Big Sky National Monument - Stonewall, TX

Lyndon Johnson is not a president often associated with the Antiquities Act. In his term, he enlarged four existing national monuments and established another two, most of which he did only at the behest of others. The exception to this is Big Sky National Monument. Set close to his ranch in Stonewall,Texas, Lyndon used to load VIPs into the back of his Lincoln Continental and go careening across the open prairies that would one day become the monument. He’s quoted saying that he loved seeing the faces of those unfamiliar with the Texas sky, crushed under the weight of it. And admittedly, there is something magical about the skies over the Lone Star State, something countless have commented upon. It’s in every song and story the state has to offer, the wide panorama of open sky that ensures storms can never sneak up on you, that teaches you from an early age how small you are in the world. It’s only fitting that a state obsessed with size would be blanketed by an equally big sky. Previ

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A Note From the Texas Bureau of Far Side Tourism

Texas is big with plenty to see and just as much to miss. It’s the kind of place that a dedicated tourist could waste a lifetime of vacations going somewhere new, seeing something new, each and every time they visited. That being said, the state’s many tourism offices have their work cut out for them, directing the rivers of tourists that flock to the state towards worthwhile use of their time, fulfilling their vacationing desires and, perhaps, driving them a step or two off the beaten path to hopefully encounter something more of the state, something deeper, something they had not expected to see but something that they will love and appreciate nonetheless. This is exactly where the Texas Bureau of Far Side Tourism comes in. 

If all of the state’s tourism offices closed tomorrow, people would still flock to the Alamo, to the Grassy Knoll, to the ruins of the Astrodome, to the music festivals of Austin, to the supposed grave of Jesse James, to the historic tarmac of Route 66, and to Galveston to flock onto cruise ships. These places would not suffer from a sudden lack of promotion. What would suffer would be the tiny roadside attractions, the fascinating histories printed on plaques hidden away in stuffy downtown courthouse, the beautiful natural wonders that one has to hike an hour or two to see, and the mysterious and unexplained that rears its head only once in a blue moon. These places live and die by a handful of tourists, and so any promotion – a quarter-page ad in a magazine, a thirty second mention in some travel show, a blog post, a series of pictures on Instagram – means their survival and that of the countless communities that depend on them. It is for these citizens and these plots of Texas, that the Bureau of Far Side Tourism works, promoting travel off the beaten path and into the heart and mind of the Lone Star State.

Always looking for new ways to accomplish our mission, we at the Bureau are always exploring new avenues of education beyond simple advertising. It is for this reason that we have commissioned the following series of postcards from acclaimed collagist Abigail Hoffmann of Fort Worth – which are available for purchase on the Bureau website and at retailers and destinations throughout the state –  and the corresponding travel guide. You will find in its pages 100 of the state’s most interesting destinations, those that are not immediately in mind when one thinks of a trip to Dallas or Houston or El Paso or any of the other cities and towns in between, but that is not to say that these destinations are inferior by any means. They are just as wonderful as the more commonly known destinations and no less deserving in your time or attention. Our dedicated staff of writers and researchers have gone through the tireless work to make sure of that.

So whether you are a Texan native, born, bred, and true, a recent transplant, or simply a curious outsider passing through on your way elsewhere, I hope you will find something of value in these sites and what they represent.


Martina Bloomfield
Director, TX Bureau of 
Far Side Tourism