (not sure I can occupy my parents that way for 6 days! lol!). We all been to San Antonio separately but would go again and we've also mentioned Corpus/S. Padre as a possibility. As a non-native, I'm not too familiar with the rest of the state and don't know what our best bet is for finding interesting stuff to do for several days regardless of weather.

Any thoughts? Are there other places we should look at (that aren't too far of a drive from Houston)?

[Cope]

There should be a couple of days worth of fun there.

http://www.fortworth.com/

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

What about Jefferson over in far East Tx, a lot of historic stuff to see, B+B's to stay at and I'm sure the town is decorated for Christmas. So head up to Jefferson from Houston then head over to Austin then jump a bit west and south to the Hill Country-even the drive can be nice- then back into San Antonio then south and then east to Houston. You can easily go through 6 days covering those cities.
So Hwy 59 to Nacogdoches then over on 7 to 96 which will put you through Marshall which is always decorated nice then up to Jefferson. This puts you on the edge of the historic East Texas oil field and in the Piney Woods.
Then from Jefferson decide if you want to cover Dallas or not if so go through Longview and catch I-20 into Dallas otherwise head through Longview then Kilgore (nice oil museum there about the East Texas oil fields and also home of the Kilgore Rangerettes Drill Team-they also have a museum) and then head down to Waco (Dr Pepper Museum-Texas Rangers Museum -One Riot One Ranger) and then from there go south on I-35 to Austin.
For that true Hill Country fealing head over to Kerrville out of Austin taking 290 through Fredricksburg- Admiral Nimitz WWII Museum is very nice there, the town is an old German town and there is a peace tree in the town center that represents the peaceful co-existance of the locals with the regional Indians back when many of Texas cities were under constant raids. Hwy 16 from Fredricksburg to Kerrville and into San Antonio is a very pretty drive with lots of views of the Hill Country.

[Cope]

Don't forget NASA if they haven't seen it.

[venchka]

If you decide to go north to Jefferson or thereabouts, you might try to get a ride on the Texas Railroad Museum train between Palestine & Longview. Crockett would make a nice lunch stop & stroll around the old part of town. There is a drive-through wild animal park, cute grassland antelope type critters-nothing dangerous, on the north side of Grapeland between Crockett & Palestine.

Fredricksburg in the Hill Country. The drive up the north fork of the Guadalupe River is pretty. Gruene hall in Gruene (on the outskirts of New Braunfels) if you like dance halls and any of the restaurants are fun.

What about Big Bend? Would that be too much of a stretch? That would fill up 6 days for sure. Very unique. Very impressive.

[KeepsakeGirl]

Take them to Fredericksburg & Kerville....guarantee they'll love it. its so pretty and lots to see and do :)

[venchka]

Originally Posted by KeepsakeGirl

Take them to Fredericksburg & Kerville....guarantee they'll love it. its so pretty and lots to see and do :)

I agree. Do that on the way to-from Big Bend. You can see cute towns anytime. How often do you get the time to see something on a world class level? I put off going places like that with my parents until it was too late.

Go now!

[everdreaming]

Wow! Thanks for all the info, everyone. :) Alan, I think they've actually seen a little too much of NASA since that's where I work, but thanks.

Unfortunately, 4 hours of driving is about the limit with them and we definitely need to limit it to one or two places. We might be able to do Fredericksburg/Kerrville, though, if we stop in Austin first. I'm surprised to hear people recommending Hill Country this time of year... I thought it was really a spring/summer destination?

[venchka]

It's a lot cooler and potentially less crowded this time of year. The downside is that the cypress trees along the rivers will probably be bare. Try to work Gruene into the trip. We were there at the end of October. It's FUN! and the food is GREAT!

[dreemes]

And if you go to Jefferson/Marshall, Tyler is on the way with http://www.santalandtexas.com/

[everdreaming]

Thanks for all the great tips everyone! After discussing it with them, we decided to base ourselves out of Austin for a few days and do some day trips to some of the places you mentioned... thanks so much!

[Stephen H]

If they can walk up stairs, consider Enchanted Rock. (There's not many stairs, but it involves walking uphill to see it all). That would be great on a nice day, to be avoided on a cold or rainy day unless you bring your mountaineering suit. That's just some nice country to drive through, too.

The Jefferson idea sounds like a good one.

They have been talking about shutting down the Texas State Railway at the end of the year, and it normally requires reservations- definitely confirm by phone before you go running up that way.

If it's bad weather, go see the state capitol.

Lone Star Caverns and Inner Space Caverns are possibilities. They're a lot like every other cave, so if they've been in 8 different caves elsewhere, I'd put them low on the list.

There's several state parks in the Austin area that I haven't been to- Mother Neff and some others- if you're into outdoor stuff.

Some of the outdoor areas won't look their best this time of year, but will still beat sitting in a hotel room (at least for me!).

[Hanky]

I would go Big Bend if I could. Do they like to walk outdoors? If not you might wanna pass on the double b.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

When in Austin go to the State Museum-has the big star out front and is north and east of the Capitol- THEY HAVE SOME KILLER EXHIBITS and DOCUMENTS that make you go WOW if your a Texan.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Update?