There's a new museum taking root in Lubbock.

There's a new resource for Amarillo tourism information and it comes from an interesting group of locals.

For the August 2013 print issue of Texas Highways, I wrote about a Madeira tasting, held at Austin's Red Room speakeasy, which featured the wines of Haak Vineyards in Galveston County. Haak is the only Texas winery that makes Madeira a richly flavored fortified wine that is usually produced on the Portuguese islands of Madeira.

Freedom Over Texas, Houston's Fourth of July celebration, includes a huge firworks show over downtown. (Photo by Richard Carson)

From big-name concerts to small-town celebrations, there are plenty of places to celebrate America's birthday Texas-style this Fourth of July. Here are my top three picks for sure-fire fun this weekend:

The nightlife scene continues to heat up on Austin's Rainey Street, a former residential byway in the shadow of downtown. Transformed in recent years with bars, restaurants, and food trucks, Rainey Street draws crowds interested in craft cocktails, local beers, and food ranging from authentic Oaxacan fare (at El Naranjo) to Indian (at Raj Mahal). And now, Rainey Street boasts Austin's first food truck devoted to Southeast Asian Noodles, DFG Noodles.

Some Texas rivers are running too low for good floating, but a few waterways are flowing well enough for tubing or boating, according to the National Weather Service’s Texas River Recreation Advisoryfor this weekend.

If I ever had any doubt that the foodie culture has become firmly established in Texas, now I'm fully convinced otherwise.

The International Accordion Festival is back.

After the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in 1863, it took two and a half years for the word that slaves were free to make it to Texas. The date that a Union general announced the news in Galveston on June 19, 1865 now known as Juneteenth is marked with celebrations across the state during the next two weekends.

Dallas may not be the first city that comes to mind when you think of seafaring activities, but backers of the proposed Dallas Maritime Museum say the city would be a fitting host for the facility.

Now that Texas Highways' July story on Austin has hit the stands, I'm reminded that one of my favorite ‘restaurant rows’ in town is an admittedly unattractive stretch of Lamar Boulevard north of 183, where you can find dozens of interesting restaurants serving Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Pakistani, and Indian fare.

One of Texas' biggest zydeco trail rides is coming up this weekend in Beaumont at the Bill Pickett Trail Riders 9^th Annual Trail Ride, Zydeco Festival & Rodeo.