News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Texas and Neighbors | Travel

03/05/2010

The Livingston boutique hotel in Waco offers a chic escape
A city some consider little more than the midpoint between Dallas and Austin, Waco isn't destination central. But interior designer and Highland Park High School grad Mary Baskin's eight-months-open venture, THE LIVINGSTON , is setting the stop-and-stay bar higher.

Austin menswear shop Stag is a nice surprise

02/28/2010

Royal Caribbean's Voyager sails from Galveston to Barcelona
You can sail for two weeks from Galveston, across the Atlantic Ocean and to Barcelona, Spain, on Royal Caribbean's 3,114-passenger Voyager of the Seas, and pay as little $36 per person, per day for accommodations, meals, entertainment and activities.

Harry Ransom Center's 'Making Movies' takes a peek behind the scenes

Oklahoma casino may pull Texas gamblers away from Shreveport

VERNON BRYANT/DMN

The Choctaw expansion adds 330 rooms in a distinctive building with curved architecture meant to evoke flowing water.

The state's border casinos bring in more than $1.5 billion annually, with 90 percent from visitors from Dallas-Fort Worth. But before the new Choctaw Casino's opening this month in Durant, there's been nothing near its scale and opulence for gamblers.
Video: Inside the expansion
Link: Choctaw Casino

MARCH CALENDAR
Dates and sites may change. Before planning to attend an event, contact the chamber of commerce or tourist office to verify details.

This spring yard sale just keeps going
This April getaway starts in Mesquite, then works its way east on U.S. Highway 80 for 392 miles to Jackson, Miss.

02/21/2010

Old-school New Orleans cigar bar really smokes
NEW ORLEANS – Cigar lovers forced to stoke their stogies outside their favorite watering holes because of municipal smoking bans will love the Crescent City. Famously a place where all sorts of cravings can be satisfied, New Orleans offers all types of bars where smokers can light up with abandon.

Texas & Neighbors

Fast Break: Chimp sanctuary near Shreveport will host free viewing day
Chimpanzees to the right of you, chimpanzees to the left of you. That's if you're at Chimp Haven in Keithville, La., near Shreveport. Chimp Haven is a chimpanzee retirement village for more than 100 apes that have been used in medical research or the entertainment industry or are no longer wanted as pets. Their days are full of climbing trees, resting, playing and eating.

02/14/2010

Texas & Neighbors

SMU lines up noncredit classes for travelers
SMU Continuing and Professional Education offers a variety of noncredit classes that can help travelers prepare for trips abroad. Most classes are held during the evening at Southern Methodist University's main campus in University Park.

Fast Break: Flowers everywhere at Wildseed Farms

02/07/2010

Texas & Neighbors: cowboy poets in Alpine; weather lessons in Houston

Fast Break: Samba madness in Austin

02/01/2010

Gretna, La., keeps a Valentine's Day wedding tradition of quickie weddings

01/31/2010

Mineola wine festival rides the rails

February Calendar: Happenings in Texas and neighboring states
Dates and sites may change. Before planning to attend an event, contact the chamber of commerce or tourist office to verify details.

Fast Break: Go to jail for art in Albany, Texas

01/24/2010

Texas & Neighbors: Kerrville's Schreiner Mansion will reopen in April

Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge tram ride is front-row seat to wildlife, unique ecological habitats
LOS FRESNOS, Texas – For 15 miles, Bayside Drive at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge winds through grasslands interspersed with brush, a waterside confection for nature lovers.

Fast Break: Czech out the kolaches in West
If you like sweet rolls, you'll love kolaches. They're Czech pastries somewhat like Danish: light, slightly sweet dough with a dollop of filling in a variety of flavors.

01/17/2010

Texas & Neighbors: Crumpets cuisine fuels Big Bend rafting

Civil War battlefield in New Mexico gets spruced up
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The plan was to march up the Rio Grande, capture the city of Santa Fe and seize the thousands of rifles, dozens of cannons and other supplies at Fort Union for a campaign that would expand the Confederacy's borders all the way to the California coast.

Visit a bygone Texas at Sauer-Beckmann Farm at Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site
How do you stuff a sausage? Or cure bacon? You can discover how both were done in the early 1900s on Central Texas' German farms.

01/12/2010

Prehistoric mammoth bones open for public viewing near Waco
WACO – "Sixty-eight thousand years ago, there was a committed group," said Waco mayor Virginia DuPuy, speaking before a crowd shivering in a tent on a chilly winter day. "They didn't choose to commit, but they were the original donors."

01/10/2010

Texas & Neighbors

Mardi Gras festivities in Texas and Lousiana
Mardi Gras season began Wednesday with the Feast of Epiphany and continues through Mardi Gras itself, or Fat Tuesday (Feb. 16).

Fast Break: family fishing at Fort Richardson State Park
Grab your fishing poles and get set for the Family Fishing Day at Fort Richardson State Park from 9 a.m. to noon Jan. 16. The park's Quarry Lake has been stocked with rainbow trout, bass, catfish, crappie and perch.

01/05/2010

Tram offers carefree tours of South Texas wildlife refuge
For 15 miles, Bayside Drive at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge winds through grasslands interspersed with brush, a waterside confection for nature lovers.

12/02/2009

Fast Break: Braking for bakeries in Corsicana, Waco

11/01/2009

Fast Break: Wee bit of Scotland in Salado

10/11/2009

Fast Break: Favorite outlet malls within 300 miles of Dallas
In one stop at an outlet mall, you can find clothes and shoes for everyone in the family; pots, pans and dishes; luggage; electronics; cosmetics; and tchotchkes. Some malls are large enough to run the gamut from Aeropostale (for casual clothes) to Zegna (luxe wear for men).