The last time we went into the Stockyards, we didn’t time it right to see the daily cattle drive or the gunfight show that happens on Saturdays and Sundays.
We headed back on Saturday to walk around, shop, and watch the shows. Nick found a new belt, complete with large buckle. Will and I found new straw cowboy hats.
We saw the cattle drive first. It was pretty cool to see the long horn cattle. Each of their horns were different shapes and lengths. There was an announcer prior to the cattle drive giving some interesting facts. So far, the widest longhorn horns have been almost 11 feet wide (he lives in Alabama though)! VIDEO: Fort Worth Stockyards Cattle Drive
We were waiting for the gunfight show to start, so Ben and Will explored a store (Stockyards Trading/Stockyards Back Forty) by the action. They finally found a hat for Will, but the show was starting. The shop was nice enough to hold it for us until after the show. Will thought it was a little snug, so the shop used a wooden hat stretcher to help it fit better.
The gunshow was a little crowded and it echoed a little in the area. The kids seemed to get a kick out of the show. VIDEO: Fort Worth Stockyards Gunfight Show
Ben also bought me a pair of earrings. There was so much cute stuff in the shops at the Stockyards. We’re going to miss the big Christmas event, but we still found a few things to ship back home for gifts.
Walking around the area was fun to do by itself too. We saw the stockyard pens in the back. There was a walkway that goes over the top for observation. There was a really cool old turnstile as well.
We also found two large objects: a set of spurs and a belt.
We were getting hungry walking around Fort Worth Stockyards. There were a lot of steakhouses in the Stockyards area, so we decided to eat what Texas is known for (steak)! We stopped to eat lunch at Cattlemen’s Steak House.
The pricing was a little expensive, but the 6 oz steak pricing wasn’t too far off from what we would normally pay. The lunch menu was about half the price of dinner options. They also offered a kids menu, with a 6 oz steak and 1 side option. It was about $4 cheaper than our lunch (same 6 oz steak). We did get a side salad though.
After we ordered drinks and our meals, they brought out rolls. The rolls were standard table rolls, round, a little dry.
Our salads came next. They were ok. It looked like a basic side salad: iceburg/romaine lettuce, some croutons, shredded carrots, dressing.
Our meals came on a fun plate. The kids had ordered fries with their steaks (the fries had a nice seasoning, but a little too crispy for me). Ben and I got baked potatoes as our side. They brought each one with the trimmings on the side (bacon, sour cream, chives, cheese).
The steak was nice and juicy. We had all ordered medium, although Ben and mine were more medium well than medium. They had a great flavor and were very tender.
If you walked around the restaurant, the two dining sections had it’s own grill area, so you could watch them make the steaks. I thought that was a really fun touch.
They also offered steaks for sale that could be air mailed.
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.
This post is a little out of sync, but I wanted to put it out there.
If you are traveling from the Tucson, Arizona area to Carlsbad, New Mexico, you may go through Texas! Geography is a crazy thing.
We drove through El Paso on our way. If you have a larger RV/Trailer, especially a diesel, stop to get fuel right by/in El Paso! There is literally nothing for over 100 miles (no bathrooms, no diesel) once you drive out of town. There were maybe a few small gas stations, but no diesel and nothing we would fit into. Please make sure to fill your tank completely full and also fill a back-up container of fuel.
After passing the salt flats, we stopped at a picnic area to put our emergency 8 gallon diesel container into the truck. I am so glad we kept that filled. I don’t think we would have made it into Carlsbad without it. There were several fuel stations that had diesel, but most of them are tight for larger rigs. We filled up, but not after I cracked the outdoor electric cover on the RV by not clearing the last ballard.
We did see a really neat informational sign at the picnic area though, so you never know what you will find when you stop!
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.
Right now the timed entrance tickets are not being used. According to their website, there are some days near the holidays that the park will be using the timed tickets again, so check their website if you are going near Thanksgiving and Christmas. The website also stated that there was currently a limit to 1,000 people/day.
The Park opened at 8:00am, Cavern opened at 8:30am. We got there about 7:45am, and there was already a line to get into the Visitors Center. Because of the daily entrance limit, I would try to get there as early as you can. We were in the cave about 4.5 hours.
The Visitor Center had bathrooms, 2 gift shops, a ticket booth, and an informational booth (park map, junior ranger books). There were not any ranger tours (Covid), but you can rent an audio tour ($5). I would really recommend the audio tour, it had some great information and also could be useful for kids who don’t like to (or can’t) read the signs. The Visitor Center has some interesting information at the exhibits, as well as a model of the cave.
The Cave had both elevators and a Natural Entrance. If you can, take the Natural Entrance down into the cave. It was quite the view and experience to walk these switchbacks down into the cave.
There were no bats while we were there, as it was too late in the season, but it must be amazing to see them exit at night.
It is a little scary when think about how far down you are. Nick was listening to audio tour and pointed out a section with tiny stalactites laying on the ground. They had fallen in an earthquake. Of course, then I looked to the ceiling and prayed for no shaking or earthquakes because that would really, really hurt. (There were also emergency call buttons to reach the Rangers throughout the cave. It was paved and had guardrails throughout.)
Top right picture: small fallen stalactites.
When you finish walking the cavern, it brings you to the elevators and lunch area. They sold drinks and cold items there. We took the elevators back up (it looked like maybe it was one way). The elevator rose 754 feet to get back to the Visitors Center!
Recommendations: Bring a water bottle. (No food or gum is allowed, but plain water is.) Wear boots, or at least shoes with a really good tread (some spots are slick, some are a little steep). Bring a small flashlight: you can see some cool things, and well…what if they loose power? It is completely dark when there are no lights.
Jim White was the first known person to explore the cave (from 1898 to 1902). He saw what he thought was smoke and went to investigate what/where it was. The smoke turned out to be bats exiting the cave. How bored do you have to be to repel (because the Natural Entrance Switchbacks were not there), with a lantern into an unknown hole in the ground?! Seriously, it had to have been nerve wracking. He unfortunately, according to the Ranger Will talked to, never filed a claim on the cave/land. Miners came in to mine the guano and sold it to farmers, specifically to citrus groves. Eventually, the government came in and declared it a National Monument and then a National Park.
Have you ever heard of, or had, a Sonoran Hot Dog? We hadn’t either. Nathan sent Ben a link and recommended we try one while in Arizona.
These hot dogs are insane. They are wrapped in bacon, had pinto beans, tomatoes (or a mild pico de gallo), sauted onions, sour cream, and a chile sauce. There was a roasted jalapeno on the side. They were so good!
If you want to make your own at home, I found a recipe for Sonoran Hot Dogs online. Kroger has these bolillo rolls for sale near the bakery department (they are stupid cheap too, normally $1), that look identical to the buns used on the ones we ate.
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”.)
We were going to get Nick a cowboy hat when we got to Texas for his birthday. However, we saw a really neat hat store (Russell’s) in Tombstone, so he ended up getting it early.
You know how in the Harry Potter books they help you pick out your perfect wand? Hat shopping was a little like that. We went over uses, wear, and the best hat for a kid. We were guided to the water resistant and packable hats (more crush resistant for a kid). He tried on different sizes, styles and crowns, and colors. (He ended up getting a Bailey Lite Felt hat. We got one a little loose so he had room to grow. The saleslady put in foam adjustment pieces to help it fit his head.)
Nick’s hat. Apparently there are also names for all the pieces of the hat.
Nick even wrote his own post about his experience! See below. 🙂
MY HAT ADVENTURE!!!!!!!!!
Hi my peeps, it’s Nick and this is about my adventure in Tombstone. As you probably know we went to Tombstone. But, you might not know is that I got an amazing hat. It is a cowboy hat that is brown, rain resistant, awesome, and it can be scrunched up and put in places. I went to a hat store there in Tombstone (yes, they have one). It was really cool. They had a lot of hats. Scrunchable hats are I guess rare, because there were not a lot of them at the shop. They had a lot of hats that were really tall. Not like huge hats, but really big though. They had a lot of black hats. I got a brown one because I knew that it would be hot. They had really light colors like grey but she said it might have a sweat line because I sweat a lot. The hat has a lot of great uses. The day I got it I used it as a hat but I also used it to cover my eyes so I could take a nap. It also has some disadvantages like it does not have a strap so it can fly off my head. (They only had one that had the strap but it was one of the tall ones). She also had to add some foam pieces so it fit my head. She also said that the hats there last a really long time. It was nice to have a hat that had a nice amount of shade. And if you are ever are in Tombstone be sure to check out the hat shop. And do not forget to look at the walking down Tombstone video. It should be on the good old YouTube. Yee haw!
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.
