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For more than 50 years, New Braunfels has been celebrating all things sausage, ever since Mayor Ed Grist conceived an idea to boost the local economy. The first year Wurstfest was held, in 1961, around 2,000 people attended. Within five years, the festival had grown from a one day event to a 10-day event drawing more than 35,000 people to the popular event. Today, Wurstfest has become a tradition for families, both those who make the trek in November to the Wurstfest grounds in Landa Park, as w ...

Of the thousands of people who take up residence in the Hill Country each year, many have been home brewers, that breed of men and women who have the urge to create what they like to drink. When that passion turns to wanting everyone else to share in the fruits of their labors, it was only natural that they would start serving up beer in the towns they call home. Fred Hernandez and his wife Jennifer, former mechanical and chemical engineers respectively, fell into the homebrew scene with a simp ...

What do you get when you cross beer, a singer/songwriter and honey? Robert Earl Keen Honey Pils, of course! It was a case of serendipity that the three came together, but for Robert Earl Keen and Lee Hereford, it just made sense. That's Robert Earl Keen, Texas singer and songwriter, who, for the last 25 years has called the Hill Country his home.

Caddo Lake just doesn't look like Texas. No deserts or plains here. It's tucked away in the far northeast, on the Louisiana border with Arkansas just a couple of bullfrog hops away. It's gorgeous and mysterious. "It's a beauty that neither words nor photographs do justice," explains John Winn, a tour guide who has lived at Caddo Lake most of his life.

The name of Elma Flores' business in Wimberley is The ART of Photography, and it's the truth. The work she does before, during, and after taking pictures is magically artistic. When customers write testimonials on Elma's web sites, the most common word used is "amazing." When you see the photographs, you will agree. Look at the photo of two young sisters portrayed as fairies in an enchanted garden, opening a magical box to release Tinkerbell.

Lost Maples State Natural Area was once one of the best kept secrets in Texas. In the first place, not too many people believed it could even exist. Colorful fall foliage in Texas? From maple trees? Yeah, right, and I've got ocean-front property in Lubbock for sale. But today, most Texans know about Lost Maples, the 2,175-acre preserve along the Sabinal River in the far west end of the Hill Country.

The legend says, "Build it and they will come." That's what happened to the Salt Lick barbecue restaurant. In 1967, Thurman Roberts dragged his heel in a circle in a field beside a back country road out in the middle of nowhere. He built a barbecue pit in that circle. "People would drive by and smell the barbecue smoke and stop to buy some to take home,"

For the intrepid traveler uncowed by crowds of scarecrows, eager for authentic antiques or enthusiastically enticed by the "verities of the vine" – not to mention just looking for a great time – Comfort is the place to be! Each October (traditionally a festive month), this charming old German town, known for its history, hospitality and Hill Country quaintness, welcomes one and all with multiple fun (and fanciful) fall-oriented doings guaranteed to keep attendees coming back year after year ...

As a boy, John Phalen sometimes took the overnight train from Buffalo to Chicago to visit his aunt. "Bedroom B was mine," he tells visitors, who are seated at triangular tables in the same sleeper-lounge car that once carried him along the tracks of the Nickel Plate Road in the 1960s.

Gourmet and specialty food trucks have become more popular in recent years. Food truck vendors can share their must-try flavors while finding an easier investment and more flexible schedule, and they are able to go to their customers instead of waiting patiently for them to arrive. Given the benefits of the mobile restaurant, why then did Matt Wigglesworth and Shelton Coleman, owners of Lot 102 in Johnson City, decide to park it? Shelton had originally brought home the food truck with the idea ...