This mellow Blackland Prairie town lies between the Caney Creek and Clear Creek arms of Cedar Creek Lake, 70 miles southeast of Dallas. Fishing remains the biggest draw. Anglers prefer its weedy coves for largemouth bass — the local record stands at 14.65 pounds. Catfish, crappies, and hybrid striped bass also thrive in this reservoir, which has a maximum depth of 53 feet. Boat rentals and watercraft range from pontoons to jet skis, wetbikes, and stand-up paddleboards.

Prefer to bring your own vessel? Log Cabin, Texas, has a four-lane ramp, usable at various water levels. Keep an eye out for aquatic birds that breed on the lake’s islands, which are off-limits to people. Visitors often combine Cedar Creek Lake with golfing and exploring trails on foot, horseback, or ATV. Take things up a notch with the arcades and amusement rides in Seven Points. Or chill out with a local handcrafted beer and a great meal at one of Gun Barrel City’s restaurants.

Cold winters segue into rainy March weather and unpredictable spring temperatures. Summer brings some serious heat, making water activities almost essential then. For consistent highs in the 70s to 85 degrees Fahrenheit range, visit in October, April, or May. Log Cabin’s big events tend to be city council meetings, so you might look to the surrounding area instead for your fix of fun. April brings the Kemp Annual Wildflower Festival, which promotes sustainability and historic revitalization. Spring visitors also flock to May’s Old Fiddlers' Contest & Reunion and a Juneteenth Parade dedicated to the first Black-Cherokee cowboy film star. Some credit a resident of nearby Athens, Texas, with inventing the hamburger in 1880. A late-September bash celebrates this occasion 13 miles east of Log Cabin.

The Grave of Rope Walker

In 1884, a peg-legged performer with an iron stove strapped to his back plunged from a tightrope across Corsicana’s Beaton Street. The dying man asked for a rabbi, but never revealed his name. The town buried him in its Hebrew Cemetery, 33 miles west of Log Cabin, and has kept his legend alive. Many now believe he was the Great Professor Berg, who lost a leg in the Civil War and usually performed with a traveling wagon show.

Royse City Futuro House

A Finnish architect designed this UFO-shaped manufactured home in the late 1960s at the height of the Space Age. Its fiberglass-reinforced plastic shell still stands beside State Highway 276 in Rockwall, and is one of 100 left in the world.

The Salt Palace

Forty-four miles northeast sprawls a salt prairie, where Caddo and Cherokee peoples once harvested seasoning and preservative. Today the town of Grand Saline boasts the world’s only building made from pure rock salt, now a free museum and visitor center.