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    Texas travel

    5 top Texas hotel-resorts with wild waterparks for late summer getaways

    Celestina Blok
    Aug 21, 2020 | 2:15 pm

    While this summer has felt endless for many families, kids will be back in school soon enough (if they're not already). As summer’s heat wave now runs full throttle, a wet-and-wild family getaway may be in order. Texas is home to many resorts with cool pools, twisty waterslides, and lazy rivers to float the day away. Being mindful of COVID-19 concerns, resorts now feature updated safety protocols and limited capacities, so planning ahead is essential for a fun and relaxing time once you arrive. Whether you're looking ahead to a Labor Day escape or need a few days away now, here are five splashy Texas resorts to check out, all within a day's drive from Dallas.

    Margaritaville Lake Resort, Lake Conroe
    Jimmy Buffett fans aren't the only ones who will enjoy sun and sips at the brand new Margaritaville Lake Resort, located on 186 waterfront acres of Lake Conroe about an hour north of Houston. Little Parrotheads are welcome to the family-friendly destination, which offers the three-acre Jolly Mon Water Park featuring an all-ages pool with colorful waterslides, splash pad, and palm tree-lined lazy river. Other family activities include mini golf, boat and watercraft rentals, and the laid-back Landshark Bar & Grill, where guests can stick their toes in the sand. Each suite in the 20-story hotel has separate bedroom and living spaces with private balconies or patios. Need more room? Book one of 32 island-themed lakefront cottages. Rates start at $218 for weeknight stays. Masks required for guests 10 and older, except while in water features.

    Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa, San Antonio
    Leisurely lounging via innertube is the theme here. The Hill Country escape features multiple pools connected by a country-style lazy river, which is shaded by towering oak trees and bordered by lush foliage and rock walls. Little ones will keep busy at the shaded sandy beach (bring your own sandcastle buckets and shovels) and tweens will find excitement in the two-story waterslide and FlowRider boogie board wave machine. Everyone can partake in s’mores by the campfire nightly and movies on the lawn Thursday through Saturday at dusk. Stay active with hiking, bike rentals, and sand volleyball. The Hyatt Regency Hill Country requires guests 2 and older to wear masks while on-site, except in pools or waterpark amenities. Rates start at $165 for a weeknight stay.

    JW Marriot San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa, San Antonio
    A waterpark oasis awaits guests of this sprawling San Antonio resort, which boasts the famed nine-acre River Bluff Water Experience. Heart-pumping activities include tubing down a 35-foot waterslide, plummeting the 60-foot Canyon Oak Twister body slide, and riding the waves on the 650-foot Pedernales River ride. There’s also a 1,100-foot lazy river, kids' pool with beach entry and splash zones, a sandy beach, and multiple pools and hot tubs. The resort reopened in mid-June with reduced capacities and new safety protocols. For parents needing to get a little work done while the kids play, special rates are available with the resort’s Work, Learn, and Play package through December 30 with rate code P91. Summer rates start at $349 per night. Masks required for guests 10 and older, except while in water features.

    Gaylord Texan, Grapevine
    Exclusively for the guests of the Gaylord Texan is Paradise Springs, the Grapevine hotel’s 10-acre waterpark. The Western-themed complex includes a splashy, multi-level water play structure, toddler pool, three winding waterslides, a 600-foot lazy river, and a 6,000 square-foot family lagoon with walk-in beach. Note that on Saturdays and peak days, reservations to Paradise Springs are required to support social distancing. Guests may reserve time blocks, 9 am-2 pm or 3-8 pm. Private cabanas are also available for rent. During the resort's annual SummerFest, taking place through September 7, guests can partake in activities like canvas painting, trivia, bingo, family movie time, exotic animal encounters, scavenger hunts, and sunrise yoga. Rates start at $172 for a weeknight stay. Masks are required for guests 10 and older, except while in water features.

    Hilton Anatole, Dallas
    ​So, a staycation's more your speed? Good news for local waterpark fans: the season for JadeWaters, the luxe hotel’s resort pool complex, has been extended. Normally closed after Labor Day, the expansive Dallas waterpark will remain open to hotel guests Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through September. Featuring two 180-foot water slides, a lazy river, swim-up bar, and kids' splash zone, JadeWaters is open daily, 9 am-7 pm, operating at less than 50 percent capacity for social distancing. Other family-friendly activities include giant chess, Connect 4, croquet, corn hole, ladder ball, and complimentary chalk for sidewalk art. The JadeWaters Fun package starts at $194 a night and includes a $50 daily resort credit. Masks are required for guests 2 and older, except while in water features.

    Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort features multiple pools connected by a country-style lazy river.

    Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa
    Photo courtesy of Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa
    Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort features multiple pools connected by a country-style lazy river.
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    Preservation efforts

    South Texas mission makes list of America’s most endangered historic places

    Associated Press
    May 21, 2026 | 4:00 pm
    Ruidosa Church
    Facebook/Friends of the Ruidosa Church
    El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus in Ruidosa, Texas is considered an endangered place.

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A historic South Texas mission joins the Stonewall National Monument, the President's House Site, and the Women's Rights National Historic Park among 11 sites on this year's annual list of the most endangered historic places in the United States compiled by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

    The 2026 list, announced Wednesday, May 20, marks America's 250th anniversary with the foundational principle that everyone is created equal as the theme, said Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the nonprofit organization. The 11 sites offer examples of how, over time, Americans have fought against injustice and for equality, she said.

    “We wanted to think about those ideas, especially this notion that all human beings are created equal and find places, sometimes unsung places ... that not all Americans routinely think about," Quillen told The Associated Press.

    The sites are spread across the United States — from New York and California on the East and West Coasts, to Alabama and Texas in the South, to Michigan in the Midwest and the Four Corners of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah in the Rocky Mountain West.

    At least three of the sites — Stonewall, the El Corazon church in Texas, and President's House in Philadelphia — have been endangered by Trump administration actions.

    “We want to save these places," Quillen said, “not just because the bricks and mortar is important but because the stories these places hold are important."

    For the first time since the list debuted in 1988, each site on the 2026 list will receive a one-time $25,000 grant to help highlight their connections to the principle that all people are created equal and address the threats they face.

    The 11 sites are:

    Ruidosa, Texas: El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus
    The more than century-old adobe church served as a refuge and place of worship for Mexican and Mexican American farming communities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border along the Rio Grande River. Vacant since the 1950s, the structure has benefited from continued restoration provided by the nonprofit Friends of the Ruidosa Church but remains threatened by proposed construction of a U.S. border wall that could come within a few hundred yards of the property. (The nonprofit has posted an official statement and more information about the border wall here.) Ruidosa is in far west Texas, roughly 35 miles northwest of Presidio and 46 miles southwest of Marfa, near the rugged Chinati Mountains.

    El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus A historic photograph of El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus.Facebook/Friends of the Ruidosa Church

    Montgomery, Alabama: Ben Moore Hotel
    The hotel was a refuge for Black people living under laws that enforced racial separation in the South. Prolonged vacancy has caused structural deterioration and the historic Centennial Hill neighborhood surrounding it faces pressure from development. The hotel housed key players from the Civil Rights Movement, including the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Ralph Abernathy. The Conservation Fund announced in November that it would help preserve the hotel.

    Modoc County, California: Tule Lake Segregation Center
    Initially known as the Tule Lake War Relocation Center, it was set up as a camp but later became a segregation center where Japanese Americans who were thought to be disloyal to the United States were imprisoned. The site is now a national monument managed by the National Park Service. Only 37 acres of the 1,100-acre site is protected. Most of it is at risk of permanent alteration from a proposed nearby construction project.

    California: Angel Island Immigration Station
    It was the largest immigration port on the West Coast between 1910 and 1940, particularly for immigrants from Asia and the Pacific. Hundreds of thousands were processed, detained and/or interrogated there because of their race. The station currently is threatened by physical, environmental, political and economic factors. Additional funding is needed for structural repairs and programming to increase awareness.

    Somerset, Massachusetts: Swansea Friends Meeting House
    Recognized as the oldest surviving Quaker meeting house in the state, it was built in 1701 to serve as a refuge by a congregation fleeing religious persecution and looking for a safe place to worship. The building has been closed for years and needs significant rehabilitation.

    Michigan: Detroit Association of Women's Clubs
    Founded in 1921, the association was one of the first Black organizations in Detroit to own their headquarters building, which was purchased in 1941. But the building has been closed since 2024, when water pipes burst and damaged the interior. Money is needed to help the association reopen the building.

    New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Utah: Greater Chaco Cultural Landscape
    The landscape is an ancestral homeland sustained for over a millennium by the Pueblo and Hopi people, but is threatened by changes to federal land policy that could open up significant portions to oil and gas development. Permanent protections and tribal consultation are needed to protect its cultural integrity.

    Seneca Falls, New York: Women's Rights National Historical Park
    The park tells the story of the first Women's Rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls, in July 1848. It faces a deferred maintenance backlog of over $10 million. Additional funding and support are needed to help preserve the park as a place to teach visitors about the history of women's rights.

    New York: Stonewall National Monument
    The first and only U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ history was the subject of administration actions that saw the rainbow Pride flag removed from its flagpole earlier this year before it was restored. The National Park Service had removed the flag in February, citing federal guidance that limited the agency to displaying only the American, Interior Department and POW/MIA flags. But the administration reversed course in April as it agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by advocacy and historic preservation groups that sought to block the flag's removal at the Manhattan site.

    After Trump returned to office, he ended diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and many references to transgender people were excised from the Stonewall monument’s website and materials. The Republican administration similarly has put national parks, museums and landmarks under a messaging microscope, aiming to remove or alter materials that it says are “divisive or partisan” or “inappropriately disparage Americans.”

    Philadelphia: The President's House Site
    The administration abruptly removed exhibits on the lives of nine people enslaved at the site in the 1790s under George Washington, the first U.S. president, who lived there when Philadelphia served as the nation's capital. The exhibits were taken down as part of a broad effort by the administration to remove from federal properties information it deems “disparaging” to Americans. The issue is currently the subject of litigation between the city and federal government.

    Heath Springs, South Carolina: Hanging Rock Revolutionary War Battlefield
    The Battle of Hanging Rock was a key battle in the Southern Campaigns of the Revolutionary War and is considered a Patriot victory that helped boost morale and ultimately weaken British control in South Carolina. Only portions of the core battlefield are protected and open to the public, with the area anticipating population growth and increasing development pressures.

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