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. 

Winter wonderlands are hardly cliché in Texas.

Snow-covered steps to the Texas Travel Information Center in Denison. Submitted by Center Supervisor Robbie Dudley.

That’s why drivers freak out when the flurries start to fall. We don’t know how to drive (or walk!) in icy or snowy conditions. Northerners like to laugh when us southerners become incapacitated by the weather, but that’s like a teen laughing at a baby for not walking more gracefully. They get a LOT more practice with it than we do, so for us, it’s still new.

But despite all that taunting, we have something they don’t when it comes to snow –– a child-like awe when even the slightest flake falls. It’s still magical to us. Or at least more magical.

This week, friends across the state had the chance to experience the snow. Texas Department of Transportation’s Travel Services Section has 12 travel information centers at various entry points across the state. Our friends at the Texarkana, Waskom and Denison travel information centers shared some of their snow photos and stories, so I thought I’d share.

Chilly day at the Texas Travel Information Center in Texarkana. Submitted by Linda Vaughan.

Waskom travel counselors made use of the ice melt they had on hand and made their own shovels (not like snow shovels are easy to find in Texas!).

“Most travelers enjoyed the snow and someone made a snowman on our grounds,” says Waskom travel counselor Donna Watson.

Even in our glee, we understand that snow comes with some inconveniences, too.

Waskom Travel Information Center Supervisor Melissa Wilson says, “Some of my employees didn’t have electricity at their homes. They had to fix their ‘Texas hair’ at the center.”

Wilson added, “We’ve had several Winter Texans say they left their homes, up north, to come to Texas, so they could get away from the snow.” One Winter Texan said, “It must have followed them from Pennsylvania.”

For that, we’re (sort of) grateful.

Snowy day at the Texas Travel Information Center in Waskom. Photo by Melissa Wilson.

By the way, if you have not visited a Texas Travel Information Center, please make a point to stop by. They are informational havens –– with sophisticated, and locally-inspired architectural designs –– that serve the traveling public. The travel information centers also just happen to be staffed by some of Texas’ best ambassadors.

You can find a list of Texas Travel Information Centers here.

For my son’s seventh birthday, we forewent Chuck E  Cheese, and packed up the car for a San Antonio daytrip. Our main destination—the San Antonio Zoo, which we had only half-explored when he was three. I visited the zoo many times as a child on summer stays with my grandmother, who, in the interest of preserving my good time, gracefully masked her sadness over the pacing cats and other creatures in tight enclosures.

Fast forward to last Saturday, one of those rare, rain-free days of late—contented grizzlies snoozed in the sunshine, Lucky the elephant trumpeted (loudly), brilliant lorikeets sucked nectar, then flitted from branch to branch, and blubbery hippos balletically swam in the new Africa Live exhibit. Is it the Alaskan Peninsula? The African savanna? The Australian rainforest? Lake Malawi? None of the above, but the zoo has come a long way. Grandma would be glad.

Check out the March issue of TH, which includes a Speaking of Texas piece on adventurer Frank Buck, for whom Gainesville’s zoo is named. 

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.  

While children get to have special mail that’s postmarked from the North Pole, lovers can look forward to sending their sweetheart a valentine postmarked and stamped from Valentine (Texas, that is)? More than a dozen post offices across the United States –– including Valentine, Texas –– offer special postmarks for the lovely occasion, to help impress your loved ones. This special touch is easy as pie to achieve, and the effort could yield priceless benefits.

Simply place your pre-stamped and addressed valentine(s) in a Priority or Express Mail envelope or box and mail it to:

Postmaster: Maria Carrasco

Valentine Re-mailing

Valentine, TX 79854

Once received, each outgoing letter/package will receive a special Valentine cancellation stamp and will be mailed off to recipients. High school students compete each year in a contest to determine the year’s cancellation stamp.

Sending it off sooner is better, of course, but it is suggested that the package to be re-mailed should be received in Valentine by Feb. 10 to help ensure a Feb. 14 delivery. If you’re a procrastinator, take note that you might be in the last-minute bag with other procrastinators. According to the USPS, Valentine’s Love Station hand-stamped a record 39,000 pieces of mail from across the globe with the Valentine postmark in 1994. On average, the postmaster handles approximately 100 cards and letters a day. Two weeks before Valentine’s Day, that number jumps to as much as 2,000 a day.

Visit www.usps.com to get ZIP codes for other cities offering a special postmarking, such as Heart Butte, Mont.; Loveland, Colo.; Loveville, Md.; Loving, N. Mex.; Romance, Ariz.; Romeo, Mich.; Juliet, Ga.; Bliss, N.Y.; Sugar City, Colo.; and Valentine in Nebraska or Virginia.

Everything’s big in Texas, in fact, Texas is so big, it’s gone global  Or so it’s been pointed out in a Facebook thread that started with “Good morning, Texas!”

New Mexico and Australia chimed in – “What about us?!” To which we replied with the simple truth: “If you love Texas, you ARE Texas.”  That good morning goes a long way. That’s how Texas rolls.:)

So now, I’m curious where, in the world, are you if you’re not living in Texas now?  Did you use to live here? Just wish you could live here? What is it you love so much about it?

Share, please.

The trailer-café craze that has consumed Austin tends to be a mostly daytime affair, with many if not most in my neighborhood rolling up their windows by sunset.  I was delighted to discover that Odd Duck Farm to Trailer at 1219 S. Lamar begins serving at 5 p.m., perfect for “cook’s night out” (the “cook” in this case being me).

An intriguing menu, which changes daily, also piqued my interest. Odd Duck offers up appetizers and entrées that adhere to the rediscovered “nose-to-tail” philosophy, which means using ingredients from local farms, and with meats, using every edible part.  (Read more about restaurants using nose-to-tail principles, including nearby Olivia in March 2010 TH Taste).

At prices ranging from $3-7, Odd Duck offers an affordable foodie foray from an inventive chef, Bryce Gilmore. Gilmore, a California Culinary Academy alumnus who has worked at Moonshine and Wink in Austin, Café 909 in Marble Falls, Boulevard in San Francisco, and Montagna at the Little Nell in Aspen, got his start in the kitchen of his father Jack Gilmore’s Z’Tejas Grill in Austin.

For my dinnertime adventure, I chose rabbit braised in pale ale and mustard with poached duck egg over creamy turnip grits. A hint of Parmesan in this luscious stew gave the dish a slightly tart and pleasantly salty taste. The flavor and texture reminded me of Chinese jook or congee (rice porridge), especially when combined with the turnip grits.  The rabbit was tender, and had a slightly smoky aroma, which further enhanced the combination.

The entree portions tend to be on the small side, so on my next visit, I’ll be sure to order more!