This Road Trip From Dallas Ends At An Iconic Texas Boardwalk Full Of Waterfront Fun

"Everything is bigger in Texas," as the saying goes, and that extends to the buildings in cities like Dallas and Houston. The Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat ranks them as two of America's tallest cities, and the state capital, Austin, isn't far behind, either. When you've seen enough skyscrapers in Dallas and are ready to hit the open road, you could make the 240-mile drive straight down I-45 to Houston. It happens to be the deadliest highway in Texas, so you might want to take the scenic route, looping around to Austin and adding another 120 miles to your road trip.

Just beyond Houston lies the Kemah Boardwalk amusement park, where you'll trade the open road for the open water. One of the park's attractions is the Boardwalk Beast Speedboat, which offers 40-mph rides across Galveston Bay. The waterfront location makes this a good road trip terminus since there's nowhere left to drive beyond the Gulf Coast.

When you're flying in and driving a rent-a-car out, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport also lives up to the bigger-in-Texas image. The airport, one of the busiest nationwide, is larger than the island of Manhattan and even has its own zip code (75261). Seeing Dallas from a plane window is one thing, but once you get into the city proper, you can take in an open-air, bird's-eye view of it from the Reunion Tower observation deck. As its stylized name suggests, the GeO-Deck offers a 360-degree panorama of the Dallas skyline.

For history buffs, a day in Dallas wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Dealey Plaza National Historic Landmark District. Here, you can do a walking tour of the famous site where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. You can also visit the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. It's housed in the former Texas School Book Depository, where Lee Harvey Oswald trained his rifle on Kennedy's motorcade as it rolled through the plaza.

Even when it's not football season, AT&T Stadium— the home of the Dallas Cowboys— might be worth a visit. On weekends, when the field is available, you can take a self-guided tour of the stadium. They will let you see inside the locker room and go out onto the field, where you can throw the football around and pretend you're an NFL player.

If you work up an appetite scoring mock touchdowns, some of the best food trucks in Texas can be found on your next stop in Austin. Stake out a spot along the Congress Avenue Bridge at dusk, and you'll see the world's largest urban bat colony take to the skies here, too. The Bullock Texas State History Museum, also located on Congress Avenue, welcomes visitors with a 35-foot bronze star, well befitting the Lone Star State. JFK's vice president and successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, is the focus of the LBJ Presidential Library, which includes a permanent replica of the Oval Office in the White House.

Though it's soon to be eclipsed by Austin's new Waterline skyscraper, the tallest building in Texas since 1982 has been the 1,002-foot JPMorgan Chase Tower in Houston. At NASA's Space Center Houston, you can vicariously fly higher than any earthbound building. The center showcases more than 400 artifacts, including a spacesuit collection and a life-size space shuttle replica you can board. On Fridays and Saturdays, real astronauts are on hand to share their mission memories — or share breakfast with you for an added charge.

It costs nothing to see downtown Houston's colorful public art murals, with the aptly named Graffiti Building being a natural starting point. On a rainy day, head to the museum district, where dinosaur skeletons loom in the Houston Museum of Natural Science. There are 20 other museums, so you might want to spend the night, perhaps availing yourself of the rooftop infinity pool and Texas-shaped lazy river at the Marriot Marquis Houston. Or you could wait till you get to Kemah and stay at the Boardwalk Inn, where the rooms have private balconies overlooking the boardwalk and bay.

At Kemah Boardwalk, the wooden Boardwalk Bullet coaster will take you up to the water's edge, while the Aviator swing ride might feel like some dizzy kind of astronaut training. For one last elevated view, try the Boardwalk Tower, the Century Ferris Wheel, or even the Double Decker Carousel. The Boardwalk Beast lets you leave land behind on a speedboat painted with shark's teeth.