It’s been a few weeks, but we’ve been busy. This time, we were getting out of the snow and flying to San Antonio. Our flight kept getting delayed, but we eventually made it to the hotel just after midnight.
The next day, we were planning on checking out the Natural Bridge Caverns. But first, a nice stop for breakfast at First Watch. They are a chain, but so far, we’ve never been disappointed. 100 times better than powdered eggs at the hotel.
We made our way over for our cave tour. The Natural Bridge Caverns offer a few different cave tours, a climbing challenge course, and a drive through wildlife safari. So, it’s a good place to take the kids for a day. We did the Discovery Cave Tour, which takes a little over an hour. There are some cool formations, but if you’re looking to get out of the heat this cave may not be the one. It typically is around 70 degrees with 99% humidity. Although, during mid-summer in Texas, my opinion might be different.
After the cave, we made it to the Pearl Brewery. It’s a historic brewery complex that has been transformed into retail space with dining, shopping, event space, and apartments. We stopped in at the Hotel Emma. It’s definitely worth a stop to check out the lobby and bar area.
Who doesn’t want to sit in an old beer vat? 
San Antonio is also home to four missions making up one historical park. You can even make it an all-day biking adventure as the riverwalk trail has been extended to include all the missions. The missionaries were in the region since the early 1700’s and brought a lot of change to the area. The Spanish Missionaries brought their ways of building and irrigating creating an aqueduct to bring water for growing crops. Thus changing the lives of the once hunter-gatherer Indian tribes of the region.
What trip to San Antonio would be complete without a visit to the San Antonio Riverwalk. The city created a vibrant downtown area when it installed a flood control plan, the creation of walkways along the river, and stairways to the street level. We walked around a bit and decided to jump on one of the Riverwalk tour boats. It takes about 30 minutes and talks about some of the various buildings and the history of the Riverwalk. There are a number of shops, restaurants, and bars, that make it a good place to enjoy the San Antonio weather.
We’ve been to San Antonio a few times, and so we were trying to do some different things as well. We drove out the next morning a little over an hour north to check out the LBJ Ranch. It was home to Lyndon B. Johnson, who was the 36th President of the US. Upon his death, he donated 600 acres to the Park Service for the public. He stipulated that it remain a working ranch.
Who’s your daddy? 
There he is!
Across the river from the National Historic Park is a Texas State Park. Friends of the late president wanted to honor him and managed to buy 269 acres (now 700 acres) to create the state park. The state park includes some exhibits about his presidency and a historical farm. The park service still tries to run the farm as it had been done in the early 1900’s. There are a few full-time rangers and volunteers that explain how the farm is run and how food was preserved in those days. It was interesting to see the large crocks of hog meat stored in lard to keep the meat from drying out. The meat will keep for about a year.
Strutting for the ladies 
A lamb with its mom
Texas Longhorn
The bluebells were pretty
You then drive over to the National Historical Park and see LBJ’s reconstructed boyhood home. You’ll see some of the cattle on the ranch and the “Texas White House”. LBJ’s home became known as the “Texas White House” as he became one of the first presidents to really use air travel and had many meetings at the ranch.
The Texas White House
Air travel was made much easier by the use of “Air Force One Half”. “Air Force One” was a 747 and too big and heavy to land on the runway at the ranch. So, the President would be flown into Austin and take the smaller 707 to the ranch. One of the Park Rangers gave a great talk about how Air Force One came into existence and the origins of its color scheme. He also related an interesting story behind how the smaller 707 plane came to the ranch to be put on display. One of the President’s former pilots spearheaded that effort, and the plane was brought there in 2010 after finding it in an Arizona boneyard.
Air Force One Half
Driving to the ranch from San Antonio, you pass a number of wineries along the corridor from Fredericksburg to Johnson City. The Rhinory caught my attention with a statue of a rhino and I thought Rhinory was cute word play on winery. So, we decided to head on in for a tasting. We drove up, and saw Blake, yep, a real live rhino running around in his pen. So, yes, it is a winery that also has a conservation piece to it. They are trying to save the white rhino from poachers in Africa. Blake is still a young buck and is not yet ready to meet the ladies. The plan is to eventually bring in a couple of females and breed. They have some Texas’ wines and a few others from South Africa. It was an interesting place and worth a stop. That night, we went to a Spurs game for a little something different.
Blake
With our time up in San Antonio, we drove on to Dallas. We spent a few days visiting Alyssa and helping her move to a new apartment. We had time to squeeze in some fun and it was nice to have Alyssa show us around her city. We made it to a Rangers’ game. The stadium is relatively new having opened in 2020 and has a retractable roof. If you know anything about the Texas heat, it was so enjoyable to watch a baseball game in a temperature-controlled environment.
Even got a relaxing afternoon at the pool.
A friend of mine, from years gone by, also moved to Texas recently. So, we met up with her at Medieval Times. I hadn’t been to one of those shows in years, but it was a lot of fun and horses were beautiful. It was also really nice to reconnect with someone I hadn’t seen in forever.
We left Alyssa and flew home only to jump on with Wills’ cousins for a few days of camping. John was taking the Escapod out and we were tagging along again.
The Escapod setup.
Spent a couple days near Bisbee, AZ. It’s an old mining town in southeastern Arizona near the Mexico border. These days Bisbee supports a big artist community and draws a fair number of tourists. It’s got a nice mining museum as well. They also have an underground mining tour at the Queen Mine. The tour is quite popular and was sold out on the day we were there.
Will was drawn to the sanitation cart.
How they know who is still in the mine.
Really miners??
Beautiful sunset at our campground
This was quite the camper. 
Door on Public Bathroom
View of the open-pit Queen mine 
After exploring Bisbee a little bit, we drove on up to Tombstone, AZ. Yes, the place made famous by the OK Corral gunfight back in the 1880’s. We walked down the main drag and stopped in for lunch and a cool sarsaparilla.
We packed up the following day and headed over to the City of Rocks to camp one more night. On the way there, we made a stop at the Chiricahua National Monument in Wilcox, AZ. They call it a “wonderland of rocks”. We drove to the visitor center and took in the movie. There are a number of hiking trails, and the weather is much cooler in the mountains then the surrounding desert. Turns out, our vehicle with the little trailer was too long to drive the scenic road. The road has a 24-foot limit. So, that was the extent of our visit, and we got back on the road. We do want to go back one day and really explore the monument.
Unlike last year, we had a beautiful night at City of Rocks, enjoyed ourselves and took in a gorgeous sunset.
