• birds in the gulf-rb image by Tijara Images from Fotolia.com
  
  Where you spend a small vacation in Texas depends on how far you intend to travel from home. Also, sightseeing, recreational preferences, and the length of stay must be considered. Each Texas geographical region offers many recreational, cultural, spiritual, and historical places of interest. The Gulf Coast area has sea and water activities. West Texas has mountains, deserts, rivers, limestone canyons, caves, and gorges. East Texas has lakes and the Piney Woods. Rolling hills, wildflowers, rivers, and history make up the Hill Country landscape.
  
  

West Texas

• Big Bend National park is known for its rugged outdoor activities. Cool nights and low humidity, mountain trails, river rafting, spectacular gorges, bears, mountain lions, ocelots, and flora and fauna peculiar to the area make up the park. Vacationers can find major hotels in Van Horn, Big Spring, El Paso, Fort Stockton, and oil-rich Midland.
  
  

East Texas

• East Texas, often called the Piney Woods, has the Sam Houston National Pine Forest and campgrounds in Coldspring. Camp, fish, and hunt in and near Beaumont and Port Arthur. Orange, Texas is less than 30 miles west of the popular gambling casinos in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
  
  

Texas Hill Country

• As varied as it is beautiful, the Hill Country is best known for the San Antonio Riverwalk and the Alamo. Austin, Fredericksburg, Kerrville, New Braunfels, and San Marcos snuggle among the rolling hills. Historical rock walls and stone buildings; winding roads, curling rivers, indigenous wildflowers, sausage making, and high-end outlet store shopping draw visitors.
  
  

North Central Texas

• Dallas and Fort Worth are the best known of North Central Texas cities. North Central Texas is home to the Dallas Cowboys Football team. Dallas and Fort Worth have plenty of shopping, restaurants, art museums and historical sites.
  
  

South Central and South Texas

• South Central Texas cities include Brenham, Columbus, College Station, Bastrop, LaGrange, Weimar, and Schulenburg. Tour the famous painted Churches, the La Bahia Scenic Highway, and the Blue Bell ice creamery. Czech and German immigrant descendants influence South Central Texas. The influence of Spanish architecture and Mexican tradition makes itself known in the Rio Grande Valley. At Old Fort Brown in Brownsville, wild parrots come to roost there and in the Brownsville Cemetery. Walk across the International Bridge for shopping in Matamoras, Mexico (although you may want to check with the U.S. Department of State first to make sure it's safe).
  
  

Texas Gulf Coast

• The major cities of Houston, Corpus Christi, Galveston, Port Aransas, Rockport, and South Padre Island lie near or on the Texas Gulf Coast. Seafood restaurants, fishing, boating, water skiing, and ocean swimming are the draw to the Gulf Coast. Dotting the entire coastal landscape are popular, smaller coastal towns. NASA in Clear Lake and the Kemah Boardwalk in League City lie between Galveston and Houston.
  
  Deciding where to go will be the most difficult decision you'll face when you plan a small vacation in Texas. Finding safe lodging and good food will never be a problem.