Big Bend National Park

While there are only two national parks in Texas, there are numerous National Park Service-protected sites, forests, monuments, and more. Here are five of the best in the state.
While 14 miles separate the two areas of this park, both give insight into the life of Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the U.S., who was born and died in Texas. In Johnson City, visitors can view LBJ’s boyhood home where he lived from the age of five until his high school graduation in 1924. The home is still furnished in the 1920s period and depicts the rural Texas lifestyle of almost a century ago. Johnson City also has the Johnson Settlement, where LBJ’s grandfather and great-uncle established cattle droving headquarters in the 1860s. This site has their log cabin, barns, cooler house, and windmill. Fourteen miles west of Johnson City, in Stonewall, is the LBJ Ranch, where LBJ spent a lot of his life. Visitors can drive through the ranch and take a guided tour of the ranch house, known as the Texas White House, which offers interesting information about his life during his presidency. A great time to go is during spring, when the ranch is abundant with blooming Texas wildflowers.