Road Trip Tips
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Summer is always a great time for a road trip. The sun is out and the view is unobstructed by fog, rain, mist, or snow, in full display for us to enjoy, may it be the sunset across the mountain ranges or the vista seen from the rollercoaster ready for a speedy descent. It is a great time to be outside visiting places we haven’t been to before.
As you start planning your itinerary, remember these: plan, but make room for unexpected surprises. Always be careful when you are on the road, and make sure to enjoy the best part of any trip: food!
Beach Getaway
A trip to the beach always has this timeless, romantic allure - the warm sun, the soft sand, the sea breeze, and the gentle, rolling waves. City dwellers would love hitting the road for a beach retreat to decompress and wash away the stress (getting a tan is a bonus!).
Going to the beach is always inviting, especially in the summer when it is hot. If you are bringing kids, the beach is a wide-open space for running and playing. Just make sure everyone wears sunblock before frolicking under the sun and running towards the water. (Read this article from TexasRealFood about summer and using sunblock).
A great place to try is the coastal area of Corpus Christi, the Sparkling City by the Sea, where the view is great and the food options are diverse and delicious. All that swimming and running around will definitely make you hungry, so make sure to eat well. Galveston also has a lot of beautiful beaches, so consider stopping by here too.
Food tip. A seafood restaurant sounds great after a day on the beach. A waterfront dining in an open-air restaurant lets you extend the enjoyment of your beach getaway - think fresh oysters (What wine goes well with oysters?), shrimp cocktail, (What wine goes well with shrimp cocktail?) shrimp salad, crab cake sandwich, fish tacos, grilled fish, and more. The scent of the sea, the sound of the waves, and the invigorating sea breeze add to the ambiance of eating, minus the sand on your feet. Sure, you’ve had seafood in the city, but anyone who knows good food will tell you the best place to eat seafood is in a restaurant near the water. If you happen to pass by San Antonio, here are some seafood restaurants you don’t want to miss.
Consider this also: the good thing about a trip to the beach is you can bring homemade food for a lunch or dinner picnic. It’s cheaper, good for people on a budget. But just because you’ll spend most of the day in your flip-flops and boardshorts does not mean a fancy sit-down meal is not an option, especially if your road trip has a romantic agenda. Try a restaurant locals love. There are restaurants here that serve steak and prime beef cuts with a great wine list.
Swimming or frolicking on the beach means you are also exposed to the sun for longer than usual so make sure to hydrate. Snack on food that helps cool the body. Here’s a list that could help you.
Driving tip. Do not eat and drive. Remember that eating while driving is a form of distracted driving. If you are the driver, plan ahead to avoid getting hungry in between food stops. If you are really hungry, park the car and eat. Don’t ignore your hunger pangs. Your hunger will negatively impact your driving ability. If you are the driver’s companion, don't let the designated driver go hungry! Be on the lookout for restaurants. Let TexasRealFood help you: just type in the zipcode of your current location here and we will show you a listing of restaurants and food businesses.
Visit the Museum
It’s a question that has been tossed around during the annual family trip meeting: where are we going this year? If you haven’t had a museum road trip before, then you have your answer. Visit the museum on your next road trip. There are a lot of museums in Texas and I am sure you haven’t visited them all!
Many museums in Texas are focused on history and culture, like The Witte Museum and the Mexican Cultural Institute in San Antonio, the Dallas Holocaust Museum, and the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin. Make sure to visit highly-recommended museums or consider adding quirky museums in the mix (like Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! and Louis Tussaud’s Palace of Wax in Grand Prairie, Cowgirl Hall of Fame & Museum in Fort Worth, National Museum of Funeral History in Houston, or the Salt Palace Museum in Grand Saline) to make the trip exciting.
You can plan per city (there are many museums in one city alone, like Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas) or plan a themed museum crawl. For example, if you want to visit an art museum, Houston has the Museum of Fine Arts, and then there is San Antonio Museum of Art, Briscoe Western Art Museum, McNay Art Museum, (San Antonio), Dallas Museum of Art, El Paso Museum of Art, and the International Museum of Art and Science in McAllen, Texas.
Space, aviation, and aeronautics is another theme, and for that, you may want to visit the Space Center Houston, 1940 Air Terminal Museum (also in Houston), Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, and the War Eagles Air Museum in El Paso. If you are into cars, automotive, or anything related to land transportation, visit the ArtCar Museum in Houston and The South Texas Motorcycle Museum in Edinburg.
Food tip. You can’t bring food or drinks inside the museum. They usually have a dining area or café where you can buy food, so make sure to bring money for food. Do not buy too much food because you have to eat your food in the dining area or cafeteria only; food and drinks are not allowed in the exhibit area for safety and security purposes. Do not eat too much because this might make you sleepy or lethargic during the rest of the museum trip. Light snacking is advisable and a hearty meal for dinner before you retire for the night.
May it be San Antonio or Dallas or Houston or any town or city in Texas, rest assured that you can easily find a place to eat after touring the museum by browsing TexasRealFood's directory.
Driving tip. There are stretches during the road trip when everyone is snoozing and many drivers prefer they have companions who are awake during the drive. During the drive after leaving the museum, engage those in the car to talk about their museum experience - did they learn some interesting trivia? Which part of the museum tour did they like the best? Perhaps a friendly Q&A or trivia contest, with winners getting chocolates or candy treats! I know I’d like to participate in that kind of contest. If you get them excited and talking, they’ll be less likely to doze off and you don’t have to worry about being the only one awake in the car.
Adrenaline Adventure!
We're talking about roller coasters so high it feels like you can touch the sky, rides that spin so fast it turns the world into one big blur and makes you faint. This kind of road trip offers extreme thrills that are not for the faint of heart, which makes it more exciting!
Begin your amusement park road trip at Houston and visit Kemah Boardwalk and the Houston Aquarium. After that, drive to Galveston and visit Pleasure Pier before heading to In The Game Funtrackers located in Corpus Christi. The last leg of this exciting road trip should take you to San Antonio where you can enjoy Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Morgan's Wonderland, and Morgan's Inspiration Island, an ultra-accessible splash park. It earned the distinction of being included in TIME Magazine’s first annual World’s Greatest Places list because it is an amusement park designed to be inclusive, allowing everyone to mingle and enjoy, including guests with special needs.
If this is your first time traveling to these locations in Texas, take the opportunity to sample the iconic restaurants here, like Gaido's in Galveston - a favorite restaurant of locals and visitors alike for their fresh Gulf seafood which has been the restaurant's calling card since 1911. If they’ve been open this long, the food must be really good!
Food tip. A road trip in an RV (recreational vehicle) or motorhome with a kitchen is great because this means you can cook anytime and you are not dependent on motels and restaurants for food. But remember that a road trip is your chance to experience the local cuisine so if your budget and itinerary allow, make sure to eat at local restaurants. Visit the local farmers markets too so that you have supplies just in case you are planning on cooking using your mobile kitchen. TexasRealFood’s directory will help you find the nearest artisan food producers, farms, restaurants, and real food stores, whatever town or city you are currently in right now.
Driving tip. If you are the designated driver, make sure you are fit to drive after a trip to the adventure park. There is no shame in saying no to rides that will make you feel unwell - these rides are not for everybody. Avoid rides that will make you dizzy because this might affect the quality of your driving later on.
If you've overestimated your tolerance and end up dizzy after a ride, there's a food remedy for that: eat nuts, dried fruit, whole grain bread, peanut butter, or celery. Eating slow-release, low GI foods helps alleviate dizziness. Drinking water helps too! Wait until you feel better before you drive.
Historical Sites: Talk About a Throwback Trip
Texas is a state rich in history, and a road trip dedicated to visiting historical sites is not only educational and informative, but if you are a Texan, this experience will enhance your sense of identity.
If you have never visited The Alamo in San Antonio, make this your first stop. Also called Alamo Mission, this former Spanish mission built in the 18th century is now one of the most famous attractions in Texas, with an estimated four million annual visitors. The Alamo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a National Historic Landmark. The Alamo has transformed through the years - from being a place of religious mission and teaching to becoming a fortress and the site of the Battle of Alamo in 1836, which is an important battle in the Texas Revolution, to becoming one of the most visited historic sites in Texas today.
Food tip. In the spirit of the Alamo and its gallant fighters, choose a post-tour meal of beef and corn, which, according to historians, are what the Alamo defenders have been eating in the fortress. There are many restaurants to choose from that have beef on the menu. If your companions ask you about your choice of food, share with them this interesting information. Maybe expand the conversation: if you are one of the soldiers during the siege and you have beef and corn, what food would you have prepared for your fellow soldiers to eat? This is a great mealtime conversation, especially if you are with people cooks, chefs, or with anyone who simply loves to cook.
Here’s a TexasRealFood tip: here’s a list for each Texas county where you can find places to eat and discover local food.
Driving tip. Posing a real threat to drivers during the summer season is dehydrated driving, so make sure to always stay hydrated behind the wheel. In San Antonio, the average high-temperature is 96.6°F (35.9°C), and the average low-temperature of 75.7°F (24.3°C) during August, which is the warmest month in San Antonio. September is also hot, with an average high of 89.1°F (31.7°C) and an average low of 71.6°F (22°C), so always have a bottle of water with you during your road trip to avoid driving dehydrated. Driving dehydrated may not sound so bad, but a study reveals that if the driver is dehydrated, he or she is prone to committing driving errors that could result in an accident on the road.
Here are other road trip destinations: the Texas State Capitol in Austin, with its "whispering gallery" that will surely be of interest to those interested in history and archeology; Port Isabel Lighthouse State Historic Site (built in 1852), for those who want to learn about Texas’ maritime history; the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, for those who are interested to know more about the time when the Spanish missionaries are converting Native Americans to Catholicism; The San Jacinto Monument, which marks the final battle in Texas’ fight for independence from Mexico; or The Pioneer Museum in downtown Fredericksburg, for those interested in learning more about the nineteenth and twentieth-century life of German immigrants that settled in this part of Texas.
Go Where You’ve Never Been
Life is too short and it is a big world out there. Sometimes, the best kind of road trip is not choosing which place is fun or exciting, but simply taking a trip somewhere you have never been, for the sake of exploring the world around you. A road trip is about freedom, and going where you have never been before is a liberating experience; it makes you feel you are not cooped up in your own small world. A lot of us can use this right now, especially after the lockdown and how COVID-19 affected our way of life.
Food tip. Pair your free-spirited exploration of new places with trying new food. I encourage you to go local (TexasRealFood can help you find local businesses), and don’t just eat at a local restaurant, but order local favorites as well. Have an open mind and enjoy eating food you’ve never eaten before. But a word of caution: be mindful of your own food restrictions, like food allergies. There is a fine line between being carefree and being careless, and you don’t want your road trip to take you to a hospital.
Driving tip. Keep your eyes on the road. All drivers know this because this is important for safe driving. But there is another reason why you should be alert and mindful of the road, and that’s to spot roadside vendors selling snacks. So make sure to drive according to the speed limit, but make sure you are not going too fast that everything is a blur and you miss out on the opportunity to spot a good place to stop and snack. Bring cash and smaller bills. You don’t expect these roadside vendors to take a credit card, do you? Smaller bills also make it easy to give tips.
Slow down on your next road trip by practicing mindful eating. Learn more about it here.
