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Happy New Year!
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Happy New Year!
2010 was a blast for Texas Outside and here's to hoping that 2011 will be a fun and fantastic year for  you! In 2010 Texas Outside set a number of new records, all of which are thanks to you for making it happen - we ended the year with over 125 million hits, 26 million page views, and 2.7 million outdoor enthusiasts from around the world visiting Texas Outside looking for fun things to see and do! And we put over 30,000 miles on the jeep, SUV, and motorhome traveling throughout Texas, added 6 new tires, and a couple new dents and dings.
We (which typically refers to Mr & Mrs Texas Outside, our two kids and their family which includes a total of 4 grandkids, and friends) took a number of trips in and out of Texas, discovered a lot of fun and unique things to do, and had some exciting adventures. And we added a large majority of our excursions and discoveries to Texas Outside. So, this newsletter is dedicated to some of the best of what we discovered and enjoyed during 2011. And we hope that you have the opportunity to visit some or all of them in 2011. A majority of our 2010 discoveries have been added by month to the What's New Page. Use that page and some of what's in this Newsletter and make it a New Years resolution to get outside, have fun, and enjoy life - it's short! Make it a goal to add to and complete some of the stuff on your "bucket list."Let us know about your fun adventures. Thanks again for helping make 2010 a fun and successful year! If there is anything we can do to return the favor, let us know. |
| Fun Vacations - In and Out of Texas |  |
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2010 was the "Year of Outstanding Vacations" - it seems we played more than we worked. We had some week long vacations, some extended weekend vacations, and a lot of three day weekends. Here are some of the week long vacations that were a blast.
 Orlando Vacation - Orlando must be the world's biggest tourist trap with 1000's of things to do. So when we went we stayed away from the well know and popular attractions like Disney World or Sea World. We picked some very unusual adventures to try during our visit. We swam with the manatees, flew in a World War II fighter airplane, sky dived in a 140 mph wind tunnel, played some excellent golf courses, went for a ride in an Indy car at 120 mph and in an airboat across the swamp looking for alligators, and enjoyed some good restaurants and nightclubs.
Colorado Ski Vacation - we spent seven days of playing in that white stuff around Vail, Colorado. We skied four mountains, tubed down some fast tube chutes, rode snow ski bikes (what a blast) through the trees and over some moguls (not pretty but I did it), went on two unbelievably scenic and fun snowmobile trips, enjoyed a horse drawn sleigh ride, and we cross country skied to a Yurt for dinner and then tried to ski (more like slip, slide, fall, bump, crash) home in the dark after lots of wine and beer.
South Padre Island Winter Vacation - after Christmas we headed to South Padre Island to escape the cold weather around Dallas (turns out that the week we were gone it was warm and toasty in Dallas and snowed when we returned home!) and to pretend we were Winter Texans - like all the other people from Minnesota. What a fun place for a vacation - warm weather (one day was 84), friendly people, and lots to do. We rode horses and ATVs on the beach, went sailing with a bunch of rowdy pirates on the Black Dragon, took a sunset dinner cruise on a 48' catamaran, parasailed 600' above Laguna Madre Bay, enjoyed a scenic high speed ride on a boat with 1000 horsepower, watched the dolphins frolic in the Bay, played 6 fun golf courses, tried every beach bar we could find, ate way too much good food, rode bikes around Port Isabel and South Padre, and bar hopped from bar to bar to bring in the New Year with fireworks.
Snowmass Vacation - when my brother-in-law called to say he was getting married in July in Snowmass, it didn't take long for us to say we would be there! What a fantastic wedding plus a fun time kayaking down the Roaring Fork River, hiking some great trails in the mountains, riding bikes around one of the greatest towns in Colorado, riding the Gondola to the top of Snowmass to play Frisbee golf at 13,000', playing one of the best municipal golf courses in the United States (according to Golf Digest), and enjoying the views of Snowmass, Aspen, and the mountains from 3000' above them in a hot air balloon!
To find these and some other vacation articles to help you plan a fun vacation, check out our Fun Vacations Page. If you're looking for something to do on weekends, then check our our Weekend Adventures, Thank God For Weekends, and Fun Things to Do - all in the Discover Texas Section of Texas Outside or under the "Vacations" tab on the top menu bar. |
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| Best Music Festivals of 2011 | |
 Music Festival Reviews -.Each year we attend the same music festivals that we have loved over the last few years and we always say "how can they top last years festival" and each year our favorites (Old Settlers Music Festival, Larry Joe Taylor's Rhymes & Vines and his Texas Music Festival, Tommy Alverson's Family Gathering, and the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival) have been better than the previous year - can they do it again this year? |
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| New Texas Campgrounds & RV Parks | |
 Best Campgrounds & RV Parks - We never seem to do as much camping as we would like to and have made a New Years Resolution to camp more often. We did find and enjoy a number of new campgrounds in 2010, some of which included Brazos Bend State Park near Houston, Cedar Park Ridge on Lake Belton, Palo Duro Canyon State Park near Amarillo, Northshore RV Park on Lake Livingston, Ray Roberts State Park on Lake Ray Roberts, and WinStar RV Park (ok, WinStar is in Oklahoma but just across the border and next to a casino and good golf course, so that's ok to include them here!) We reviewed a number of new parks and added them to our Campground Reviews page and several of the parks we visited in 2010 were added to our Best Campgrounds & RV Parks page. We also formed a partnership with Free Spirit Adventures, who specialize in fun camping and other adventures in Texas - they provide the gear, cook the food, and help pick the best place for a memorable weekend - all you do is show up and have fun! And they are offering Texas Outside Members a special discount on a fully equipped camping trip. Speaking of coupons, if you're going camping, check out our Camping Coupons to save some of that hard earned money! |
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| 2010 Best Golf Courses, Resorts, Stay & Plays, and Vacations | |
 2010 was also the year of golf for us - we must have played at least 6 new courses a month and we discovered some hidden gems, some real losers (I lost one ball in a cow pie), and a lot of the best courses in Texas. Plus we stayed in several golf resorts, took some mini golf vacations as well as a week long golfing vacation, uncovered some outstanding stay and plays, lost a lot of golf balls, went through tons of Advil, typically brought home sand in the shoes and hair, and didn't get any better! Well that's not exactly true, Mrs Texas Outside got much better and is consistently breaking 100 and is addicted to this silly, frustrating, and expensive game! Below are some of the highlights from 2010. Myrtle Beach Golf Vacation - Myrtle Beach is a Mecca for golfers with over 100 great courses plus lots more to go. We set a new record and played 198 holes of the best courses in the area in 7 days, went to 3 different Broadway type shows, rode in a helicopter and on Segways, jet skied in the ocean, found some great beach bars, restaurants and lively nightlife. We had so much fun, I still haven't had time to document it all - hope to have it on the website in a month or so! The link goes to an overview and our review of all the courses we played in Myrtle Beach. Texas Stay & Play Reviews - in 2010 we uncovered some great new stay and plays - Vaaler Creek, Frio Country Resort, and Rancho Viejo Resort & Country Club just to mention a few that we found in 2010. And we finally visited some that we knew about including White Bluff, The Cliffs at Possum Kingdom, and South Padre Island Golf Club. The link will take you to our reviews of each of them.  Golf Resort Reviews - clearly the highlight of our 2010 golf discoveries was the new San Antonio JW Marriott and it's amenities and two OUTSTANDING golf courses, one of which is the hardest course in Texas. La Torretta Golf Resort on Lake Conroe is very good and there are several other great courses in the area. Plus we snuck across the border and loved Cypress Bend Resort on Toledo Bend Reservoir. The link will take you to our golf resort reviews. Best of Texas Golf Courses - we played a lot of new courses in 2010 and our Top 25 Favorite Courses list has several new additions. A few new courses opened this year and are fantastic - the two AT&T TPC Courses in San Antonio and Old American in The Colony. From our year of duffing the ball, some of the new pleasant surprises included: Canyon Springs in San Antonio, River Ridge in Sealy, and Grand Lake in Montgomery. Take Advil, practice, don't swear, and hit 'um long and straight in 2011. Let us know out some of your favorite golf resorts, stay & plays, or courses. |
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| Lakes, Lake Cabins & Resorts, and Fishing | |
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And if you're going fishing, make it a weekend trip and stay in one of the Fishing Cabins & Lodges - we added some new ones for Toledo Bend, Lake Bridgeport, and Lake Conroe.
 Best Texas Lakes and Lake Reviews - to help you quickly find a lake to visit use our Regional Lake Locator Maps or better yet read our Lake Reviews where in 2010 we visited and added new reviews of Lake Bridgeport, Toledo Bend, Lake Livingston, Lake Belton, and Tyler Lake. Our Lakes & Boating section has lake maps, lake resorts and cabins, lake reviews, boat rentals, coupons, and lots more.
Clickable Texas Lake Maps - we love to create these maps to help us plan our trips and find and enjoy fun things on the lake including lodging, camping, resorts, nearby golf courses, party coves, fishing guides, restaurants, and more - just click on what you're interested in and it will show up on the map with info and links. In 2010 we created several new lake maps including Cedar Creek Lake (where we live), Toledo Bend, Lake Bridgeport, Sam Rayburn, and Lake Livingston.
It doesn't get much better than Boating on the Highland Lakes, so if you're planning a trip to any of the 7 Hill Country lakes, then check our our 25 Things To Do Around The Highland Lakes. |
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| New Wedding, Reunion, & Corporate Retreat Venues, Romantic Getaways & More | |
If you are planning on getting married (congratulations) or if you are planning a family or social reunion or a corporate retreat or a special business function, we have added several new venues that we think are some of the best in Texas. So check out some of the new additions to Texas Outside in 2010: 4-D Guest Ranch in Waelder, Camp Lucy in Dripping Springs, Bella La Vita on beautiful Lake Austin, Twelve Oaks in Bulverde, Umlauf Sculpture Garden & Museum in Austin, Cathedral Oaks in Belton, Hill Creek in Glen Rose, and Memory Lane in Dripping Springs. Check out our Wedding, Corporate Retreat, and Reunion pages to find any of the above and lots more.  We started a Romantic Getaways page based on a romantic starlit hot tub evening at Starlight Canyon near Palo Duro Canyon and another one where we zip lined into the Loftheaven tree house at Cypress Valley Canopy Tours - two in one year, a new romantic record! I'm not the Don Juan Romantic Type, so if you have some ideas on romantic getaways that you have enjoyed, let me know and I'll send you a Texas Outside Koozie to say thanks.
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| New Kids Activities, Airborne Activities, and Other Fun Things To Do | |
 2010 was a fantastic year as I've mentioned and a large part of it was because we did a lot with our two kids, their husbands, and our 4 (all under 6) grandkids - soon to be 5 grandkids! It's getting much too crowded in our motorhome for all of us! Anybody have a good motorhome or trailer they would like to donate to Texas Outside? Anyway, thanks to the grandkids (and us kids at heart) we have added a lot of fun things to our Kids Activities page as well as our Airborne Activities page. And we've added a Texas Summer Camps page with some of the best summer camps in Texas. According to our oldest grandkid (5), his highlights in 2010 were parasailing, a day at Schlitterbaun, skiing in Vail, a ride in a helicopter, horseback riding on the beach, snowmobiling in the Rockies, San Antonio JW Marriott's waterpark, Sea World in San Antonio, Port Aransas bike ride, any day on the golf course, and the Texas Renaissance Festival - he wanted to keep adding to the list, but I had to stop him!
We have also added a lot of other interesting and fun things to do that we discovered in 2010 - we've created an Off Road page, a new Racetracks page, added: some new zip lines and challenge courses, several new bike trails, bird watching locations, and lots of new information on kayaking and canoeing. You'll find all of it under Fun Stuff on the top right hand side menu on TexasOutside.com. If you send me some new and exciting things to see and do in Texas and we add them, we'll send you a Texas Outside koozie to keep your drinks cold. |
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| New Stuff To Explore in Texas in 2011 | |
Wow, if you made it this far in the Newsletter, I'm very impressed, but I'm not sure that I saved the best for last. By now your eyes must be a little blurry, you're probably tired and hungry, and asking " does this newsletter ever end!" To help with the eyes, I've increased the font size and made it bold. And you're almost to the end!  In 2010, we had some fantastic weekend adventures, explored some of our favorite cities again, and spent a lot of time in the Hill Country. As a result of all this, in the Discover Texas section we have added a lot of new content to help you find something fun to do, so check out our: |
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What a fun year 2010 was for us and the goal should be for all of us to make 2011 even better. Explore some new parts of Texas, gather your courage and try some new adventures, meet some new friends, go places with the kids, and get outside and away form the hustle and bustle, the TVs, cell phones, and computers. Check off and replace some things on your bucket list. There are lots of fun things to do in Texas with friends and family that are nearby and don't cost a fortune.
Make it a good year!
Have fun. And again, thanks for visiting Texas Outside. Let us know about your new discoveries and how we can improve Texas Outside to make it more valuable to you.
Sincerely,
Mike Sharp
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Texas Outside
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Before you head out for your next adventure, make sure you check our Coupon Page which is full of some money saving coupons. | | Offer Expires: Enter Expiration Date here |
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We have added a number of new Fishing Guides for both 