Unforgettable Gifts

Ultimate Austin gift guide: 6 awesome adventures for every personality

For many of us, the holiday season brings a frantic scramble to come up with a great gift idea for that certain person — the one who has everything or who is hard to buy for.

Instead of hitting the mall, how about giving the ultimate adventure to fit any personality type? Recent studies have shown that experiences make us happier than material things, and these six one-of-a-kind Austin gift ideas are sure to be a hit.

For the adventurous spirit
To get an in-the-air thrill of a lifetime, flying high above Austin in an old-fashioned, open-cockpit biplane is the way to go.

Austin Biplanes is relatively new to the area. Pilot Rob Whiteside purchased his gorgeous, sleek, red 2012 replica biplane in May of this year and began customer flights in July. Passengers can channel Amelia Earhart or Charles Lindbergh as they don bomber jackets and leather helmets before climbing aboard the Red Baron-style plane.

Sharp turns and rolls make for an exciting ride; and if your loved one is a real daredevil, Whiteside even offers an aerobatic flight that includes barrel rolls and full loops. Your entire experience is captured on the plane's GoPro cameras mounted on each wing, with a third GoPro in the front cockpit.

For the wine connoisseur
Hit the Hill Country wine road in style with a private limo tour. Fredericksburg Texas Wine Tours escorts oenophiles with knowledgeable drivers who are intimately familiar with the Hill Country and its wineries. A typical tour includes visits to Grape Creek Vineyards for a barrel room tasting, Compass Rose Cellars for a wine tasting and lunch on the patio, and Kuhlman Cellars for a sommelier wine pairing with gourmet bites.

It's the perfect gift for wine lovers, not only for the luxury of the private limo, but for the experience of seeing, tasting, and learning more about these vineyards and their wine-making processes. The driver/guide also helps expedite any lines and can manage purchases.

For the aspiring action hero
Millions of people dream of being in the movies, and the action hero is the definitive movie star. We ordinary folk can get a taste of the experience with the Action Hero Training package at Stunt Ranch, which lets the participant discover what it's like to free fall three stories and jump from a burning car.

This private, four-hour class with award-winning director and Hollywood special effects coordinator Steve Wolf offers a hands-on introduction to pyrotechnics, safety, rigging, rappelling, and taking bullets. Wolf and his staff can also demonstrate how mechanics, kinetics, optics, heat, computers, and safety techniques are used to create movie special effects on Stunt Ranch's 22 acres in Southwest Austin. It's the ultimate gift for any Bruce Willis or James Bond wannabe on your gift list.

For the romantic at heart
Create the perfect day of luxury and romance by starting with a seasonal couple's treatment at Hiatus Spa + Retreat. Escape together for a little holiday pampering with a 60-minute couple's retreat and side-by-side zero gravity spa pedicures. The warm, relaxing environment of Hiatus sets the mood for the rest of the day.

Afterwards, take a private sunset cruise along Lady Bird Lake in an electric, gondola-like boat from Capital Cruises. The intimate setting allows you privacy to take in the sunset and city skyline from the water, all while enjoying a catered dinner. You can bring your own special bottle of wine or drink, or arrange for Champagne on the boat ahead of time.

For the speed junkie
If your loved one is addicted to Formula 1 or NASCAR, and easily excites at the idea of racing, you can gift them the adventure of speeding along the track. Rusty Wallace, a retired NASCAR driver and former Winston Cup Champion, offers the opportunity through Race With Rusty, and one of the tracks is in Kyle, just outside Austin.

The Central Texas Speedway is a half-mile, oval-shaped asphalt racetrack. After some training from a qualified pit crew, you're on track to experience all the excitement of NASCAR racing. Packages are available that allow for three to 20 laps, and some include being fitted with a custom Rusty Wallace driver's suit made by Oakley. Your speed freak will have the thrill of a lifetime.

For the altruistic soul
Maybe the person you're searching for is the "save the world" type. For this person, there is no better gift than knowing that they have made a positive impact on the world. What better way to honor them than with a gift that provides a healthy life and future to a child in need?

Through Austin-based The Miracle Foundation, a gift donation in someone's name can provide a child living in an orphanage in India with things that will truly change their lives. You can browse the holiday Give a Miracle catalog for any number of items to choose as your donation — from medical care to schoolbooks. The Miracle Foundation will send an e-card with a description of the gift that’s been donated in his or her name. For donations of $100 or more, your charitable gift recipient will also receive a Miracle Foundation luggage tag, signifying them as a "Bona Fide Miracle Maker." Take it a step further and gift traveling to India as part of a volunteer team to visit the orphanage and meet the children.

For the adventurous type, gift a tour through Austin Biplanes.

Photo courtesy of Austin Biplane

For the adventurous type, gift a tour through Austin Biplanes.

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Genie Is Out of The Bottle

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick starts quest to ban all forms of THC

The THC limit in medical cannabis products is also increasing.

Photo courtesy of TOCC

A ban on THC would not be popular.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is launching a quixotic quest to ban legal THC: According to a release, Patrick is pushing legislation that would ban all forms of consumable Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) from being sold in Texas.

He's promoting Senate Bill 3, which would be carried by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, and would ban all forms of THC.

Patrick is unhappy with House Bill 1325, introduced by Rep. Tracy King, D-Uvalde, to bolster agriculture in Texas. It was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2019.

Part of that bill allowed for the commercialization of hemp, which included un-removable non-intoxicating trace amounts of Delta 9 THC.

“Dangerously, retailers exploited the agriculture law to sell life-threatening, unregulated forms of THC to the public and made them easily accessible," Patrick says in his release. "These stores not only sold to adults, but they targeted Texas children and exposed them to dangerous levels of THC."

"Since 2023, thousands of stores selling hazardous THC products have popped up in communities across the state, and many sell products, including beverages, that have three to four times the THC content which might be found in marijuana purchased from a drug dealer," he says.

It seems like the genie is out of the bottle: According to the Baker Institute, hemp in Texas is booming: From 2020 to 2023, sales of hemp-derived cannabinoids increased by 1283 percent, reaching a value of $2.78 billion last year.

And efforts to reel it back in are basically doomed, they say.

"While prohibition may seem like the simplest response, it is almost certain to fail — both in eliminating widespread access to hemp-derived cannabinoids and in protecting the public," they say.

"As of April 2024, Texas had over 7,000 registered hemp dispensaries," they note. "More than 50,000 Texans are estimated to be employed through the hemp sector. A state ban would ruin this industry, but it would not reduce consumer demand for hemp-derived cannabinoids. Instead, consumers would turn to the illicit hemp market that would inevitably form in the wake of state prohibition. Products sold today in state-registered shops would still be available through underground supply networks that would reap billions in tax-free profits."

They say that "a broad ban, even a poorly enforced one, would harm consumers more than the state’s current system."

Meanwhile voters are supporting marijuana decriminalization efforts such as the one recently approved by the city of Dallas, as well as Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and San Marcos.

Catina Voellinger, Executive Director of Ground Game Texas, a Texas group that has been advocating for decriminalization of marijuana, says in a statement that the legislation would turn back the clock to a more repressive time.

“Instead of banning THC, lawmakers should focus on legalizing marijuana statewide, which would allow for cannabis to be safely regulated, and would prevent countless residents from being harmed by unnecessary arrests and prosecutions for possessing something that is already legal in 24 states," Voellinger says. "We’ve seen repeatedly that this is what Texans want – our marijuana decriminalization ballot initiatives in Dallas, Lockhart, and Bastrop won overwhelmingly this November.”

Daryoush Austin Zamhariri, Executive Director of Texas Cannabis Collective, a group working to change cannabis laws, calls Patrick's endorsement of legislation that would ban all consumable THC products in Texas "tremendously out of step with the overwhelming majority of Texans."

"Poll after poll has shown the citizens of Texas support legalizing cannabis and ending the failed policy of cannabis prohibition," Zamhariri says. "These attitudes have manifested in several campaigns to progressively decriminalize marijuana possession in cities across the state with bipartisan super majority votes through local ballot initiatives. We oppose SB 3 and look forward to working with our coalition partners at the 89th Legislature to bring common sense cannabis reform to the entirety of Texas.”

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