In Dallas for the Cotton Bowl? Whether you’re a Hoghead or rooting for Mizzou, there’s plenty to amuse you in Big D. What to eat: Good grub is practically on every corner. My favorites include Bubba’s (on Hillcrest, near SMU) for great fried chicken; Snuffer’s on Lower Greenville Avenue for the best basket of fries topped with melted cheese, bacon, and jalapenos; Fireside Pies on Henderson Avenue for amazing bread baked in a pecan wood-burning oven and covered in four kinds of melted cheese (see a trend here?); and Primo’s on McKinney Avenue for addictive grilled pork tacos and a fabulous fresh lime margarita – and a good chance of seeing Dallas Stars hunky-dunky Mike Modano and his beautiful bride. What to see: Walk around downtown to gawk at some lovely architecture. You won’t find a hotel more baroque and beautiful than the Adolphus, and it’s just a block away from the original Neiman Marcus store (both are on Commerce Street); a good place to pray for your team and a safe trip home is Thanks-Giving Square, home to the magical Chapel of Thanksgiving, designed by the late Philip Johnson, on Pacific Avenue; fans of I.M. Pei’s designs should check out Dallas City Hall and the Morton Meyerson Symphony Center, too. If you’re staying downtown, jump on DART, the city’s light-rail system, for a ride into Uptown for great shopping and gallery-hopping along McKinney Avenue and on streets such as Maple, Fairmount, and Hall. When you go to the Cotton Bowl, give yourself extra time to wander around Fair Park to enjoy the magnificent Art Deco buildings erected for the Texas centennial in 1936. And happy New Year!

There’s nothing like the coast during the wintertime. Right now, nobody’s here. I’ve been on the beach at Matagorda and on the Bolivar Peninsula, and I have it all to myself. There are a few fishermen (and women and kids, but not many) on the various piers and jetties, some late at night. But it’s ever so silent and serene. The quietest place I’ve found is at Lamar, an unincorporated area wedged between Goose Island State Park and the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. I walked down a tiny road that leads to the St. Charles Bay at dusk and the only sound in the world was the squawking of ducks and egrets and cranes in the marshes, getting all worked up about suppertime. I stayed at a little hideout called The Habitat, which is a quartet of simple but comfortable cabins right on a pond. No TV, no phones. And unless your service is with AT&T, no cell phones, either. Heavenly. Proprietor Wayne Nugent, who teaches school in Rockport, does a good job as host, recommending good restaurants in Fulton (Hu Dat, the Vietnamese-Cajun place owned by football great Day Nguyen’s parents, among those recommended), a place to buy a bottle of wine (found a nice French chardonnay, not too pricey), and where in town to find Internet service (Rodeway Inn). He stocks the bookshelves in cabins with good mysteries and birding guides, bakes banana-nut muffins, and makes a good, fiery homemade salsa for guests. He explains the night racket might come from horned owls setting up their territories and warns that his friendly dogs – Otter and Utah – may come by to check out new arrivals. I couldn’t ask for anything nicer just before returning home to the chaos of Christmas.

Cooking on Christmas is a special joy for me, but I know lots of people who feel otherwise. If they’re not eating at my house, there are lots of places that will feed them and theirs. In North Texas, Copeland’s of New Orleans (in Southlake) has a special menu (www.copelandsofneworleans.com), and for really fancy grub, chef Gerard Thompson at Rough Creek Lodge near Glen Rose is doing all kinds of cool stuff with local turkey, as well as salmon, roast venison, or prime rib (www.roughcreek.com). For downhome stuff, head on over to Vance Godbey’s on 8601 Jacksboro Highway in Fort Worth, where the giant buffet has turkey, filet mignon, and barbecue. We’re having Frito pie and tamales at my house on Christmas Day, but if I wanted to go out for chicken mole or green-chile chicken enchiladas, there’s no better place than El Asadero Mexican Steakhouse on Fort Worth’s North Main Street (www.elasadero.com.) All over the state, you can find fancy hotels serving Christmas meals, but if you just want to roll out of bed, see what Santa brought, and then go eat, you have some good options. If you’re in San Antonio, you can celebrate Christmas all day (and night) with any of the fabulous breakfast dishes; my favorite is the machacado omelet, incorporating shredded dried beef, tomatoes, jalapeños, and onions (www.mitierracafe.com). In Houston, 59 Diner will serve you comfort in the form of a BLT, patty melt, chicken pot pie, and an egg cream (www.59diner.com). And in Austin, Katz’s Deli (www.katzneverkloses.com) and Threadgill’s are the two most famous standards that will make you merry and bright. Remember: If you go out to eat on the holiday, please leave a nice tip for the restaurant staff – unless they wanted to escape some family drama at home, they might not have wanted to work on Christmas.

So I’m cruising down US 59 today, heading from Houston down to the Aransas Pass area. When I’m just north of Victoria, I see the sign alerting drivers that a rest area is just one mile ahead and that it has Wi-Fi. So I get to said rest area and it’s really nice and appears to be new, but I can’t find anyone camped out with their laptops and white chocolate mocha lattes checking their e-mail. Still, I’m curious: When one is driving down the highway and pulls into a rest area to hop on the Internet, what might one be looking up? So I came up with possible answers to my own question, just for fun. Here are the top 10 things people might be doing online at the rest area outside of Victoria:

10. Checking out locations of Starbucks in Victoria so they can get that white chocolate mocha latte a few miles ahead.
9. Ordering last-minute gifts from Amazon.com, with overnight delivery still possible. (Hint to Santa: Please send copies of Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert to all my closest friends).
8. Looking at the weather to see if it might snow anywhere in Texas in the next few days so we’ll know where to go for a white Christmas.
7. Visiting the TPWD Web site to revisit the map of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail to see where the nearest viewing sites are.
6. Finding out where the good dining spots are in the Rockport-Fulton area.
5. Checking the gossip sites to find out if Tony Romo has announced that he won’t date Jessica Simpson again until after he wins the Super Bowl.
4. Sending e-mails home to remind loved ones to feed the dogs.
3. Checking e-mails to see if bosses, supervisors, and other people in charge have magically decided to extend all deadlines by a month.
2. Downloading holiday music by LeAnn Rimes and Lee Ann Womack to their iPods.
And the number one reason people might go online at the rest area:
1. Checking their bank account to see how much money is still available before the holiday shopping comes to a screeching halt.

Is there a hitch in yer gitalong or are you gonna cowgirl up already? If you’re one a them gals who wishes you’d been born in a saddle, or you simply just want to learn what’s the business end of a horse, it’s time to sign up for a course at Cowgirl U. Sponsored by the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame, the American Quarter Horse Association, and the Cattle Raisers Museum, this Fort Worth-based program is a series of classes that let you get in touch with your inner cowgirl. Some of the courses in the 2008 term – which begins in February and runs through early December – are just a couple of hours in length, some last a full day, some cover a weekend, and all include time spent with some of the Hall of Fame honorees. You can take one or all of the classes, depending on how much giddyup ya got. Although I no longer own a horse, I have several pairs of beat-up cowboy boots, and think I must have been Dale Rogers’ great aunt in a former life, so I’m all about getting with the Cowgirl U program. Some of these are for newcomers to cowgirl culture and many are for veterans who simply like the fellowship, which is unlike most other kinds of girlfriend get-togethers. My favorite picks for 2008 are Rodeo U on February 1, a day spent at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, the Hall of Fame in rodeo education workshops, and dinner at Reata at the Backstage Club; Cowgirl 101 on April 12, which is a day at the McFarland Ranch outside Fort Worth in Aledo spent learning basic horsemanship, rope handling, and shaping a palm-leaf hat; and at the photography workship, June 5-8, at the Sweet Grass Ranch in Big Timber, Montana. Best of all, it’s a great chance to meet other cowgirls – and cowgirls-in-training.
For more information, go HERE.

Nearly 12 years ago, I had the pleasure of going to Marfa on an assignment for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram with a photographer named Allison V. Smith. We were covering chef Grady Spears, who had just opened Reata restaurant in Fort Worth, while he was working with Martha Stewart on a magazine spread about West Texas barbecue, which was staged at the Chinati Foundation. That weekend, I found Allison to be an immensely talented (and wonderfully fun) young woman, and I learned that she comes from a distinguished lineage, as she’s the granddaughter of the late Stanley Marcus. Allison had a great relationship with her granddad, as did her mom, so the two women have collaborated on a magnificent book called Reflection of a Man. Within this beautiful volume are 120 remarkable color and black-and-white photographs Stanley shot on his business and personal travels to Europe, Mexico, and at home. Essays come from the likes of designer Oscar de la Renta, and the book’s design is by the renowned DJ Stout at Pentagram Design in Austin. Congratulating Allison and her mom in person seems to be eluding me, as the two are dashing from city to city for book signings right now, and I keep missing them. Yesterday, they were at the Fort Worth Neiman Marcus for an event, but I was en route to an assignment in Bellville. Tonight they’re signing in Austin, where I happen to be arriving tomorrow – when they’ll be back home in Dallas. The good news is, I can catch them in Houston on December 15 or at NorthPark in Dallas on December 22. And best of all, Allison and Jerrie will be on the CBS Sunday Morning show on December 16 to talk about their book and their beloved patriarch. There’s more on the book HERE, and you can buy one (it’s $60 – a terrific Christmas present for someone with exquisite taste) at any Neiman Marcus store.

I’ve got this crazy feeling that Carol Elder at the Famous Mineral Water Company in Mineral Wells is a happy woman. She sent an enthusiastic e-mail yesterday to let friends and clients know how well things are going with their Crazy Water. You know – it’s that famous mineral water that made Mineral Wells such a crazy-popular place about 100 years ago. Mineral Wells was the most popular of all the Texas spa resorts, where people would come – on doctors’ orders – to take to the curative waters. Eventually the spa business died and the celebrity visitors stopped coming, but the Crazy Water endures. Whole Foods in North Texas and Sunflower Shoppe (a health food store in Fort Worth) sell Crazy No. 2 and Crazy No. 3 waters, and you can get 2, 3, and 4 at the Whole Foods in San Antonio and Austin. Best news yet: Whole Foods in Plano is selling the Crazy Water in its new glass bottles – even more environmentally friendly. You can now buy Crazy Water online HERE, where you can read more about which Crazy Water is right for whatever ails you. And you can share your own stories about how Crazy Water has helped you at HERE.