Cowboys. Astronauts. Big oil. Big everything.

We all know what Texas has long represented. But what about what it’s becoming?

Gently rolling Hill Country that’s grown into wine country.

The W Austin Hotel & Residences.

A state capital, Austin, that’s evolved from a mellow college town into the high-tech home to hip filmmakers, outdoor enthusiasts, health-conscious supermarkets Central Market and Whole Foods, and now, the Long Center for the Performing Arts, built with 90 percent recycled materials.

New-urbanist development along the Gulf Coast, with neighborhood projects such as Beachtown on Galveston.

A vortex of cultures in the megalopolis of Houston, where newcomers are finding homes not just in the sprawl of America’s fourth-largest city, but also in multiuse mid- and high-rise developments with restaurants, markets, and stores that make them mini-cities of nouveau-cosmopolitan accessibility.

Yep, the old Texas has become all these things and more as it rebounds far from the oil-patch woes of the 1980s. Never lost was Texas’ dream-large spirit: it is one of the nation’s top states in export revenues — around $100 billion in 2006 — and has the country’s second largest gross domestic product.

Fueling economic development in Texas are a lack of a personal income tax, a wealth of cultures, and a quality-of-life zeal. The result is a population growing at nearly twice the nation’s overall rate.

Oak trees, bluebonnets, and Indian paintbrush flowers in Texas Hill Country.

The Hills Are Alive

Investors can mix business with pleasure in the wine region of Texas Hill Country, lying west of Austin and north of San Antonio. With 30 wineries in Hill Country, Orbitz Worldwide ranks it second after only California’s Napa Valley among fast-growing wine regions. Anchored by the Texas Hill Country Wine Trail and its 22 wineries, it’s the place to be, even if you’re only investing time and taste buds (texaswinetrail.com).

As in Napa, tasting tours are big business here. Becker Vineyards, east of Fredericksburg, reports that one-third of its annual sales come from its tasting room. To both sup and sip, try this year’s 23rd Annual Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival, April 9–13 (texaswineandfood.org).

Nearby Austin has hills of its own, making it a mecca for bike enthusiasts such as seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Opening this spring is the Texas native son’s Lance Armstrong Bikeway, a lengthy east-west stretch of dedicated routes with on- and off-street trails (ci.austin.tx.us/publicworks/armstrong.htm).

Austin builders are flexing their muscles too, with dozens of residential projects currently under construction, according to the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). These edifices include the 2nd Street Retail District Residential Tower, an 18-story downtown high-rise; the Shore, a twin 22-story condo and hotel development near Lady Bird Lake; the 29-story Monarch on Shoal Creek, with street-level retail; the 20-story luxury condos of AquaTerra in South Austin; and Spring, a 36-story condo development opening downtown next year.

Biking is a popular activity on the Buffalo Bayou Walk.

Offering tax abatements and other incentives to relocate, Austin is the national or regional home to many businesses, including Dell Inc. The state capital is also making a name for itself as a film capital. New Mexico–raised Mike Judge, co-creator of Fox TV’s King of the Hill and director of the popular cult film Office Space, relocated here, joining longtime Austinites Richard Linklater (School of Rock) and Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids). According to Gary Bond, director of the Austin Film Commission, steady production for Austin-based crews and the burgeoning South by Southwest film and music festival, which takes place each spring, are a big part of Austin’s cultural appeal. Drew Barrymore will work there this summer, making her directorial debut with a roller-derby comedy titled Whip It.

Country music legend Willie Nelson is investing in his hometown too, the Austin CVB reports, with a new nightclub as part of the Block 21/W Hotel. Its combo with condos will also house new digs for the long-running PBS music series Austin City Limits.

A rendering of BLVD Place, one of the many pedestrian-friendly areas in Houston.

Going Up

Houston, capital of global oil, has always been up for a challenge. Put men on the moon? Check. Invent artificial grass for the first domed stadium? Check. Live vertically? It’s getting there.

Yes, Houston is growing up — literally. Mid- and high-rise residential developments are creating cities within the city, with pedestrian-friendly, all-in-one living that melds upscale living space with multiuse retail. Mini-communities such as West Ave and BLVD Place are creating specialized neighborhoods where residents can actually walk places. West Ave, at Westheimer and Kirby, will sport 380 luxury residences and 180,000 square feet of retail and dining by early 2009. BLVD Place, just east of the Galleria, will be the new home to the popular restaurant Cafe Annie, now on the site at San Felipe and Post Oak, as well as high-end retail and high-rise apartments — with a hotel to boot. Throw in loft offices and an 80,000-square-foot Whole Foods flagship and who needs a car? The target opening date: 2010. Soon after, Houston Metro is expected to add light rail service down Post Oak.

Luxury reaches new levels with the 34-story Turnberry Tower, opening in the Galleria area in 2009. White-gloved door attendants, push-button concierge, and private elevator entries will serve the $380 million tower, whose 184 condominiums are priced at $1 million — and up.

“We feel strongly about Houston,” says Jim Cohen, vice president of sales and marketing at Turnberry Ltd., based in Aventura, Fla. “It’s a good, stable market that needs luxury living in a vertical way. With a large influx of businesses and a strong Latin American and international market, people are buying lifestyle, and this kind of true luxury hasn’t been there.”

Exhibits at the Houston Museum of Natural Science combine science and creativity.

Even with all that growth, there’s ample breathing room. The Trust for Public Land reports that of the 10 most populous U.S. cities, Houston has the most total area of parks and green space: 56,405 acres. Quality of life is further enhanced by a thriving arts scene. Houston is home to 17 world-class museums plus resident ballet, opera, theater, and symphony companies. The eclectic cultural lineup on tap for this spring includes the 76th annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (March 3–23), the 74th annual Azalea Trail (March 7–9), the Bayou City Art Festival at Memorial Park (March 28–30), the PGA’s yearly stop for the Shell Houston Open (March 31–April 6), and the fun and funky Art Car Parade (May 10).

Houstonians also have ready access to world-class health care. The Texas Medical Center — the world’s largest complex of medical facilities — is so prestigious it draws well-heeled patients from around the world. Add its surge of towering development and a newcomer could mistake the Medical Center’s skyline for downtown.

Nearby, the Houston Museum of Natural Science has found a formula for liftoff in this city that’s home to real rocket scientists. Drawing 3 million visitors annually are such pop culturally astute exhibits as CSI: The Experience, appearing through April 30. “We look for exhibitions that combine science with creativity and engage the imagination while educating the mind,” says museum president Joel A. Bartsch.

The River Walk in San Antonio.

But not all grand dreams require showmanship. Take Mayor Bill White’s parks initiative, which has brought new hiking and biking trails. White, who loves to pedal, has not only helped Houston amass 100 miles of bike trails, but he’s also allocated $45 million to spruce up a chief city waterway, the 10 miles of Buffalo Bayou that snake east into downtown. By next month, another tranquil space will be open: the $122 million Discovery Green, across from the George R. Brown Convention Center, features 12 acres of oaks, greenery, new eateries, and mixed-use residential development.

How serious is Houston about slowing down to smell the azaleas? Serious enough that the city passed a Park and Green Space Ordinance last fall requiring home developers to allocate land for park purposes or pay a $700 fee for each unit, money the city then spends on its own parks. Mother Nature might say, “Pay me now or pay me later.”

White pelicans enjoy their stay in Galveston Bay.

Walks by the Water

Nearby, the island of Galveston is a calm oasis from big-city clatter, but the building boom echoes even there. It’s now the fourth-largest cruise port in the United States. (Up the road in Houston, the Port Authority is opening its new 100,000-square-foot cruise terminal this spring.) On the island’s east end, Beachtown is redefining island life with the area’s first new-urbanist project. Its pedigree is one to note: the chief architect is Duany Plater-Zyberk and Co., famed for its part in the creation of Seaside, Fla., one of the first new-urbanist developments. With parks, dune-walkovers, and a town center, Beachtown invites pedestrians to mix amid natural settings, including a beach that’s widening by as much as seven feet per year. Its beachfront and lagoon-front homes and townhomes will evoke Historic Galveston, the state’s largest historic district.

San Antonio also preserves its past, starting with the Alamo. But a new military campaign is energizing the city. While recent military realignments hit many regions hard, their pain was San Antonio’s gain. Already known as Military City, USA, San Antonio will gain 5,000 military jobs and $2.1 billion in Army and Air Force construction by 2011.

Beachfront homes evoke Galveston’s historic district.

But tourism remains the city’s fun industry, with its well-known River Walk of bars and Tex-Mex food. And the good news has traveled: the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) — the nation’s most respected training ground for chefs, with campuses in New York and California — chose San Antonio in January as the home for its third national center. Helping fund it is philanthropist Christopher “Kit” Goldsbury, former chairman/CEO of Pace Foods, who pledged $35 million to the CIA. Noted San Antonio chefs including Scott Cohen of Omni La Mansion, Johnny Hernandez of True Flavors, James Sanchez of Acenar, and Andrew Weissman of Restaurant Le Rêve are involved as well.

Add to that San Antonio’s hosting of major events, such as the NCAA Final Four for men’s basketball April 5–7.

Rebounding? There should be plenty. After all, this is Texas. Dream large.