Summer 2010
Picture 600 miles of warm waters
and gorgeous stretches of white
sandy beaches, the cool quiet of a
stately pine forest, or the sunny, dry
Panhandle Plains, summer in Texas
has something for everyone.
Families Love
Houston
From boat tours to the most visited
children’s museum in the country,
Houston offers endless attractions for
the whole family! Many parks, great
weather, easy on the wallet, diverse,
and the fact that most attractions have
kid-friendly areas make Houston a
great family friendly city. Some of the
great family hotels include:
Omni Houston
Westside Hotel
During the summer, the hotel offers
every child an activity back pack filled
with toys, games and puzzles. They
also offer family-friendly drive in
movies on Friday and Saturday nights,
weekend game room with free Wii and
x-box game entertainment, and familyfriendly entertainment poolside.
(weekends)
La Torretta Lake
Resort & Spa
This resort features a concert series
during the summer, every Friday
and Saturday, with balloonists, face
painters and popcorn. They also have
an exciting Kids
Program for
children ages
5-11, complete with their own private
playground and supervised by the
Adventure Pointe’s activities staff.
Teenagers also
have a place to call
their own at The
Edge, featuring
remote control
racing cars, and
Wii.
Budget Stretchers
Include:
Houston Citypass This booklet offers
tickets to top attractions at a cost of
$39 for adults (a 48% savings) and $29
for children ages 4-11 (a 49% savings).
With CityPass, one can explore
the workings of mission control at
Space Center Houston; experience
the underwater world at Downtown
Aquarium; walk on the wild side at the
Houston Zoo; or stop by the Children’s
Museum for ultimate kid-friendly fun!
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100 Ways To Save More than 100
special offers—from ticket deals and
hotel packages to restaurant perks and
transportation promos—are live on
www.VisitHoustonTexas.com.
Other Great
Family Getaways
Kemah Boardwalk Overlooking
Galveston Bay, and just 20 minutes
from downtown Houston, this coastal
getaway features themed restaurants,
retail shops, and amusements for the
whole family. This 35-acre carnivallike atmosphere has a 36-foot carousel,
a 65-foot Ferris wheel and great
arcade and Midway games.
Moody Gardens This tropical
destination, just 45 minutes from
Houston on Galveston Island is ideal
for families. Delve into the oceans
depths at the Aquarium Pyramid,
explore the extraordinary world
of science at Discovery Museum,
experience the action of the IMAX®
3D, 4D and enjoy gulf breezes aboard
the Colonel Paddlewheel Boat.
Texas Tourism News | Summer 2010
style villa with stenciled ceilings is
the former home of oil heiress Marion
Koogler McNay.
www.visitsanantonio.com
Four Texas Cities
Make The Top Ten 7. Houston, Texas
The Museum District is a magnificent
U.S. Art Cities
cluster of 18 museums, most notably
For a culture-minded vacation —
Texas cities make the Top 10 USA art
cities! These cities in ranking order
include:
10. Fort Worth,
Texas
A mix of cowboy history and high
culture, Fort Worth boasts two worldclass museums. The Kimbell Art
Museum offers an exquisite selection
of European art from antiquity
to 20th-century masterpieces by
Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Seurat,
and The Modern Art Museum
which houses mostly post-1945 art.
American art only, especially Western
landscapes and photographs, is on
display at the Amon Carter Museum.
www.fortworth.com
9. San Antonio,
Texas
Four hours down the road from Fort
Worth, San Antonio offers unique art
installations along the newly expanded
scenic River Walk, extending to
the San Antonio Museum of Art.
The museum’s Latin American
art collection, donated by Nelson
Rockefeller, ranging from Mexican
folk art to pre-Columbian and Spanish
Colonial art, is considered North
America’s largest. The McNay Art
Museum, a lovely Mediterranean-
the Museum of Fine Arts, the largest
museum in the Southwest, where an
astonishing gold jewelry and artifact
collection from Africa, Indonesia,
Crow Collection of Asian Art, which
houses delicate jade carvings from
China; Japanese scrolls, screens,
and sculptures. One of the largest
collections of Spanish art outside of
Spain is found uptown at the Meadows
Museum, spanning Cubism by Picasso
and Miro, Goya and Velasquez royal
portraits, and Renaissance altarpieces.
www.visitdallas.com
Culinaria
San Antonio’s premier wine and
culinary art festival is coming to the
city during CULINARIA Restaurant
Week: August 21-28, 2010. Three
Course – Pre Fixe Menus will offer
lunch at the $15 price point and dinner
at the $35 price point. CULINARIA
is working with local chefs and
and Latin America is displayed. For
truly offbeat art, the Orange Show is
a wildly eccentric structure of mosaic
tile, concrete, and found art that a selftaught artist built to celebrate his love
of the orange.
www.visithoustontexas.com
5. Dallas, Texas
The vast Museum of Fine Arts
features an awe-inspiring collection
of Renoir, Pissarro, Van Gogh,
and Cezanne. The museum is in
the Dallas Arts District, as are the
Nasher Sculpture Center, noted for
its Rodin, Picasso, Matisse, and the
restaurants to bring Restaurant Week
to life. Some of the city’s most timehonored restaurants, along with some
of the most buzz-worthy newcomers,
will be taking part. For a complete list
of restaurants, visit
www.culinariasa.org
Let’s Talk ‘Texas’
Nancy Abbott, Account Director
Texas Tourism
Tel: 416-935-1896 ext. 229
Toll-free: 1-888-297-9472
Email: [email protected]
Represented in Canada by
VoX International
www.traveltex.com
Twitter: twitter.com/texastourism
Editor’s Note: Photos of Texas destinations and attractions are
available to easily download at www.picturetrax.com
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Texas Tourism News | Summer 2010