#Gates50States

I’m not certain we’d recommend visiting Texas in the hottest month of the year, but that’s the time we had available, so we made a go of it.

Texas Hill Country appealed to Jenn for their wine making reputation. She found a home in Kerrville on VRBO with a pool, and after a spring and early summer of lots of stress and go-go-go, it was nice to start our trip with a whole bunch of pool time during some hot days.

We learned the Texas Wine Trail is second in the United States only to Napa.  Soooo many places to choose from, though our options were limited by a few factors.  First, not every winery is open every day.  Second, not every winery is family friendly.  Jenn settled on Texas Wine Collective, and as much of a wine snob as she has become, she really enjoyed what she tasted!

“It’s not unusual for me to like a wine in the moment at the tasting, only to get home with a bottle and regret my purchase. Not this time. Lost Oak Winery’s cab was really, really good.”

We were looking forward to a taco dinner in Texas, and Taqueria Jalisco was close by, and wow! we enjoyed it. Lydia enjoyed her unusual and yummy taco sandwich, and Lincoln remembers his huge taco plate. And when you’re done, make sure to take an order of sopaipillas… you’ll not regret it.

Fredericksburg is close by, and a bit more tourist forward than Kerrville. After a really good lunch at Hill and Vine, we stopped at one of Becker Vineyards‘ locations in town. Truthfully, strolling up and down the main drag in Fredericksburg is great for clothes shopping, wine tasting, and sampling all sorts of neat food items. I stopped in the Elk Store and immediately realized I’d not budgeted nearly enough time. No kids are allowed, and that’s perfectly fine. Adults need to budget about an hour to spend here as it’s one of the coolest bar atmospheres I’ve ever seen. I’m not too keen on their straight whiskey, but their pecan whiskey is really good.

During one of our evenings in the area, we visited Old Tunnel State Park where a big bat colony emerges each evening. We weren’t disappointed. Learning about bats beforehand, and then watching their behavior as they flew out of the tunnel to feed on moths and other insects of the evening was extremely cool.

We launched from Kerrville to make a day trip to San Antonio, and a visit to The Alamo and the River Walk. The audio tour at The Alamo helped us all appreciate the history and the significance of everything better than had we just walked through and read the placards.

The River Walk is always busy. And we went on Memorial Weekend, so it was exceedingly hot and very crowded. We bought tickets for the boat ride, but you still have to wait to get on the boat. We ended up not even using them. Our advice: go at a different, less crowded, less hot time.

On our way from Kerrville to Terlingua, we stopped for lunch and groceries in Alpine, and lunched at Reata. Lincoln remembers a big plate of enchiladas, beans, and rice, while Jenn loved her tamales. We all remember the yummy pecan pie, which apparently is their specialty.

We debated making Big Bend National Park part of this trip. It’s awfully out of the way. But we also enjoy visiting National Parks, and Big Bend is so unique in its geology and appearance, we decided to include it. Listening to Everybody’s National Parks episode 32.3 prepared us for what we would see and experience from a geological history standpoint. Unless you’re very familiar with how BB got here and how it was formed, do yourself a favor and investigate the history. Brian’s interview on the podcast linked above is the most succinct, entertaining way to learn this story, so why not give it a listen? You’ll appreciate with a greater depth that which you take in as you drive and hike through the park.

Holy cow, was it hot! Within the basin, it is much more [relatively] pleasant, and we started with The Window Trail, which was very cool. (Cool as in neat, not cool as in not hot.). When we attempted a second hike at the Lost Goldmine Trail, the heat really got to Lydia, and we had to turn back about halfway.

We spent the rest of the day driving to some interesting locations around the central and western portions of the park outside the basin.  That kind of heat affects different people in different ways, and the AC breaks in the car made exploring other parts of BBNP much more doable.

The Fossil Discovery Exhibit is first class, and the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive gave us all a neat look at the variety of geologic formations BBNP has to offer.

We stayed in Terlingua, which I guess can be considered a gateway town to the park. Kind of. It’s still about an hour’s drive to the visitors center in the basin, so prepare for time on the road.

In the late afternoon, we met up with Auntie Haley and Lauren at our VRBO. They’d finished a monster hike of their own prior to our arrival, and they were ready for a rest. The following day, they offered to take Lydia and Henry on a short hike and pool visit while Jenn, Lincoln, and I took a big hike.  Major thanks to them!

We left from the Pinnacles Trailhead and followed it to the South Rim Trail, then returned via Laguna Meadows, a 12.5 mile loop in all. 

Had we not completed this hike, we would have left BBNP having only seen a fraction of the basin and finished with the majority of our experience in the desert portion. The views at South Rim are simply fantastic, we saw some neat wildlife, and the experience gave us a look at the park that gave us a big, positive impression. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, highly recommend.

Lydia and Henry revisited the Window Trail, but later in the day than before, so it was more buggy. They also saw a rattlesnake, something else venomous in the water, two bears, and more than twenty lizards.

Our overall BBNP advice: spend most of your time in the Chisos Basin, wake up before the sun rises to arrive at the trailheads early, and don’t skip the Fossil center.  The Cottonwood General Store in Terlingua was well supplied, but if you’re going to do a lot of cooking on your own, get a cooler and your groceries at Porter’s in Alpine.  The eating out options in Terlingua are… slim.

There are a couple of ways to get from Terlingua to Marfa. We recommend the southern route along the Rio Grande. Have a full tank of gas and a reliable vehicle, because you’re not going to see a lot of people or places to resupply, but you’ll see a slice of America that you won’t get in the Midwest, the northeast, or just about any other region.

We weren’t a fan of Marfa. It was over promised and it under delivered. In just about every way. Clearly it appeals to some, it’s very artsy; and they have a following, as someone is paying the prices listed on the items in the various stores. We’ll not be back, though.

Unfortunately, we could only make a brief stop at Guadalupe Mountains National Park as most of the trails were closed because of fire threat. While we were in Carlsbad, NM though, Lincoln returned to hike Guadalupe Peak with Auntie Haley and Lauren.

We continued our bleak drive through desert territory and our next stop was Las Cruces, New Mexico. Rather than backtrack and drive through places we’d already seen, we chose to head west to Presidio then north to Las Cruces, and you can read about this in our New Mexico post.