There is a moment, usually right after the ferry rounds Brant Point and the harbor comes into full view, when Nantucket stops looking like a place you read about and starts looking real. The old gray-shingled buildings. The white clapboard. A lighthouse so modest it seems almost shy. You understand immediately why people come back every summer for thirty years running and can never quite explain why.
Continue readingFiled under Steven Doyle
Santa Fe is eight hours by car from Dallas — I-40 west through Amarillo, then north on I-25 past Albuquerque and up into the high desert until the city appears in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at 7,000 feet. You can also fly into Albuquerque and rent a car for the one-hour drive north, or fly direct into Santa Fe’s small airport. Either way, this is one of the most rewarding food and travel weekends available to anyone living in North Texas, and it has been hiding in plain sight for years.
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Everyone knows Aspen. Everyone knows Vail. You book the flight, you rent the gear, you pay the resort prices, and you come home having seen the version of Colorado that was designed to be seen — groomed, expensive, and full of people doing exactly what you’re doing.
The Colorado worth knowing is the other one. The one where a town of 400 people has a winery that outperforms Napa at altitude. Where a Victorian saloon still has the bullet hole from when Doc Holliday was a regular. Where a chef-trained café changes its entire menu every week because the farm down the road harvested something new. Where you pull off the highway not because a sign told you to, but because the canyon suddenly opened up and you had no choice but to stop the car.
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The drive-in almost disappeared. Texas had nearly four hundred of them in the nineteen-fifties, more than any state in the country, and now there are fewer than twenty. The ones that survived did it on stubbornness, mostly — family-owned places that never stopped believing a warm night and a big screen and a car full of people was a good way to spend a Friday. Some of them have been running the same single screen since 1948. Some have expanded into four and seven screens. They all still tune to FM radio for the sound. They all still sell popcorn that tastes better than it has any right to. And every one of them is worth the drive from Dallas for a weekend.
Here are the five I would point you toward, from the closest one to the furthest.
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There is a town in the northwest corner of Arkansas that sits in the Ozark Mountains on streets so steep and winding that no two of them ever intersect at a right angle. The whole downtown is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Victorian buildings are painted in colors that would embarrass a Key West postcard. It has a legendary haunted hotel, a world-class piece of architecture hiding in the woods, a big cat sanctuary, and a local culture that has always attracted artists, eccentrics, and people who just needed somewhere different to be. It is about six hours from Dallas and most people have never been. The town is Eureka Springs, and it is worth every mile of the drive.
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There’s a ferry that runs out of Point Judith on the Rhode Island coast. Ride it an hour southeast on a clear morning, salt air coming off the bow, and you’ll arrive at a place that seems to have quietly opted out of the twenty-first century — not ungraciously, but meaningfully.
Block Island, officially the town of New Shoreham, sits twelve miles offshore in the Atlantic. It winters down to roughly a thousand souls and swells every summer into something considerably livelier. Shaped loosely like a pork chop, it runs about three miles wide and seven miles long, and nearly every inch of it earns your attention.
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This summer, The Ritz-Carlton Dallas, Las Colinas transforms into a refined yet playful escape with its “Season of Play,” a thoughtfully curated lineup designed for both families and adults. Running from Memorial Day weekend through August 9, 2026, the resort offers a mix of relaxation and activity that makes it ideal for a vacation, staycation, or even a quick daycation in the heart of Las Colinas.
The property leans into a modern Texas sensibility while delivering a full calendar of seasonal programming. Younger guests can expect shaved ice socials, scavenger hunts, bubble parties, and family movie nights under the stars. Adults, meanwhile, can ease into summer with poolside mat Pilates, hands-on cocktail experiences, afternoon tea, and social gaming events that balance leisure with a bit of energy.
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San Antonio comes alive each spring with Fiesta, a citywide celebration that rivals the spectacle of Mardi Gras. Running from April 16–26, 2026, Fiesta honors the heroes of the Alamo while showcasing the city’s vibrant culture, culinary scene, and artistic spirit. Streets are transformed with colorful parades, live music, and food-focused events, and attendees have long embraced the tradition of collecting commemorative medals. These medals, distributed by participating organizations, have evolved into a unique fundraising practice, making Fiesta the largest single-source fundraiser for nonprofit organizations in San Antonio and cementing its role as both a cultural and philanthropic institution.
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