What to do and see in Texas, United States: The Best Things to do Good for a Rainy Day

Fort Worth's premier art museum, featuring paintings from international painters.

*Open Wed-Sun.Online ticket purchase only* Formerly the Nimitz Museum, the complex is now the only museum in the Continental United States centered on World War II's Pacific campaign. Since 1968, the Museum has expanded to occupy a six-acre campus and gained a reputation as one of the premier military museums in the nation. Over the years the Museum was upgraded and enlarged, and the campus grew to accommodate the Memorial Courtyard, the Plaza of Presidents and the Japanese Garden of Peace. We opened the expanded George H. W. Bush Gallery in 2009. The Gallery's state-of-the-art 33,000 square foot exhibition features 40 media installations, approximately 900 artifacts in 97 climate-controlled cases, 15 macro-artifacts, and hundreds of photographs. Two blocks east of the main campus is the Pacific Combat Zone. Recently reopened after an $8 million renovation. The PCZ is also home to our popular WWII Pacific Combat Program that takes place on set weekends throughout the year.

The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum is a research institution and academic environment dedicated to the preservation, research and exhibit of official records, personal papers and memorabilia from the life and career of George H.W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, with more than 43 million pages of official and personal papers, 2 million photos, 2,500 hours of videotape and 100,000 museum objects. Covering much of U.S. history since 1941, the library and museum features a World War II Avenger Torpedo Bomber, a 1947 Studebaker, a piece of the Berlin Wall, and precise replicas of President Bush's Oval Office, Camp David office and White House Situation Room. The museum also features a temporary exhibit gallery which lends to an ever-changing museum to visit. Museum hours are Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.; closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

This outstanding science museum has a spectacular collection of mineral specimens, a dinosaur skeleton, space-station models, a planetarium, IMAX theater and a six-story butterfly center in which these beautiful creatures land delicately on outstretched arms.

Visitors can tour the longest serving Essex Class aircraft carrier of World War II. The 16-deck "Blue Ghost" displays military artifacts and more than 20 aircraft. See all five tour routes, 3-D mega theater, Lockdown on the LEX Escape Rooms, mess deck eatery and flight simulator. National Historic Landmark located on North Beach. Elevator from the hangar deck to the flight deck. Welcome aboard! Labor Day - Memorial Day 9am - 5pm Memorial Day - Labor Day & Spring Break 9am - 6pm See admission at https://usslexington.com/visit/hours-admission/

One of Texas’ most visited historic sites, The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza chronicles the life, death and legacy of President John F. Kennedy. The Museum is in the former Texas School Book Depository building, where evidence of a sniper was found after the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Much of the exhibit space looks as it appeared in the 1960s. Highlights include a sniper’s perch, the FBI model used by the Warren Commission, an original teletype machine that first transmitted news of the president’s death, Oswald’s wedding ring, historic films, photos and more. An interactive display overlooks Dealey Plaza. Admission includes an audio guide, available in eight languages including ASL. The museum is open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas. RECOMMENDED: Buy timed-entry tickets in advance at jfk.org. The most convenient paid parking is adjacent to the building; stay in the far right lane of Elm Street to enter the parking lot.

If it's in Texas, it must be bigger and better. That is the motto that architects followed with the Capitol Building in Austin. At one time, it was the tallest capitol building in the nation. Others might be taller now, but this is still a beautiful building that shows off many of the natural resources which are so prevalent in Texas, such as limestone and the landscapes.

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, also known as the LBJ Presidential Library, is the presidential library and museum of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States. It is one of fourteen presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and located on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. We are open daily (except for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day) from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., with last admission at 4:40 p.m. Admission is $3-$10 per person, with free admission given to children 12 and under, active military, student groups, and UT Austin students, faculty, and staff with valid ID. Free parking is available in visitor lot #38. Learn more at lbjlibrary.org.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is the largest cultural institution in the southwest region of the United States. The Museum’s encyclopedic collections of nearly 70,000 objects cover world cultures dating from antiquity to the present and include in-depth holdings of American art, European paintings, Pre-Columbian and African gold, decorative arts and design, photography, prints and drawings, 20th- and 21st-century painting and sculpture, and Latin American art.