The following post was sent into the mom blog from Emily Blount – Enjoy!
As a recent college graduate I’ve been driving between Houston, San Antonio, and Austin a lot recently and have become quite the professional roadtripper along the way. I have found some interesting things on the road (pop-up car repair service… their garage was an empty field with a large piece of cardboard reading “fix ur car here”) so in case y’all take a roadtrip of your own this holiday season here are some things worth making a stop for:
Houston to Austin:
Take 290 to pass through Brenham and New Sweden on your way to Austin! This route not only has fun stops but is also beautiful, especially if you go in the spring when the wildflowers are blooming. However, anytime of year is a good time for ice cream! Brenham in home to Bluebell’s creamery (scheduled to reopen this December) and though unfortunately there are no tours at this time it is still a great stop for the country store & parlor. Here you can get cute paper hats and all the flavors of Bluebell your heart desires! A little further up the road, if you don’t mind taking a small detour north, is the 19th century New Sweden Evangelical Lutheran Church’s 104 foot copper steeple! The beautiful European style church is smack dab in the middle of New Sweden, Texas farmland and makes a great photo-op.
Austin to San Antonio:
Take I35 to hit San Marcos and New Braunfels on your way to San Antonio. You absolutely need to check out the San Marcos and Tanger outlets! Especially during the holiday season the deals are amazing on a huge selection of brands: everything from Nike to Kate Spade and in between. Besides there is also a huge selection of food options there if shopping wears you out! New Braunfels is also along the way, though you might not make it to San Antonio because of all the fun things to do in New Braunfels! Texas’ oldest dance hall, Wurstfest in the fall, and tubing the river in the summer are just a few of the activities this historical town has to offer. However if you only have time for a quick stop, Naegelin’s Bakery has some great German kolaches to-go.
Any other roadtrip tips y’all have? I will likely be making my way up to Dallas soon!
I would really love to see more of Texas. I’ve been in Houston twice, but that was only to change planes. Do they have a noise abatement program near the airport? OMG, I love to fly, but I never experienced take-offs like that. I felt as though I was in the Space Shuttle – nearly a vertical climb. A wild ride! The only other time I saw more of Texas than the airport, was when my husband and I drove from NY to Las Vegas. We crossed the panhandle, We picked up I-40 in Knoxville, TN, and took that to Kingman AZ, then up to Vegas. There was a howling wind all the way from Amarillo to Albuquerque, and though we were in a rented U-Haul that was loaded down, the truck swung wildly from side to side. I wanted to go back to Texas sometime, (I have friends in Gonzales), but my husband just kept saying, “No, the state’s too windy”. Thus he dismissed all of Texas on the basis of one road trip!
No wind over here near Spring, Texas. The only windy part of Texas that I have experienced has been Galveston Island.