A Patriotic Family Road Trip in Texas

The Alamo

San Antonio, TX

"Remember the Alamo." 1836. 13 days. 200 defenders against thousands.

San Jacinto Monument

La Porte, TX

A 567-foot obelisk marking the battlefield where Texas won her independence in 18 minutes.

Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site

Sabine Pass, TX

The earthworks where 47 Confederate gunners turned back a Union invasion fleet in 1863.

Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park

Brownsville, TX

The prairie where the first battle of the Mexican-American War was fought in May 1846.

Texas State Capitol

Austin, TX

The largest state capitol building in the country. Pink granite, intentionally taller than the U.S. Capitol.

LBJ Ranch

Stonewall, TX

The "Texas White House" in the Hill Country, home and ranch of the 36th president.

George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum

Dallas, TX

The 43rd president's papers, a full-scale Oval Office, and a twisted steel beam from the World Trade Center.

George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum

College Station, TX

The 41st president's library on the Texas A&M campus, with his Avenger torpedo bomber hanging inside.

LBJ Presidential Library

Austin, TX

Forty-five million pages of the Johnson years, plus the Great Society and Vietnam told side by side.

USS Lexington Museum

Corpus Christi, TX

A WWII aircraft carrier turned floating museum on the Gulf Coast in Corpus Christi.

Battleship TEXAS

La Porte, TX

The last surviving dreadnought, and the only battleship that fought in both world wars.

Fort Davis National Historic Site

Fort Davis, TX

One of the best-preserved frontier forts in the Southwest, garrisoned by Buffalo Soldiers.

Fort Concho National Historic Landmark

San Angelo, TX

Twenty-three original and restored buildings of a frontier fort founded in 1867.

Cadillac Ranch

Amarillo, TX

Ten Cadillacs buried nose-down in a Texas Panhandle field. Bring spray paint.

The Big Texan Steak Ranch

Amarillo, TX

The 72-ounce steak, free if you finish it and the sides in an hour, since 1960.

Sam Houston Statue

Huntsville, TX

A 67-foot white statue of Sam Houston, visible from Interstate 45 for six miles.

Texarkana Post Office and Federal Building

Texarkana, TX

The only federal building in the country that straddles a state line, half Texas and half Arkansas.

Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District

Fort Worth, TX

The brick pens and packing houses where the Chisholm Trail cattle drives ended, still working as a stockyard.

Presidio La Bahia

Goliad, TX

The restored Spanish fort where Colonel Fannin's men were held and then executed in 1836.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Canyon, TX

The second-largest canyon in the country, with CCC-built cabins and a road cut in the 1930s.

Mission San Jose

San Antonio, TX

The “Queen of the Missions,” the largest of the four Spanish missions south of the Alamo.

Big Bend National Park

Big Bend National Park, TX

Eight hundred thousand acres where the Chihuahuan Desert, the Rio Grande and the Chisos Mountains meet.

Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum

Beaumont, TX

A reconstructed 1901 boomtown at the derrick that blew in and started the Texas oil age.

Ysleta Mission

El Paso, TX

Founded in 1682, the oldest continuously operating parish in Texas.

Buffalo Gap Historic Village

Abilene, TX

The 1879 Taylor County courthouse and jail, plus a dozen relocated frontier buildings.

Caddo Mounds State Historic Site

Alto, TX

Three earthen mounds raised by the Caddo more than 1,200 years ago on the El Camino Real.

King Ranch

Kingsville, TX

A working ranch larger than Rhode Island, founded by a steamboat captain in 1853.

National Museum of the Pacific War

Fredericksburg, TX

Six acres of Pacific theater history in the hometown of Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz.

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Dallas, TX

The former Texas School Book Depository, preserved at the window where the shots were fired in 1963.

Space Center Houston

Houston, TX

Historic Mission Control, a Saturn V lying on its side, and the shuttle carrier aircraft.

Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum

Waco, TX

Two centuries of Ranger badges, Colt revolvers and case files, on the Brazos.

Buddy Holly Center

Lubbock, TX

The hometown museum of the West Texan who wrote the template for rock and roll in 18 months.

Texas Seaport Museum and 1877 Tall Ship ELISSA

Galveston, TX

An iron barque still rigged and still sailing, moored at the wharf she once worked.

Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site

Washington, TX

The site of Independence Hall, Texas, where 59 delegates declared a republic in March 1836.

Texas State Cemetery

Austin, TX

Stephen F. Austin, Albert Sidney Johnston, governors, Rangers and Medal of Honor recipients.

Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery

San Antonio, TX

More than 160 acres of white marble, including dozens of Medal of Honor recipients.

Houston National Cemetery

Houston, TX

Rows of headstones around Hemicycle Plaza and its bronze Hill of Remembrance.

Waco Mammoth National Monument

Waco, TX

A nursery herd of Columbian mammoths, excavated in place under a climate-controlled shelter.

Chamizal National Memorial

El Paso, TX

A park marking the 1963 treaty that settled a century-old border dispute without a shot.