It was raining the last two days and we wanted to go out even if we got wet. We didn’t really have a destination in mind, we were just exploring the local area. We ended up driving by the Sam Houston University and passed the Sam Houston Home historic area. The rain had slowed down to a mist, so we stopped to explore. The buildings were really neat, some were original to the home and some were dismantled and brought in later.
Houston had a couple of homes in the area, the home at the University that we saw was called Woodland.
All the ducks in a row, garden on site, Houston’s office, outbuildings
Galveston was only about an hour and a half from our campground and we wanted to see the Gulf of Mexico.
It was a nice day out, sunny and about 70 degrees. Parking close to the main area was a little challenging. However, if you don’t mind walking a little bit and playing frogger to cross the street, there was some free “beach access” parking on the street (on the non-water side). All parking on the water side of the street was paid from what we saw.
Cool benches on the sidewalks, water side
There were several fishing piers jutting out into the gulf. They looked like rocky outcroppings. There was one huge pier with rides called Pleasure Pier. Crazy name. We walked to see it, however unlike other piers we have been to, there was a general admission. You could not just walk on it to check it out, even if you were not riding any of the rides.
Nick found a few shells and we watched the waves for a little bit. We saw several cargo ships in the distance.
The Gulf’s water was a little chilly, so we did not wade in it. Because it is fed from rivers, it often has a muddy look from sediment coming in from the rivers, so you don’t have the clear waters of the ocean.
As we were driving into San Antonio, we had passed a huge gas station called BUC-EE’S. We had never seen such an animal and made a note to come back to see it. We weren’t disappointed when we finally got there. Apparently it is a chain, mostly in Texas (eastern). We stopped at the Bastrop location.
Outside had a large store, with 3 fuel/Ethonel Free/DEF stations.
They are apparently known for their clean restrooms. These restrooms were huge, clean, and very nice. The boys reported even the men’s restroom was clean! I had a toilet cleaning dispenser and a hand sanitizer dispenser in my stall.
There were so many food and drink options you could find something for everyone. We ended up buying Beaver Friends (animal crackers), licorice, a slushy, and chopped and sliced brisket sandwiches with chips. The brisket sandwiches are made right there in the store.
This company did a great job with putting the Buc-ee mascot on pretty much everything (clothes, wine glasses, keychains, food items). We found a few Christmas gifts for people as well. The store also sold ice really cheap (10lb/$0.79, 20lb/$0.99), so we got a bag on our way out. We browsed around the shop for awhile and picked up a couple of items.
The parking lot was pretty large as well. If we see another one on our travels, I would definitely stop. It was quite the experience.
Austin was a little over an hour away from the campground and we were excited to see it. We had heard a lot of good things about the city, plus there were a few holiday events there that we wanted to check out.
We started off at the Blue Genie Art Bazaar. It was a really neat store with booths from different artists. Nick made out with a new baby Yoda face mask and a keychain guitar pick holder. I found a chocolate bar with locally sourced ingredients. It looks like it will be tasty. They did a great job with Covid precautions: everyone had to wear masks and they were limiting the amount of people allowed in the space.
We drove further into Austin and had a little bit of a hard time finding parking. There were several artist booths with items for sale ranging from food to jewelry and clothes. We found a couple of items for Christmas gifts. We wandered around and tried pizza from Home Slice and ice cream from Amy’s. We explored this amazing candy store called Big Top Candy Shop. The inside decor was awesome and they had all different types of candy (chocolates, gummies…).
We also saw the Austin Motel’s Winter Wanderland. This must be a fun place to stay. It was close enough to walk to shops and restaurants and had a really cool vibe. They decorated the courtyard (even the pool area!) for Christmas with a lot of trees and garland. Even the prickly pear cacti had ornaments on them! It was really neat to see, super festive.
I did notice as a whole, the part of Austin we were in did a much better job with wearing masks, even outside.
We had been looking forward to seeing the San Antonio River Walk for a long time, years in fact. So, of course, one of our first stops in San Antonio was the River Walk.
After driving around to find parking (everything is paid parking, even street parking), we lucked out and found a spot near one of the River Walk bridge entrances.
The River Walk is as neat as everyone says. There were sections of just walking (or running for some people) with plants growing along the walls or decorations in the retaining/bridge walls. Then there was the shopping and restaurant section of the River Walk. The restaurants certainly had great patio views.
Our first trip there was during the day, which was great. But Ben had seen online that the Christmas lights really make it beautiful. So, we went back during a Luminary weekend, which was too pretty. We found a restaurant next to the river to eat dinner (Casa Rio). All the wait staff wore masks, and there were plastic curtains between tables. They also seated customers with a table in between them for spacing. The ducks that occupy the canal are expert beggars at these restaurants. The kids named them water pigeons. While eating it was fun to hear snippets of the boat tour guides speeches as they passed. Ultimately, we got to sit and and enjoy the lights as they came on at dusk.
The restaurants were decked out in lights, there were lights hanging down from the trees and they had luminaries placed along the sidewalk. It looked like open-drink carry was allowed, as we saw several people with (plastic) glasses of wine or even baggies with straws for frozen margaritas.
CAUTION: Most of the sidewalk does not have railings. Be careful while walking along the edge. It would be really easy to fall in. Luckily, we did not.
It was a really neat treat to see the River Walk and so far it has had my favorite Christmas decorations.
One of Will’s picks to see on this trip was the Alamo. This kid loves history.
It was in the downtown area, not far from the River Walk. We walked between the two quite easily (it was less than 10 minutes, depending on where you were on the River Walk).
It was really neat to see. They did a really nice job with historical information signs and diagrams. There’s a gorgeous, huge, oak tree in the courtyard. (Ben’s favorite thing was the “historical” gift shop.)
Due to Covid, there was a limited amount of people allowed in the church area of the Alamo. Tickets were free, but they were sold out the day we were there. We do plan on going back once we can get tickets.
VISITOR NOTE: The postcards in the Alamo gift shop were $1.99 each. The shop across the street and the San Antonio Visitor Center had them for about $0.35/each.
I loved the Stockyards. I had been in the Fort Worth area once before (a long time ago, before kids) for work training. It was still really cool coming back a second time.
The Stockyards are now a historic district with shopping and restaurants. However, it once had so many cattle going through, that it was nicknamed Cowtown. It was a working stockyard with a railroad line, cattle sales, shipping, and processing.
As you walked around, there were parts of the shopping areas that had cobblestone walkways. These were the original brick! The Livestock Exchange Building now has offices, the Historical Society, and cattle actions via satellite. There was a daily (free) cattle drive with Texas Longhorns at 11:30am and 4:00pm. On Saturdays and Sundays there was a gunfight show (also free) at 11:45am and 4:15pm. They still hold weekly rodeos in the Coliseum (which according to them held the first indoor rodeo!).
We visited the Stockyards on our second day in town. Parking was a bit tight (not the spot sizes, but finding one). There were plenty of lots, but they were gearing up to the Christmas season and there were a lot of people around. There was some free parking, but the closer lots were $10 and $15/day. After we parked, we mostly wandered around and took in the views. We bought a few postcards, some Christmas gifts, small ornaments. It was decorated for Christmas, which looked really pretty.
We grabbed some lunch at a local steakhouse, saw some amazing wood furniture, admired the Texas Longhorn Cattle, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.
Nick tried his hand at riding a mechanical bull. He did pretty well. It was $8/ride.
Post steakhouse, the cattle took its revenge on Nick.
Roswell was about an hour drive from our campground. Since it was so close, I wanted to go see it. We ended up going on my birthday! After everyone was done with school/work, we drove up. We got there about 4:00pm. Although an hour is a quick drive to us at this point, it seemed longer with the emptiness of the land. The way home was very dark (no street lights unless in a town) and smelly (processing plants).
We visited the UFO International Museum. (Cost us $14 for entry tickets.) There was a machine to take your temperature as you came inside.
The exhibits had a lot of reading. None of the smaller video monitors were on, so it was more like standing and reading a book. The Research Library and Video Room were roped off. The spaceship display in the center of the room was probably the neatest thing in there!
There was a really neat gift shop as well, so we spent a little time doing some shopping at the end.
It seemed like most of the shops were already closed when we got to town or closed at 5:00pm. (If you are going, I would check with each store. Maps had listed the Visitor Center as open until 5:00pm, but the sign on the door said 2:00.)
There were fun street lamps along the main street decorated with alien eyes! (Which I later learned on RoadsideAmerica, were not even done by the city! A group snuck in one night and applied them to some of the lamps. Here’s the link to the story.)
There were a few alien statues, but it seemed like it was mostly done by the individual stores. The McDonald’s was amazing! The outside was shaped like a UFO, complete with lights.
The town was ok. I would not make a specific trip out there. Maybe it was because so many things were closed, but there didn’t seem to be a lot to do. I also thought the town would have embraced the alien theme and would have been kitschier.
There were a few reasons we stayed in Arizona. One: To help break up the long, long, long, drive across the bottom of the country. (Seriously, you see it on a map, but until we were driving and there was literally nothing for a hundred+ miles, it doesn’t quite sink in just how much land this country has.) Two: To see the cacti. We went to Saguaro National Park, which was about a half hour drive from our campsite. Saguaro actually has two sections to the park: East and West. They are not connected! (See map below.) Although each side had the saguaro cactus that the park was named for, they did offer different things to see. We went to see Saguaro West, because I wanted to see the petroglyphs.
The Visitor Center looked like a nice building (but had closed by the time we got there). It had some nice informational signs with desert life information. There was not a ranger booth/ticket booth like in many of the other National Parks we had been to. Instead, you paid at the Visitor Center. There was also an outside payment box if the Visitor Center was closed. ($25/car for 7 days or $45 for a Saguaro annual pass. It is $80 for the America The Beautiful pass that lets you into all National Parks, Monuments, etc.)
We drove the Bajada Loop (aka Hohokam Rd.) It was really neat to see, but I would recommend going in a truck, SUV, or a car that sits up higher. The highway and road to the Visitor Center was paved. However, the scenic loop road was not! While, the end of the road was nice and flat, there were sections along the rest of the road that were definitely bumpy and had some ruts. (See Video: Drive Through Saguaro National Park West) We only saw a few people in the whole park, maybe 10 people besides us.
There were a few spots to pull off and hike. It was a warm day, 90 degrees F, so we just stuck with easy short trails. We ended up doing 3 trails: Valley View, Signal Hill (petroglyphs), and Desert Discovery Nature Trail (paved). In total, about 2 miles of hiking, so it was a light day.
Valley View offered a great view at the end of the trail over the valley below. There were just cacti as far as the eye could see. It also offered a few interesting plant information plaques along the way. It must be amazing when the cacti are in bloom.
We only saw 1 lizard (looked like a small whiptail like we have been seeing out West) and a few birds. We did see a web on the ground that covered a good amount of space, but no spider to go with it.
Catci look really weird when they die. Especially the Saguaro cactus.
Signal Hill was a short trail at the Signal Hill Picnic Area. There were several great grill areas and benches around for picnics. At the top of the trail was what looked like a pile of rocks. There were a bunch of petroglyphs on these rocks, some you can see from the bottom of the trail looking up, some you can see right next to the trail. If you enjoy petroglyphs, I would definitely take this trail (it’s only a .3 mile trail according to the park).
We ended the day with the Desert Discovery Nature Trail. It was an easy paved path. There were several informational signs around the trail. The sun was beginning to set, which gave the cacti a really neat backdrop. We saw a roadrunner running through the bushes near the parking lot. (Contrary to what TV taught me, there was no coyote chasing it. We didn’t see any ACME products either. They were fast, but didn’t say “Beep Beep”.)
While Ben and Will were exploring the Bird Cage, Nick and I took the Stagecoach tour. It cost $15 for the two of us (plus a tip).
The tour began at a single person booth next to the sidewalk. It was very easy to miss! There was a step ladder to get up into the coach. Inside, there were two seats on either end and one in the middle. Nick and I had the whole coach to ourselves! It was a little bumpy, but not bad. I imagine the original seats must have been a very bumpy ride.
It was really neat to see the town and hear some interesting history about Tombstone and its buildings. We even went on a couple of side streets and saw the courthouse (which is not on the main street, and we would have missed seeing otherwise). The driver had a headset on and there were speakers inside the coach, which made it was easy to hear him.
