I give a solid thumbs-up to a City Weekend in Dallas. I’d heard a lot about the new developments in downtown and the nearby Arts District, so I decided to investigate this past weekend. My husband, Randy, and I booked a room at the beautiful new Joule Hotel, a few steps away from the original Neiman Marcus, on Main Street. Downtown Dallas—with its gargoyle-festooned buildings that date to the early 1900s—is still primarily a financial district, but that’s gradually changing. Restaurants, clubs, and hotels are drawing more nighttime visitors downtown, imbuing the streets with fresh energy.

 You can find a great rate at the Joule (as low as $99) if you “friend” the hotel on Facebook), and on the weekend we visited, the hotel offered a $129 rate online. Well worth it! The standard rooms meet my criteria for comfort: high-thread-count sheets, luxurious bath products, reading lights on both sides of the bed, etc. But the décor and attention to detail really put the Joule in another league. Artwork by the likes of Andy Warhol and Julian Stanczak decorate the public areas, books on fashion invite reading in the library, a 30-foot water wheel languorously rotates in the lobby. We enjoyed brunch at the hotel’s romantically lit restaurant, Charlie Palmer’s; I can recommend the salmon and sautéed greens for an instant jolt of health and vitality.

 Or so it felt when we set off on foot to explore the nearby Arts District, a mere 15 minute walk away. Major change is taking place here. The Dallas Museum of Art, the Crow Collection of Asian Art, the Nasher Sculpture Garden, and the Meyerson Symphony Center have been joined by the new AT&T Performing Arts Center, a complex that includes the stunning Winspear Opera House and several other venues for art, dance, music, and theater.

 Our downtown location proved perfect for exploring other destinations in central Dallas, too: We hopped across the Trinity River to explore the former Industrial Boulevard (now renamed Riverfront), where a number of vintage furniture shops have opened since October. (Fuel City, a much-lauded truckstop-taco-joint that serves killer picadillo tacos, is on Riverfront, too.) We ventured south of downtown to have tapas at Café Madrid, in the hip Bishop Arts District of Oak Cliff. (My favorite tapas here: the artichoke hearts with pancetta, plus the salty fried smelt.) And finally, we returned to Oak Cliff en route back to Austin, where we had brunch at Smoke, the new restaurant at the hipster Belmont Hotel. Huddled over plates of barbecue, eggs Benedict, pancakes, and other stick-to-your-ribs items, diners awakened and recovered from late-night debauchery. Or so I imagine. I was asleep by 10:30, lulled into sweet dreams by Spanish wine, crisp sheets, mellow hotel lighting, and the pleasant fatigue of exploration. 

A few months ago, I joined a group of my girlfriends at the Blanton Museum of Art for one of the museum’s monthly “Third Thursday” programs. We enjoyed the opening of a new exhibit, a stroll through the museum’s permanent collection, and live music in the foyer, but the main draw for us was the opportunity to take a yoga class in one of the galleries, surrounded by beautiful paintings. The refined ambiance lent a whole new energy to our poses, and we were able to view the works from a new perspective. I mean this quite literally, as we were standing on our heads at least once during the class.

I’m intrigued by the many special activities museums are hosting to attract new audiences: Happy hours with live music, film screenings, book discussions, hands-on art lessons, and now, yoga and other exercise classes.

So my interest was piqued when I got word of a yoga class (Feb. 21 and Mar. 14) in conjunction with the controversial touring exhibition BODIES, currently at the West End Marketplace in Dallas (866/312-3931; www.bodiesdallas.com). In case you haven’t heard of it, BODIES showcases real human bodies, preserved by a process called “plastination,” so that you can study human anatomy in detail—muscles, organs, blood vessels—the whole kit and kaboodle. I saw a similar (competing, I think) show (BodyWorlds) at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, a few years ago, and I found it simultaneously fascinating and macabre; it certainly made me mindful of how complicated the human body is. I’m not a squeamish sort. But doing yoga amidst it all? That could be too real even for me.  

We’re starting to put together the April issue, and one story about sustainable travel especially holds my interest. The author makes the point that people in general are growing more aware of lessening their impact on the environment when they travel, and she provides suggestions on restaurants that source their food locally, hotels that make an effort to be energy-efficient, and destinations that focus on conservation. It’s a topic I suspect we’ll revisit from time to time, especially since most places don’t expect us to relinquish any of our creature comforts. In most cases, after all, conservation is about efficiency.

 I was poking around on the Web to learn more about this timely topic, and I stumbled across a concept that hadn’t occurred to me—one aspect of traveling green means packing light.  Obviously, transporting less weight means using less energy. As someone who has made great strides in the art of packing but has yet to master it, I appreciate any and all advice about lessening the packing burden.

  I’ve erred on the side of packing practically half my closet for a two-day trip to Dallas, but I’ve also erred on the side of packing a single T-shirt and a pair of pants for a weeklong (unfortunately unfashionable) trip to Costa Rica. These days I’m shooting for the middle ground. A packing list helps—that way I don’t wake up in the middle of the night wondering if I’ve remembered to stash my sunglasses in the suitcase; I can throw them in my case, check them off the list, and move on.  But still I recently went to Saint Louis without any socks. Go figure.

 I’ll be making trips to Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and beyond in coming months, and I imagine I’ll wrestle with the packing conundrum each trip. Like I said, I could use helpful suggestions. Bring ’em on, please. 

I just received word that the Texas Department of Agriculture’s wine-marketing folks are celebrating the 1^st anniversary of its popular “Winery Passport” promotion with additional incentives for wine travelers. What’s a wine passport, you ask? Here’s the deal: Request one (it’s a little booklet) online. Then, each time you visit a Texas winery (more than 180 to choose from), write its number down in your passport. You can redeem your passport for wine-related prizes, ranging from a Texas wine journal (4 winery visits) or a corkscrew (16 visits) to full wine-related weekends, complete with private wine tastings, sommelier dinners, and overnight lodging. (The big packages require more than 200 winery visits.)

Seems as though there might be a good money-making opportunity in chauffeured wine excursions. Would it be fun to pile onto a bus or van and tour a group of Texas’ almost-200 wineries? Personally, I think this is a great idea.

On another note, this weekend I learned another acceptable “descriptor” used by wine aficionados. I had opened a bottle of grenache-syrah to use in a fancy beef stew, and I poured myself a glass to sample while dinner simmered. While the wine tasted fine, I heard myself say to my dinner guests, “Well, this smells a bit like…..old socks.”

My friend Kim told me that in wine circles, this aroma is called “barnyard.” And it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

A few years ago, when economy woes hit the headlines and everybody reined in their vacation spending, travel-biz folks started talking up the concept of the “Staycation” (whooping it up close to home) and its related concept, the “Daycation.” But I just now received the strangest email, from a company promoting what it calls a “Haycation”— aimed at city dwellers who want to explore the country—assuming, I guess, that all country adventures include a hayride. 

 So I started wondering what’ll come next. Gaycation—if it hasn’t been thought of yet, it will soon. Smart cities like Houston have already started promoting travel opportunities for gay and lesbian travelers, so I expect we’ll see more of this. What about Praycations—trips to various places of worship and/or meditation? Nowaycations for workaholics who require WiFi in hotels, parks, restaurants, and sites they visit? Lamécations, for sartorial-minded travelers who want to ditch their conservative workaday wear for glitzy spangles à la 1960s Las Vegas?  Outstaycations, for travelers on a budget who crash on friends’ and relatives’ sofas and don’t offer to clean up or buy dinner? Disobeycations, for travelers who are upstanding citizens during the workweek but want to explore their rebellious sides? Olécations, for folks who want to practice Spanish and familiarize themselves with Texas’ Hispanic heritage?

 Paycations (blow the paycheck on something extravagant). Raycations (sun and fun). Spraycations (could be sailing, could be a graffiti workshops). Cafecations (tour of pie and coffee). Ospreycations (for bird specialists, of course.) Résumécations (seeing the sights while looking for a job). Outrécations (outrageous, unpredictable, and a lot of fun).

 What say you? Am I on to something?

I just received word that Texas A&M University recently dedicated its first two architect-designed buildings—physics buildings named for university benefactors George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell. Both structures were designed by architect Michael Graves and boast numerous “green” features, including heating & AC systems that use natural convection currents and  a rainfall collection cistern.

Hmmmm. Seems as though national and internationally known architects have always been eager to have their works represented in Texas. Just off the top of my head, I’m thinking of Tadao Ando’s beautiful Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth, the Renzo Piano addition to the already-wonderful Louis Kahn-designed Kimbell Art Museum (also in Fort Worth), the recent expansion of the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio by French architect Jean Paul Viguier, and —back to campus architecture—the many iconic, Moorish/Spanish-inspired red-brick buildings at Trinity University in San Antonio, designed by Texas architect O’Neil Ford. Makes me think an architecture-tour might be great fun. Road trip!

A few years ago, a colleague turned me on to an online newsletter called “Urban Daddy”–an irreverent,  intelligently written e-mailed newsblast about art and culture (both high and low) in New York and Los Angeles. The items had (and still have) a sense of humor and a rather Esquire-like sensibility to them (read: male p.o.v.). I always enjoy trying to understand the other side. So I’m pleased to learn that the Urban Daddy vagabonds have discovered Dallas. I don’t see much content coming from Big D yet, but I’m optimistic. You can subscribe at Urbandaddy.com. In the meantime, if you know of something in Dallas you think we ought to know about, please drop US a line.

I just returned from an out-of-state vacation, and while I had a fantastic time, I was glad to get back to Texas. A sign of a good trip, I think—and perhaps a certain level of satisfaction with my day-to-day routine. In general, I like hotel rooms—the mini-soaps and cute little packets of cotton balls, the comically out-of-proportion flat-screen TVs, the color-coordinated pillow shams, the wake-up calls, the luxury of room service…. But please, WHO thought it was a good idea to invent a single-cup coffeemaker? You’ve seen them, probably—they’re ubiquitous. I’ll concede that the concept SEEMS reasonable—pop a little coffee “pod” into the machine, along with six ounces of water (no more or the machine will shut off!), and several minutes later, you have a single cup of coffee. But I’d argue that these devices are not practical AT ALL for two people traveling together. What with the pouring and the podding and the parceling,  we wasted a colossal amount of time getting out the door in the morning. Oh, good grief I sound like Andy Rooney. Write me to share YOUR hotel pet peeves and maybe I won’t feel so ridiculous.

Long ago, I blogged about watching a troop of paper wasps attack a nasty web of webworms in one of my pecan trees, and now those same trees are providing the setting for yet another insect drama. 

Ever since Austin’s incredibly hot summer has ended–suddenly, it seems, with temperatures in the pleasant range and enough rainfall to coax long-dormant flowers to bloom and grasses to green up—I’ve noticed that in the mornings, when I’m getting ready to drive to work, my car is covered with an irksome sticky substance that appears to have rained from the sky. I assumed this goo-sprinkling was the work of my pecan trees, grateful for the rain and spitting out pollen or sap or something, aspiring to procreate. 

But when I spoke with Sharon Truett, the general manager  The Natural Gardener in Austin, she told me I was wrong. Though she couldn’t make a diagnosis without looking at a few leaves under a microscope, she told me that the sticky goo was likely the “honeydew” (excrement) of aphids, which were attacking my tree. Stressed from the drought, pecan trees all across Austin were easy  pickings for hungry aphids. There’s not a lot I can do, she said, except to pray for ladybugs and other beneficial insects, which devour aphids, critters Sharon described as “the cows of the insect world–succulent, slow-moving, and full of tenderness.” 

Come on, ladybugs! Supper is ON!

I just returned from an action-packed, three-day trip to South Padre Island, and wow–the beginning of fall is a fantastic time to be at the beach. Not only is it “off” season right now (meaning that hotel rates are low–my room at the Palms Hotel–a place right on the beach, with a restaurant & bar, plus a fridge in the room–ran around 75 bucks a night), but you won’t have to wrestle for space on the beach, in restaurants, on snorkeling boats, or dolphin-watching tours. Vacationing families leave in August, and the Winter Texans typically start arriving in November, so during September and October, island merchants are extra-glad to see us. 

Same is true for other Texas coastal destinations, like Port Aransas–one of my favorite spots in Texas. In fact, a group of friends and I have rented a large house in Port A for a Thanksgiving celebration this year. We found a 5-bedroom place with multiple porches, a full cook’s kitchen–just a few blocks from the ocean–that will cost us each about 70 bucks a night. Even accepts pets! I found the listing on a link from the Port Aransas Convention and Visitors Bureau Web site–just google Port Aransas, and you’re golden. 

We’re talking about abandoning the turkey tradition this year and going for paella instead.