Texas Bucket List: Fall Edition

Go to the State Fair of Texas

There’s no state fair like the Texas state fair, which has been held in Dallas since 1886. It runs for 24 days in September and October (the longest-running fair in the country), so you’ll have plenty of time to experience everything packed into Fair Park. Here’s your bucket- list-inside-a-bucket-list of Texas state fair musts: Try a Fletcher’s Corny Dog, ride the Texas Star Ferris wheel, and get a photo with Big Tex.

Attend a Fall Festival

The first sign of autumn in Texas isn’t when the leaves change color but when grounds crews start setting up harvest festivals. Our picks this year: Addison Oktoberfest in North Texas for live music, German grub, and family games every September; and Pasadena’s annual Martyn Farm Harvest Festival in November, a hot spot for old-school harvest activities like wagon rides, butter making, and pie-eating contests.

Celebrate the Day of the Dead

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a traditional Mexican holiday observed Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 to honor and celebrate the lives of deceased family and friends. Despite its name, the Day of the Dead is a lively tradition — celebrations consist of vibrant music and dancing, colorful flowers and clothes, and plenty of good things to eat. The holiday is celebrated all over Texas, but the nationally recognized Día de Los Muertos Street Festival in Corpus Christi is one of the most popular public events in the state, along with Viva la Vida Fest, a parade and art show hosted by the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin.

Take a Ghost Tour

This spooky season, visit the ghosts of Texas’ stomping grounds at some infamously haunted sites around the state. South Texans should tour the Yorktown Memorial Hospital on Halloween evening to learn about (and potentially meet) the ancient patients who’ve never checked out, while North Texans can get a tour of all the paranormal sightings recorded at the Fort Worth Stockyards.

Compete in a Chili Cook-Off

Do you have a famous chili recipe? You don’t have to give your secret away, but you can put it to the quintessential Texas test by going bowl- to-bowl at a chili cook-off. Every fall, chili aficionados, and amateurs alike gather around Texas to sample each other’s homemade stew. (If you’re new to Texas, you should know that beans and tomatoes are both no-nos in chili here.) You’ll have no trouble finding local cook-offs, but if you want to take your chili to the big leagues, swing down to Terlingua the first weekend of November, where some 10,000 Texans flock together for not one, but two annual chili cook-offs.

Try Frito Pie

Your second chili-related must: Frito pie. It’s a Texas classic made by dumping a generous scoop of Texas chili into a bag of Fritos corn chips. Sound messy? It is. Sound delicious? Absolutely.

Go Scuba Diving

Grab your snorkel and head out to one of Texas’ many scuba diving parks before the temperatures drop too low. No. 1 on the scuba list should be an underwater tour of the Texas Clipper, a World War II transport ship that was sunk to create an artificial reef. Now you can get a guided tour of its remains. Another famous site, and one that’s more beginner- friendly, is Athens Scuba Park, which has dozens of sunken items, and even an airplane, lying at the bottom of a 7-acre lake for you to explore.

Hike Big Bend

Big Bend National Park might be located in the bleak Chihuahuan Desert of West Texas, but it’s home to more bird species than any other national park in the country, making it a must-see for any serious Texan birdwatcher. Fall provides the perfect temperature for backpackers to traverse 150 miles of rocky trails across more than 800,000 protected acres of vistas, canyons, and hot springs. Just watch out for mountain lions.

See the Friday Night Lights

No Texas autumn is complete without attending a local high school football game — or, as we call it in Texas, getting out under the Friday night lights. The team that inspired the hit TV drama is based in Odessa, but there’s a game happening at just about every football field in Texas during the fall.

Go Apple Picking

Orchards across Texas open in the fall and let visitors handpick their apples. There’s no family activity more quintessentially autumn than this one — except, perhaps, making homemade apple pie, spiced apple cider, or caramel apples with your haul.

Take the Family to a Pumpkin Patch

Go pumpkin picking in Texas and you’ll be sure to find more than the perfect jack-o’-lantern. Pumpkin patches have corn mazes, hayrides, petting zoos, and activities for all ages. You won’t need to drive far to find one.

See Fall Foliage

If you think Texas trees don’t turn nice colors, this is the next one to cross off on your fall bucket list. Get out to one of Texas’ state parks to see how majestic a Texas autumn can be: Guadalupe Mountains National Park is bursting with bright red leaves in late October; Garner State Park has 11 miles of hiking trails shrouded with orange leaves in mid-November; and the bigtooth maples of Lost Maples State Natural Area are a sight to behold all autumn long.

Go Thrifting

One Texan’s junk is another Texan’s treasure. Big finds await you at vintage and thrift stores all over Texas, from St. Vincent de Paul in Dallas to the Leopard Lounge in Houston. And if you happen to be in East Texas, head to Canton on the first Monday of each month to browse 450 acres of niche secondhand items. It’s been the largest flea market in the world for more than 150 years.

Dig Up Dinosaur Fossils

Believe it or not, the original Texans were dinosaurs. See for yourself at one of Texas’ many fossil sites open to the public, where you can play archaeologist. Head to Mineral Wells Fossil Park to search for remains of ancient marine life that inhabited the 300-million-year-old sea that once covered Texas, or visit the world-famous Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose to see the preserved footprints of dinosaurs in the Paluxy River.

See Native American Rock Art

Did you know that Texas is home to some of the best-preserved rock art in the entire world? Native American tribes who inhabited the state more than 5,000 years ago depicted their lives and rituals on the walls of caves and canyons along the Rio Grande, in the Pecos River valley, and across the Hill Country. See for yourself at the Seminole Canyon State Park & Historic Site, just west of Del Rio, or at the Witte Museum’s White Shaman Preserve in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands.

Get Thee to the Renaissance Festival

Hear y’all, hear y’all! Ye olde Texas Renaissance Festival has been held in Todd Mission (just outside of Houston) every fall for nearly 50 years. RenFest’s kingdom sprawls across 55 acres of land where thousands gather annually to watch jousting tournaments, shop handcrafted metal- and leatherware, eat a six-course meal at the king’s feast with his minstrels and jesters, and so much more.

While you’re out and about completing your fall bucket list, don’t forget to stop and take in the vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows of beautiful fall leaves. Here’s where to find the best fall foliage in Texas.