Staycations & Vacations
Old West attractions to enjoy in your home state and in the wild West beyond.
By: Meghan Saar 03/01/2009
AUSTIN, TX
Bat City: View Mexican free-tail bats at the Congress Avenue bridge; the most popular time to watch is at sunset, March through October.
Year-Round Swimming: Take a dip in the constant 68-degree Barton Springs, where the Spanish built a mission in 1730.
Rest Your Head Here: Cattle baron Jesse Driskill spent his fortune building his hotel in 1886, and it remains a landmark of Texas hospitality to this day.
Oldest Building: The city’s oldest building is the 1841 French Legation, built as a diplomatic outpost when Texas was still a republic.
Capitol Tours: The south entrance of the 1886 capitol—built out of red granite quarried from nearby Marble Falls—is the departure point for free, guided, history walking tours of downtown, offered year-round Thursday through Sunday, excepting major holidays.
Hold On To Your Seat: The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum not only shares the story of Texas through artifacts such as Stephen F. Austin’s diary, but it is also home to the interactive Spirit Theater with special effects that make you feel as if you’re experiencing the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 or a gusher from a Texas oil derrick.
Near Austin:
San Antonio (80 miles south) offers the Alamo mission, the start of the Spanish Mission trail, linking five Catholic missions along the San Antonio River. And you can buy a pair of custom boots at Lucchese, founded here in 1883. To go “full cowboy,” visit in February, for the city’s PRCA indoor rodeo.
Boerne (101 miles southwest) offers an Old West town at the working ranch, Enchanted Springs Ranch. Be sure to call before you visit, because the ranch is sometimes closed for film shoots.
Bandera (119 miles southwest), the start of the western branch of the Chisholm Trail, which ended, most often, in Dodge City, Kansas, still offers a taste of its cattle drive heritage at area guest ranches, such as the oldest in Bandera, Dixie Dude Ranch, which first opened its doors in 1937.
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