What's New

Dallas

Getting There -- DFW International Airport inaugurated a new, 2-million-square-foot International Terminal D. The sleek new Skylink, the world's largest high-speed airport train, unites terminals.

Exploring Dallas -- The Dallas Museum of Art (tel. 214/922-1200; http://dallasmuseumofart.org) bolstered its collection of modern and contemporary art in a huge way, receiving gifts totaling some 900 works by three prominent collectors -- the Hoffman, Rachofsky, and Rose families of Dallas. The coordinated gift is expected to really put the Dallas Museum of Art, in the midst of an ever-expanding downtown Arts District, on the map.

Where to Stay -- The new W Dallas-Victory, 2440 Victory Park Lane (tel. 877/WHOTELS), has quickly become the most talked-about place to stay and be seen in Big D, stealing a bit of the fashionable thunder from Hotel Zaza, 2332 Leonard St. (tel. 866/769-2894), which competed by adding new Magnificent Seven suites, over-the-top fantasy accommodations -- with names such as Rock Star and Last Czar -- several of which are larger than 2,000 square feet. Belmont Hotel, 901 Fort Worth Ave. (tel. 866/870-8010), a hipster boutique hotel carved out of a 1946 motor lodge on a bluff in Oak Cliff, is the new retro place for design-conscious people to stay and feel like they're not in Dallas.

Where to Dine -- Stephan Pyles, 1807 Ross Ave., Suite 200 (tel. 214/580-7000), took 5 years off after hitting the big time with Routh Street Café and then Star Canyon, but he's again taken the city by storm with his eponymous eatery. Named Chef of the Year in 2006 by Esquire magazine, Pyles has expanded his palate and though he now thinks more globally, his West Texas roots are still very much apparent.

After Dark -- One of the hottest new spots is Ghostbar, 2440 Victory Park Lane (tel. 214/871-1800), in the W Dallas-Victory Hotel. Everyone is so fabulous and wealthy that the hotel's name seems to refer to the good fortune of its patrons.

Fort Worth

Where to Stay -- The former Radisson Plaza Fort Worth, where JFK spent his last night in 1963, underwent a $10-million renovation and reopened as the Hilton Fort Worth, 815 Main St. (tel. 817/870-2100), in April 2006. The Omni Fort Worth Hotel (tel. 800/THE-OMNI), a massive luxury hotel that will be "sculpted in native stone and wrapped in glass," is due to break ground and open in fall 2008 on Houston Street. Among new, affordable hotels in Fort Worth are the Residence Inn Fort Worth Cultural District, 2500 Museum Way (tel. 817/885-8250), and AmeriSuites, in the Fort Worth Stockyards, 132 E. Exchange Ave. (tel. 817/626-6000), both good, dependable, family-friendly options.

Where to Dine -- Lanny's Alta Cocina Mexicana, 3405 7th St. (tel. 817/850-9996), is the big news in Cowtown. Though the young chef came from his family's down-home Tex-Mex restaurant, Joe T. Garcia's, he's gone thoroughly upscale with his creative, chic new Mexican-Mediterranean restaurant. Tim Love, of Lonesome Dove Bistro fame, opened a branch of that restaurant in New York City (!) and, in 2006, also inaugurated a new spot in his hometown -- Duce, 6333 Camp Bowie Blvd., Suite 240 (tel. 817/377-4400) -- which Love calls a "modern European food lounge."

Exploring Fort Worth -- The Sid Richardson Collection of Western Art, 309 Main St. (tel. 817/332-6554; www.sidrmuseum.org), dedicated to the Old West paintings of Frederic Remington and Charles Russell, among others, reopened in November 2006 after a year-long renovation by Fort Worth's favorite architect, David Schwarz. The museum has a new facade and a new two-section gallery.

In 2005 the Fort Worth Zoo, 1989 Colonial Pkwy. (tel. 817/759-7555; www.fortworthzoo.org), inaugurated a large permanent exhibit displaying the flora and fauna of the Australian Outback and Great Barrier Reef, including an aquatic exhibit featuring three saltwater tanks containing more than 10,000 gallons of water, fish, coral, and sharks.

The Texas Civil War Museum, 760 Jim Wright Fwy. N. (tel. 817/246-2323; www.texascivilwarmuseum.com), which contains one of the largest private collections of Civil War artifacts in the country, opened in January 2006 in a 16,000-square-foot facility in northwestern Fort Worth.

Houston

The recent explosion in investment in the city's downtown area has given way to a period of consolidation. New construction in buildings and public works projects has slowed as everybody seems to be catching their breath at the moment. After the last few years, it's a pleasure not to have to navigate construction detours and lane closures on downtown streets. Construction still continues on some of the city's major freeways, including the mammoth expansion of the Katy Freeway (I-10 west to San Antonio).

One of the big questions for the future is "What to do with the Astrodome?" The most recent proposal, put forth by a group of developers, is to make it into a self-contained convention/conferencing site, with meeting space, lodging, food, and shops all under one roof, as it were. This might happen, but the hotel industry is resistant to the proposal because of the present surplus of hotel rooms in the city, especially in the downtown/South Main corridor.

Where to Stay -- There couldn't be a better time for staying downtown. With all the recent hotel construction you can now find great weekend discounts at the luxury hotels. A recent favorite, the "Sam," is now the Alden-Houston Hotel, 1117 Prairie St. (tel. 877/348-8800; www.aldenhotels.com); aside from the lobby, the new owners have changed little, which is a good thing. The same can be said for the Hotel Icon, 220 Main St. (tel. 800/323-7500; www.hotelicon.com). This new/old hotel was recently sold, and the new owners have changed little besides the lobby and bar area.

The most recent addition to the hotel scene will be Hotel ZaZa, 5701 Main St. (tel. 800/323-7500; www.hotelzazahouston.com), scheduled to open in early 2007. The developers acquired the old Warwick Hotel, which had the most enviable location in Houston, smack in the middle of the Museum District, in the most verdant part of the city. To judge what they did with their first property, the Hotel Zaza in Dallas, this will surely prove to be a fun place to stay.

Where to Dine -- The small and delightful eatery 17, 1117 Prairie St. (tel. 832/200-8888), in the Alden-Houston Hotel, has a new chef, Ryan Pera. He has followed the lead of the former chef, Jeff Armstrong, in cooking up inventive, but not over-the-top contemporary American cooking.

Bank Jean-Georges, 220 Main St. (tel. 832/667-4470), in the Hotel Icon, may soon become simply "Bank," as negotiations with überchef Jean-Georges Vongerichten may lead to his disassociation from the restaurant. This has come about because Jean-Georges's chef de cuisine, Bryan Caswell, has left to start his own restaurant.

Exploring Houston -- Gone are the amusement parks Six Flags AstroWorld and WaterWorld, victims of rising real estate values and cash-poor corporate owners. There are still two other amusement parks in the Houston area, both of them water parks. One is Six Flags Splashtown in far north Houston (which might change owners soon), and the other is in Galveston .

Gulf Coast

Galveston -- The Texas company that operates the state's most popular water park in the German Hill Country town of New Braunfels, Schlitterbahn (www.schlitterbahn.com), has opened a water park in Galveston (next door to Moody Gardens), which is the only water park in the state with climate control. A retractable roof covers 70,000 square feet of the park, and allows it to open on weekends throughout the year.

San Antonio

San Antonio continues to grow as a convention and family destination. The city has plans to make a number of changes to the downtown tourist area. The city council has approved a project to revamp the city's Main Plaza, also called Plaza de las Islas. The plan includes closing off two streets bordering the plaza, improving pedestrian access, planting lots of trees and shrubbery, and creating a space for people to sit down and enjoy the scenery. In doing this the city hopes to lure visitors from the River Walk into the western part of downtown.

Something else being discussed is banning chain restaurants from the River Walk. This is a thorny issue, and it's unclear what, if anything, can be done, but businesses and citizens groups are afraid that the River Walk may lose its identity if filled with the same restaurants one sees everywhere else in the country.

Where to Stay -- Hotel construction continues in downtown San Antonio and elsewhere in the city. There are now more than 11,000 rooms in the downtown area, which means that there is a huge pool of rooms dependent on large-convention traffic. This condition can lead to hotel bargains for the individual traveler with a certain degree of flexibility in travel arrangements.

An old favorite, La Mansión del Río, 112 College St. (tel. 800/830-1400), is now run by the Omni hotel chain. Since taking over the hotel, Omni has completely remodeled all the guest rooms and some of the common areas.

Exploring San Antonio -- The most important -- or at least longest-heralded -- entry on the attractions scene, the Museo Americano Smithsonian, 101 S. Santa Rosa Blvd. (tel. 210/458-2300), hasn't opened yet. This is the third major delay, amounting now to 3 years. The new time for opening is late spring of 2007. A cornerstone of the Centro Alameda project, devoted to exploring the city's Hispanic roots, MAS -- get it? -- is positioned at the entryway to Market Square.

The Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave. (tel. 210/824-5368), that jewel-like small museum with the lovely grounds and great location has announced plans for a major expansion to enable it to exhibit more of its permanent collection, which is now being rotated from storage to the exhibition rooms. It's unclear how this will affect the present design of the museum, but there is plenty of time to get the planning down right. Work should begin in 2008.

Progress continues with the infrastructure improvements to the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, 6701 San José Dr. at Mission Road (tel. 210/932-1001). The new hike-and-bike path built on the banks of the San Antonio River is now completed. It extends for 12 miles, passing by each of the missions.

Austin

Where to Stay -- In the next couple of years, expect an increase in downtown hotel rooms. A couple of luxury hotel chains are planning to enter the market (W Hotels and Kimpton). At present, hotels in Austin aren't dependent on convention traffic to fill their rooms, which means you're less likely to find bargains rates.

Where to Dine -- The Oasis (tel. 512/266-2442), the famous watering hole where Austinites go to enjoy the sunsets, has recovered from a fire caused by lightning that destroyed much of the property. It's located high above Lake Travis and comprises many decks that spread out across the hillside. Many of these were burned in the fire, but now things have pretty much returned to normal.

Another famous spot, Las Manitas, 211 Congress Ave. (tel. 512/472-9357), may become yet another victim of progress, sharing the same fate as so many other places Austinites have held dear. The owners are in negotiations with the landlords to save both the restaurant and the day-care school next door from becoming a Marriott hotel. There have been discussions between all parties and the city council, but nothing has been resolved.

Exploring Austin -- Austin's major cultural event of 2006 was the opening of the new Blanton Museum of Art, Martin Luther King at Congress Avenue (tel. 512/471-7324). It generated the kind of excitement for art that hasn't been seen here in a long time. Now, the museum plans to keep the excitement up with monthly happy hours for the art crowd, and other programs that combine art with other activities such as yoga. So far, the B Scene happy hours that occur on the first Friday of the month have been well attended.

Shopping -- There is a new shopping district downtown, along a 2-block stretch of West 2nd Street, just off Congress Avenue. It's home to a lot of new stores for Austin, including clothing, interior furnishings, and designs.

Tesoros, 209 Congress Ave. (tel. 512/479-8377; www.tesoros.com), the popular arts-and-crafts store next to Las Manitas , faces the same fate as its neighbor and will probably have to move.

After Dark -- Clifford Antone died. He was Austin's long-time patron of the blues and owner of Antone's, 213 W. 5th St. (tel. 512/320-8424) -- the club and the record label. There have been a number of tribute concerts, as his death deeply affected many in the local music scene. It appears that the club will continue operations as a venue for great blues performers, from here and elsewhere.

A recent smoking ban in all public areas of Austin was overturned by a judge recently. The ban was narrowly passed by referendum in 2005, with many club owners arguing that it would be the death of Austin's music scene. The judge ruled the ban illegal because of vague wording and because it made the club owners responsible for policing the ordinance. The city council is appealing the ruling. Until it is settled, the de facto situation has been a lot of lip service about banning smoking but no enforcement.

West Texas

El Paso -- Downtown El Paso is looking towards redevelopment and is showing some early signs towards a revitalized center. One is the flashy Artisan Hotel, 325 N. Kansas St. (tel. tel. 915/225-9100), opened in February 2007. Another is the coming of the El Paso Museum of History, 510 N. Santa Fe St. (tel. 915/858-1928), in 2007. The old warehouse district around the convention center is seeing some new life as an arts and entertainment district.

Across the bridge in Juárez, Mexico, two local institutions became part of the history books since our 2005 edition: Lorenzo Garcia, inventor of the margarita at the Kentucky Club, passed away in August 2005, and the fabled Monumental Bullring was demolished to make way for new development.

Alpine -- The artsy college town has a slick new place to stay in the Maverick Inn, 1200 E. Holland Ave. (tel. 432/837-0628), with woody, adobe-walled rooms (with Saltillo tile floors with cowhide rugs) and an oasis of a pool area. The former roadside motel was given new life in 2005.

San Angelo -- Downtown between Historic Concho and Twohig avenues is a block of fanciful off-street art: Paint Brush Alley. The new mural project by multiple local artists is worth a look. Contact the San Angelo Convention and Visitors Bureau, 418 W. Ave. B. (tel. 800/375-1206), for additional information.

Big Bend & Guadeloupe Mountains National Parks

Big Bend National Park -- Homeland Security policy continues to ban the onetime tradition of park visitors crossing the Rio Grande into the adjacent Mexican villages. Recently, there has been a push for a reopening of the historic La Linda Bridge just east of the park, but such a reality remains a long way away.

Park entrance fees went up in early 2007 from $15 to $20 for a 7-day pass. Backcountry camping permits, once free, now cost $10.

Castolon was expanded from a visitor contact station to a full-fledged visitor center, open November to March.

Since opening in late 2004, Ten Bits Ranch, 10 miles north of Study Butte at 6000 N. County Rd. (tel. 866/371-3110), a one-of-a-kind re-creation of an old Western town, replete with boardwalks and storefronts masking the guestrooms, has emerged as one of the most charming places to bunk down in the vicinity. The ranch is sustainable and off the grid, meaning water use is limited and modern amenities few -- you can really get away from it all here.

Guadeloupe Mountains National Park -- Where admission was previously $3, the park raised it to $5 per person in early 2007.

Panhandle Plains

Amarillo -- Downtown Amarillo is undergoing revitalization, with several slick new bars and eateries (especially the 600-800 blocks of S. Polk St.), including Asian fusion restaurant Zen 721, 614 S. Polk St. (tel. 806/372-1909), and upscale wine bar Bodega's, 709 S. Polk St. (tel. 806/378-5790).

The Amarillo Dillas, Amarillo's longtime minor league baseball franchise that ceased operations after the 2004 season, are back in action at the Dilla Villa.

On an abandoned rail line in city limits, the new Rock Island Rail Trail runs from Coulter Street on the west side to 7th and Crockett streets near downtown. It boasts 4 miles of jogging/biking/walking terrain in all.

Canyon -- There's a new lodging in the Best Western Canyon Inn & Suites, 2801 4th Ave. (tel. 800/937-8376 or 806/655-1818), which has an indoor pool and exercise room.

Lubbock -- We like the new Arbor Inn & Suites, 5310 Englewood Ave. (tel. 866/644-2319), which opened in 2005. Among the perks: a great outdoor pool (with a faux beach and waterfall) and Texas-shaped waffles for breakfast. The American Wind Power Center, 1701 Canyon Lake Dr. (tel. 806/747-8734), installed a massive Vestas wind turbine in 2005, 164 feet tall with 77-foot blades.