Parks

The heart of the park is the icy Frio River that runs along stoney banks lined with tall cypresses.

Galveston Island State Park shows two faces to visitors - the beach and dunes on one side of the road and the bay and grassy marshes on the other.

This primitive park - honeycombed with caves - has trails with waterfalls, dripping springs and blue-green pools.

If you want to get up close and personal with an alligator, Brazos Bend State Park is the place to go. They glide through the bayous, slither through the mud or sun themselves on the banks of the lake or in the middle of a trail. Sometimes they're nothing but a pair of eyes protruding from the water.

The refuge's maze of ponds, sloughs and marsh attracts one of the area's most diverse bird populations.

During the spring and fall migrations hundreds of birders flock to this small patch of forest on High Island.

The beach and mudflats of the sanctuary are a haven for thousands of shorebirds and migrants.

Blanco State Park has the feel of a city park, a quilt of green that runs along both sides of a mile of the Blanco River. In the spring, the quilt takes on the red and yellow hue of Indian Blankets and other Texas wildflowers.

The terrain varies from flowering prairie at Doeskin Ranch to rocky trails through the juniper at Warbler Vista.

Woodland trails lead to the shores of the bayou and back to an historic farmhouse with a lovely garden.