Posts by Janie H Pace

Cruising the Viking homelands for two weeks took my husband and me to breathtaking scenery along the magnificent Norwegian fjords and across the Baltic Sea. We overnighted in Stockholm, Oslo, and Bergen, which I have written about separately. I loved the eight destinations below because of the quaint cobblestone streets in the old towns, the medieval charms, and…

I have experienced many great margaritas in my travels across Texas. A Juarez bartender for 21 years, Pancho Morales claimed to have invented the margarita in the summer of 1942 at Tommy’s Place on Juarez Avenue in Old Juarez — on the Mexico side of El Paso. The drink was blended with tequila, Cointreau, and…

Deep azure skies, white cottony clouds, wide-open desert spaces, and the distant Chinati Mountains meet a two-lane road with no other vehicle in sight. You’re in Marfa, far West Texas, where you can drive a day just to get here. The closest international airports are in El Paso and Midland, each less than 200 miles…

A legend says an old Caddo chief living along the Sabine River had twin sons: one with blonde hair and blue eyes, and one with brown hair and brown eyes. When they grew to manhood, they were ready to lead their tribes. The chief sent one son 3 days west toward the setting sun, and…

The last time we visited family in Albuquerque, we took a day trip and stopped in Madrid, New Mexico. We drove the Turquoise Trail, a National Scenic Byway connecting Albuquerque and Santa Fe, also known as the High Road to Santa Fe, or Highway 14. The trail incorporates hills, valleys, and plateaus, with mountains reaching as…

Chef Tim Love wears a giant hat in Fort Worth, Texas. The award-winning chef owns an impressive list of restaurants in Fort Worth, and he is also an author, boutique hotelier, and co-host of CNBC’s Restaurant Startup. You’ll see Chef Love on national television shows like Iron Chef America, Top Shelf Masters, Good Morning America, and The Today Show.…

Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, is a 2-day holiday on November 1–2 reuniting the living and the dead. The Disney Pixar movie Coco created a newfound fascination with the holiday for me. An annual celebration honoring relatives who have passed on but have a continued presence in our lives speaks to me. Latin American…

I love historic hotels. The Driskill, constructed in 1886 as the showcase of cattle baron Colonel Jesse Driskill, is Austin’s legendary shining star, deep in the heart of Texas. Located downtown at Brazos and 6th Street, the oldest operating hotel in Austin is five blocks from the State Capitol, near the Austin Convention Center, and steps…

The fourth largest city in Texas and the fourteenth largest in the United States, Austin consistently appears on lists of the best cities to move to and places to retire. Austin still celebrates its quirkiness with its “Keep Austin Weird” theme and supports vibrant arts, film, and music styles. Austin is preparing for a busy…

Brilliant sherbet-drenched sunsets, undulating peaks along the horizon, swaying prairie grasses punctuated with mountains of enormous lava rock. Alpine, Texas, is a remote, high-desert gem, 90 miles north of Big Bend National Park and Mexico. When you take a deep breath at the 4,475-foot elevation, the air is clean and sweet, the mornings and evenings…