Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i Texas Highways Magazine

When photographer Jessica Lutz moved to Marfa a decade ago, she was drawn to capture West Texas’ light, land, and story. For the cover shot of Calera Chapel in Balmorhea, she wanted to evoke the expansiveness of the site. “From dawn until dusk, the changing light reflects on the exterior walls of the chapel,” she says. “Somehow, the feeling inspired by the vast landscape is enclosed within the chapel itself.” The chapel, which was restored in 2002 after being abandoned for decades, is open to visitors who often stop by on their way to nearby Balmorhea Pool. The latter is fed by San Solomon Springs, which has sustained communities for hundreds of years. The springs are one of the many sanctuaries—cultural, religious, and secular—we explore in this issue. Here, Lutz…

South Padre Island beckons visitors for coastal getaways with seafood, nightlife, nature centers, fishing, bird-watching, and above all, miles of sandy beaches. It’s the water that draws Austin-based photographer Olga Melhiser to the Gulf of Mexico when she wants to unwind. “Escaping to the coast helps me de-stress and feel happy and forget about everything else,” Melhiser says. “Every time I go, I have a routine: I like to wake up before the sun rises, get a cup of coffee, and head out to the beach with all of my gear—and hope for some luck.” Melhiser took this photo on a stormy morning in summer 2020. “The rising sun was blocked by fast-moving dark clouds,” she says. “The sun never peeked through the rain clouds, but the lack of light…

Settlers established Columbus 200 years ago, which makes it Texas’ oldest surveyed and platted Anglo-American town. Set on a bend of the Colorado River where there was once a Native American village, Columbus has been a center of activity since its early days. Colonists among Stephen F. Austin’s original “Old Three Hundred” established an inn, a mill, and a ferry crossing in 1823, when the town was also a seat of colonial government. These days, Columbus is located at the intersection of Interstate 10 and State Highway 71—a midway point for drivers between Houston and Austin or Houston and San Antonio. Many who stop to stretch their legs find Columbus to be a destination in itself. Adorned with historical architecture and ancient live oaks, the town harbors local shops on…

FREE TRAVEL INFO 1 Bandera County Convention & Visitors Bureau 2 Beaumont Convention & Visitors Bureau 3 Big Spring Convention & Visitors Bureau 4 Blanco Chamber of Commerce 5 Bullock Texas State History Museum 6 Cameron Park Zoo 7 Cedar Park Tourism 8 City of Huntsville 9 City of Odessa | Starbright Village 10 City of Port Isabel 11 City of Portland 12 City of Wimberley 13 Cuero Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture 14 Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden 15 Destination Bryan 16 Fredericksburg Convention & Visitors Bureau 17 Georgetown Convention & Visitors Bureau 18 Glen Rose Somervell County Convention & Visitors Bureau 19 Graham Convention & Visitors Bureau 20 Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau 21 Greenville Convention & Visitors Bureau 22 Irving Arts Center 23 Kerrville Convention & Visitors…

In 1837, settler William “Uncle Billy” Barton moved his family to a remote Hill Country creek near its confluence with the Colorado River. Barton recognized the cluster of springs that fed the creek as a reliable water source to raise livestock and crops. But he may not have known humans had visited the springs for at least 10,000 years, including Tonkawas and Comanches who inhabited the region at the time Barton arrived. As the city of Austin took shape on the Colorado’s opposite bank, Barton Springs—fed by up to 80 million gallons a day from the Edwards Aquifer—powered mills, provided water for ice-making, and became a popular place to swim. In 1917, then-owner Andrew Zilker deeded the springs to the city, leading to the construction of a concrete dam and…

Though contributing writer Katie Gutierrez had never heard of Balmorhea before working on “Eternal Springs” (Page 32), she says her solitary trip to the West Texas town was much needed. “It felt like a pilgrimage,” she says, “a long quiet drive toward finding something sacred.” She dove into the waters of Balmorhea Pool, among the world’s largest springfed pools and quite literally got lost in the Davis Mountains. She also ventured to nearby San Solomon Springs, a large series of ancient artesian springs that have provided for people throughout the centuries, from Indigenous tribes to the Mexican farming communities of the early 1900s. “I saw the springs as a constant, with almost a time-lapse of people around it—cultures shifting through the centuries, but not their need for water,” Gutierrez says.…

It started with a picture in The Dallas Morning News: an empty patch of unruly grass covered by a sign that read YOUR DESIGN HERE. When Allen resident and landscape artist Cheryl Baez saw the ad, she immediately started brainstorming. The challenge was to create a monument that reflected the inclusivity of Dallas’ Oak Lawn neighborhood, which has been the heart of the city’s LGBTQ community since the 1970s. “They were singing my song,” Baez says. “I was familiar with Oak Lawn all my life and wanted to celebrate the ambience and character there.” Baez’s winning design, Legacy of Love, is a 27-foottall obelisk topped with a sphere. She wanted to create a sense of unity by merging contrasting forms. Around 150 individual, organizational, and corporate donor names are engraved…

DEEP IN THE CHIHUAHUAN DESERT in West Texas, at the foot of the Davis Mountains, water beckons. It flows far beneath the musky, cotton-tailed creosote bush, the ubiqui subterranean river has sustained life for thousands of years. I know the water as Balmorhea Pool, among the world’s largest spring-fed swimming pools. In photos, the color of the limestone-and-adobe-walled pool ranges from a brilliant, oceanic aquamarine to a calm, clear jade—a startling juxtaposition against flat brown earth encircled by the gentle silhouettes of the surrounding mountains. Located in Balmorhea State Park in Toyahvale, two hours north of Big Bend National Park, the pool encompasses 1.3 acres and holds 3.5 million gallons of fresh water. Every day, the San Solomon Springs discharge 15 million gallons of water into the pool, keeping it…

Tucked along the winding Guadalupe River in the Hill Country is a town that’s much bigger in legend than in size. The entire Gruene Historic District located within New Braunfels is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Though it extends only about 25 acres, it’s filled with more history, food, and lore than cities 100 times its size. Making a pilgrimage here is a rite of passage for any Texan—just don’t pronounce it “Groo-in.” Downtown Gruene Drive down Gruene’s main street, Hunter Road, and you’ll feel like you’ve stepped into an idyllic small town painting with mom and pop businesses filling every storefront. Stock up on knickknacks and grab a hand-dipped ice cream cone from the Gruene General Store. Personalize your new cowboy hat at Gruene Hat Company—they’ll…

Buñuelos Grew up with these as a kid up in Washington [“I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” December]. My aunt made them, only ours are called rosettes. Christene Marie Graham Slaton Bakery I have a bag of their ginger snaps in my pantry right now [“Just Like Grandma Used to Bake,” December]. Love them! Lisa Mathisen Hines Santa Elena Sightseeing Love me some Big Bend Country [“Split Scene,” December]! Nothing else like this place. Ruth Cramer Smallwood Raisin D’être Years ago, we used to get together with the neighbor across the street to make tamales every Christmas [“I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” December]. She would make dessert tamales with pumpkin or other fillings and raisins, as well as traditional spicy pork tamales. In a few batches of the pork tamales, she…

A BAMD OF SILVERY LIGHT runs along the body of a freshly caught mackerel in Anne Vallayer-Coster’s 1787 painting Still Life with Mackerel. The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth acquired the painting in 2019. As I stand before it, admiring the French artist’s exquisite sensitivity to her subject, I am aware that another band of silvery light runs over my head. This light, fluid and shifting, is natural light that streams in through narrow 100-foot-long plexiglass skylights. The skylights, running north to south down the length of the gallery’s vaulted ceilings, are hidden behind suspended aluminum reflectors that distribute and soften the direct sunlight. The effect is that of walking beneath a cool wintery sky. The Kimbell Museum is located in Fort Worth’s cultural district in good company with…

In 1969, the Apollo moon landing became one of the most-watched moments in television history, with around 650 million people tuning in to see Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk across the lunar surface. The same year, ARPANET, the first internet prototype, came to fruition. These two events were watershed moments that connected people through screens, and they serve as the introduction into a new exhibit at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. I’ll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen, running Feb. 12-April 30, examines screens’ impact on art from 1969 to the present. The exhibit showcases work from 50 artists throughout the past 50 years and includes paintings, video games, augmented reality, video, sculpture, and digital art. The show also examines screens as a major part…

To watch Tiffany Derry on high-intensity TV cooking competitions is to witness grace under pressure. On cable shows like Top Chef and Bobby’s Triple Threat, the Dallas-based chef makes it look easy—working at lightning speed, nailing each minute element of a nuanced dish, never breaking a sweat. How does someone learn to do that? Derry credits IHOP. The Beaumont native has built a stellar resume in the roughly two decades since she learned the ropes in the kitchen of the ubiquitous pancake chain. In the past couple of years, she opened her signature restaurant, Roots Southern Table, in Farmers Branch; expanded her Plano-based Roots Chicken Shak to Austin; traveled to Hawaii to cook for Oprah Winfrey; launched the’Shef Tiffany Creole Seasoning spice blend; served as a food ambassador on a…