Jennie Simpson – Page 20

Springfield, IL

By Jennie Simpson | April 29, 2016

We’re making our way to the Eastern states for this year’s loop. There will be a few states that we just kind of skim through on the way there and Illinois is one of those skim states this year. We only stayed for a week and we only hit one city. Springfield. We do have several other places on our list and we will definitely hit those during a different loop!

The Illinois State Capitol Building is impressive, right? Notice the statue in front? That would be Abraham Lincoln.

The dome is one of the most vivid and beautiful State Capitol domes I’ve seen so far.

Here’s a better view of the top of the dome. Love all of the bright colors and the stained glass at the very tippy-top!

The rest of the Illinois State Capitol Building was just as opulent. The only bad thing I can say, is that we felt like it didn’t really reflect the city. It was almost too much. So very, very pretty, but not reflective of what we saw in the rest of Springfield.

Welcome to the Land of Lincoln! Springfield is just a little bit proud of it’s connection to Abraham Lincoln and I can’t say that I blame them. He’s one of my favorite Presidents too. We took a guided tour of Lincoln’s Home when we visited the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. The tours are free, but you have to be on a guided tour to get inside.

One of my favorite things about Lincoln is the fact that he was mostly self-taught. I think that speaks volumes about him…really about anyone who has enough gumption and wits to teach themselves. We were told that on the first level of the house most of the stuff we saw was original or period. I meant to ask if the hat and shawl really belonged to the Lincolns, but I forgot to…I still like the picture though.

Ok…so everything you see in this picture belonged to the Lincolns except for the chair in the bottom right. The rest of it is original. So, now you see why the tours are guided. We were given a list of rules and warned that if we stepped off of the magic blue carpet the National Park system installed throughout the house, then bad things would happen. Bad as in kicked out and possibly thrown in jail if anything was damaged. Funny story…A guy in our tour made a phone call during the tour…the guide took it badly and threatened to call security if he did it again. No joke. Our guide wasn’t putting up with any tomfoolery at all.

We stopped in at the Old Capitol Building.

They’ve got the inside set up the way it would have been during the time the Old State Capitol Building was in use. It was very cool and definitely worth a stop.

Right outside the Old Capitol Building is the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices where Abraham Lincoln practiced law. It’s a museum of sorts…we didn’t get to go inside because it was closed.

We also visited the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site. The Lincoln Tomb is 117 feet tall and constructed of granite. The bronze sculptures on the terrace are cast from sixty-five cannons donated by the United States Government.

The tomb is open to the public. You’ll find some smaller sculptures of Lincoln throughout his life and some plaques with his more memorable speeches on them. There’s also a park attendant who’s keeping track of everyone coming and going and where they’re from.

The monument holds the remains of the Sixteenth President, his wife, and three of their four sons.

I don’t post much about the RV parks we stay in, but this one is worth mentioning. They had mini golf, a pool (which was closed because it was too cold), and several other yard games…all free!

You didn’t think I was going to leave out the food, did you? We ate at a place called Obed & Isaac’s Microbrewery and Eatery. The restaurant is in an old house that’s been redone.

Mr. Man got the burger you see above. It’s called the Stinger Burger and yes, those are onion rings you see sitting atop the bacon.

It looks like a hot mess. It’s called The Horseshoe. What you’re looking at is an open-faced sandwich with corned beef smothered in their special cheese sauce (that was stinkin’ good!!) and fries sitting on top of thick toasted bread (also known as Texas toast). It’s not pretty, but boy…let me tell you…it was amazingly good!! I could eat a shoe if it was drenched in that cheese sauce.

Illinois…we’ll be back!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

A Weekend Away

By Jennie Simpson | April 21, 2016

One of our rules (ok, the only rule) to getting the state sticker up on our map is that we have to visit the state capitol building. Since we were in Missouri visiting family and friends and working on some RV projects for five weeks, we took a short mini vacation to get some places knocked off our “to see” list for Missouri.

The first stop during our weekend was the Ha Ha Tonka State Park so we could see the ruins of the old “Castle”.

In 1908 Robert M. Snyder bought around 5,000 acres so he could have a European style castle built on a bluff overlooking the Ha Ha Tonka Spring and the Lake of the Ozarks. Unfortunately, a year after construction started Snyder was killed in the state’s first automobile accident. Snyder’s son finished the castle but scaled down the plans quite a bit. In 1942 a fire gutted the castle and from what I understand, the property has been left to ruin over the years.

This is the Ha Ha Tonka Spring…I love the color of the water! We walked down 316 stairs to get a better look at the spring. 316 stairs…one way. The morning we went was cold and the stairs had some ice on them, but we weren’t the only ones there. The park was really crowded with walkers and joggers and families enjoying the sun. This is a great state park and y’all should definitely go some time!
The next stop on our mini vacation was Jefferson City.

So, y’all know one of my favorite things about capitol buildings is the dome. This dome was so amazingly gorgeous…but I couldn’t get a decent shot of it to save my life! Yep, I’m still a photography newb. This dome was amazing because of all of the murals. It didn’t have a huge stained glass thing (although there were some small stained glass windows), but it was very impressive.

It didn’t have stained glass in the dome, but there was some really stunning stained glass throughout the building.

We’ve decided that the Jefferson City Capitol Building is our favorite…so far. We’ve only seen 12 on our explorations…so…we’ll see! Maybe we should make a list?

We made it all the way to St. Louis on our mini vacation! The boys were all excited to stay in a hotel.

I laughed when I typed that.

It’s funny, we go and see all of these cool places, but we never really leave home. It’s not a vacation. So, the boys thought it was the best to stay in a hotel. Kids. I, on the other hand, always wig out when I have to sleep in a hotel bed, but the place we stayed (which was right by the Arch) was pretty nice! What wasn’t nice was that the Arch was closed. *sad face*

We love smoked meat/BBQ! We found a place called Pappy’s that had over a hundred reviews and had four stars! We stood in line for this place.

And then we made it inside and stood in line some more.

And then…the food came…and it was soooo good! We all had enough food plus there were a few leftovers… and it cost less than $60! No wonder everyone loves this place!

Pappy’s names their smokers. Is that a thing? They have four or five of these huge smokers going and the smells coming from them were torture while we were standing in line.

We searched the hotel for a good view of the Arch that night. This is what we found. Not bad, right?

This was actually the view from our room. Not the Arch, but still pretty darn nice! What you’re looking at is the Old Courthouse and it’s where your Arch exploration should start.

The dome in the Old Courthouse was built by the same guy who built the Jefferson City Capitol Building dome and you can really see the similarities. But, I could actually get a picture of this dome! Score! The Old Courthouse used to be a meeting place and there’s a spot in the middle of the floor that you can stand on and talk and people all the way up in the top of the dome can hear you. We tried it out. It totally worked! This building is worth spending several hours in, but we were a little rushed so we did the Jr. Ranger program, explored just a teensy bit, then headed on down the road.

There are tons of zoos in the U.S. We decided to only visit ten. We added on the St. Louis zoo when we learned that it’s been voted the best zoo in the U.S. I’m so glad we did! We had a great time watching this polar bear! He was the best! Usually, the polar bears are just kind of laying around not doing anything, but this guy…he was playing with the crowd!

The animals at the St. Louis Zoo were all happy and healthy and had nice habitats.

We felt like we should get some St. Louis style ribs while we were in St. Louis. That’s easier said than done (at least the day we were there). We had great ribs, but they weren’t St. Louis style.

But, look at this burger. It was really good! It’s hard to be upset when you’re eating burgers that are so stinkin’ good, right? I didn’t get a picture of them, but we also got some smoked chocolate chip cookies. They were fantastic!

I’ve got to include some flowers. It’s beginning to be Spring and the flowers are starting to bloom!

I’ll leave y’all with this pretty shot of a Tulip Tree. I’ve decided this is one of my favorite types of trees.

See y’all down the road!

Home For A Visit

By Jennie Simpson | April 7, 2016

We spent five wonderful weeks back in our hometown in Missouri.

It was so great spending some time with

family and

friends!! One of the hardest things about living a nomadic life is being away from family and friends for long periods of time so we all took the opportunity to spend as much time as possible reconnecting with as many as we could. Unfortunately, time seems to fly and we didn’t get to spend time with everyone we wanted to.

The Dude turned 13 while we were back home. We now have two teenagers. Two. In an RV. This year should definitely be interesting!

The boys all took advantage of the toys at my parents’ house and spent quite a bit of time outside…when it wasn’t raining.

It wasn’t all fun and play though. We had several projects we wanted to get done. It’s amazing how different what you think you’re going to need vs. what you really need while living in an RV is.

And…we, of course, had to hit up our favorite eateries!

It kind of looks like a mess, but it is so stinkin’ good!! Anything that has mac-n-cheese, prime rib chili, cheese, and garlic ailoi on top of fries…yes please!

I think we had Shake’s several times a week…

I might need a twelve step program when it comes to Shake’s.

I can’t leave out all of the pretty flowers!

One of the best things about Spring…

would be all of the flowers!!

See y’all down the road!!

#homeiswheretheheartis

Oklahoma. It’s The Place To Be…For Burgers

By Jennie Simpson | March 30, 2016

We took a day off and went out exploring part of Oklahoma. We’d been to Oklahoma on several occasions, but we’d never taken the boys to the State Capitol so, we loaded up the car and drove the almost four hours from where we were staying so we could officially check Oklahoma off of our 50 state list.

We thought the outside of the Capitol Building looked very impressive. In our state capitol booklet Oklahoma boasts as being the only State Capitol Building with a working oil well around it. We did see one, but it didn’t look like it was working.

The Redbud Trees were starting to bloom around the Capitol grounds.

The dome was really pretty. I love that they used a color scheme that represents their ties to the Native American culture. I’m a little OCD when it comes to centering up under the domes, so when I saw that OKC had the floor directly under the dome roped off, I got slightly panicky. I hesitated even taking the photo because I knew when I looked at it the lack of symmetry would drive me nuts. But I really like to share our adventures with y’all, so I took the shot and you get a picture of the dome that’s…not great. Sorry.

There were some nice murals and some very lovely stained glass throughout the building.

Like most Capitol Buildings, there was marble everywhere. I’m not complaining…I love the look!

We did find a couple of Capitol Building firsts! The OKC Capitol Building has a gym and a barber shop!

Tucker’s Onion Burgers. We decided we need to add a burger list to our List Page. We decided this after eating at Tucker’s. Are you wondering what the heck an onion burger is? Back in the 1920s several cafes in Oklahoma started adding thinly shredded caramelized onions to their burgers to stretch the beef further. It was a way for the cafe owners to still turn a profit even during the Great Depression. The Onion Burger is still a staple in many Oklahoma cafes. And just so you know…Tucker’s is at the top of our Burger List. You can go check out the rest of the list over on The List page!

We couldn’t pass up the 66ft tall soda bottle at POPs.

POPs has hundreds of different flavors of soda all in one store/gas station/diner. There were a ton of people there and we had to stand in line just to look at all of the flavors. It was insane! Flavors ranged from the usual colas to some very interesting flavors…bacon, peanut butter & jelly, sweet corn, and ranch were a few of the not so usual flavors. We each picked something out and headed on down the road.

It’s a tourist road side attraction. There’s a “museum” in the bottom floor, but the loft upstairs was the best part. It’s worth a quick stop if you’re ever driving by. I tried to get a shot of the loft, but it just didn’t happen. You’ll just have to go check it out yourself! And make sure you go to Tucker’s Onion Burger since you’ll be so close!!

See y’all down the road!!

Houston

By Jennie Simpson | March 17, 2016

Hey Guys!!

We spent three weeks back in our old stomping grounds. It was really weird being in familiar surroundings after a year of moving to a new city every week or two. Why did we go back to the Houston area when our 50 state exploration isn’t done? We have friends in the area to visit. It’s hard to find good friends, but we’ve found some of the best and we like to chat with them face-to-face at least once a year. We also still have yearly check-ups. I know, I know…we could just find a doctor wherever we might be, but you see…we really like our Doctors. Our Doctor Team is top-notch, super friendly, and they just get us. They understand and support our need to be nomads.

We’ve called the Houston area home for over eight years. You’d think we’d done everything touristy there is to do in the area. But, no. It’s a huge area with plenty to offer.

We spent a couple of hours at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir. The Mandir is a Hindu place of worship, so if you’re interested in going please read up on their customs and beliefs beforehand. I’ve never been to a place like this. It’s absolutely gorgeous! We were wandering around inside and one of the volunteers offered to give us a tour. I’m so glad he did. I mean, the Mandir is beautifully crafted, but until you learn the details you can’t really appreciate what you’re looking at.

Since the Mandir is a place of worship, photos of the inside aren’t allowed. They gave me permission to use the photos from their website. The photo above is of the main dome. What you’re looking at is intricately hand carved Turkish limestone. It was so hard not to take pictures of this place. Everywhere you look it’s fantastically detailed art.

This is a different shot of the same dome. There are over 33,000 pieces of Italian marble and Turkish limestone that make up the Mandir. Every piece was hand carved, shipped to the Houston area and then assembled. It took volunteers eleven months to assemble the Mandir.

I would recommend visiting the Mandir to anyone going to the Houston area and not just because it’s beautiful…but also because it’s always good to expand your knowledge of other cultures and beliefs. You can find more information about the Houston Mandir here.

There’s a gift and book shop on the grounds of the Mandir…they have cookies… We got the Badam Pista Cookies and the Kadju Rolls. Next year we’re going back for more.

We also went to see the Glenwood Cemetery. Is it weird we went to a cemetery where we don’t know anyone that’s buried there? Cemeteries have always kind of fascinated me. All the different grave markers…like the one in the photo above. How cool is that one? This cemetery was probably the biggest, fanciest cemetery I’ve ever been to. Some of the biggest names in Houston can be found here.

While we were looking around we kept noticing these emblems on certain tombstones. We found a couple of others too, but this is the one we saw the most. This emblem is uniquely Texas since Texas is the only state to have ever been its own country.

There was also a really nice view of one of Houston’s skylines.

We got in as much Indian food as possible. We’ve got to figure out how to make these dishes. Indian food is probably our favorite kind of food and it’s super hard to find.

Yep, we spent the entire three weeks eating at our favorites. Torchy’s Tacos is at the top of our list for cheese dip and tacos…and soda. They have Maine Root Soda on tap there. It’s glorious… We met some of our friends here and had a great night of catching up. *waves at friend*

Littlest and The Dude took advantage of the smooth pavement in the RV park we stayed at to do some rip sticking and roller skating.

I had a foodie first. What you’re looking at is the Fajita Burger from Lankford Grocery. It was sooooo good!! And the prices were unbelievable. The five of us all got huge burgers, fries, tots, and drinks for less than $50. If you go make sure to try the Tex Mix! The Tex Mix is a mix of jalapeno strips and onions battered and fried!

We were in town for the start of the Houston Rodeo. The horses and carts went right by our RV park. You know you’re in Texas when you’ve got a wagon train going down a major highway.

Something we like to do in each state is go to a distillery. We went to the Yellow Rose with a couple of friends one afternoon. I always enjoy hearing the stories about why and how each distillery is started. Everyone has a different specialty they do. And, you get the chance (at some distilleries) to try/buy items that they don’t sell anywhere else. We’ve found most distilleries are family friendly. Yellow Rose even has some games for the kids to play. Notice the huge Jenga blocks in the photo above?

Spring in Houston means crayfish! After the Yellow Rose, our friends took us to a place in their neighborhood called The Boot where crayfish is the thing to get. I’m not a huge crayfish fan so I ended up with a shrimp po’boy that was really good!

Y’all know I’m a baker. One afternoon while we were watching movies, I whipped up a batch of S’mores brownies! They were super easy and really tasty!

I couldn’t leave out the flowers.

It was so nice seeing some more flowers around. Gotta love February in Houston!!

See y’all down the road!!

Austin, TX

By Jennie Simpson | March 9, 2016

Hey Guys! So, we spent a week in Austin…but we really didn’t do much at all. We stayed in a great little state park and didn’t even get any hiking in. I guess that’s what happens when three out of the five of us were sick or injured. We had an allergy issue, a cold, and a hurt ankle.

We did manage to make it to the Capitol Building! The outside of the Austin Capitol Building was really impressive. We all think it’s one of the better looking ones we’ve seen so far (and not just because we claim Texas as our home state).

When we went inside, though…well, the dome was nice.

This Capitol Building was all work and no play. The grounds were pretty with several monuments, but as a whole we’re not sure it would make our top ten.

We also made it to a couple of foodie places.

Hopdoddy is a burger place on the main foodie strip. It was packed, but it was running like a well oiled machine. We got in quick, didn’t stand in line too long, and they found us a table before we’d even finished ordering.

Our fries came out way before the burgers so they were kind of cold by the time we were ready to eat them. They had some great flavor combinations and they didn’t skimp on the jalapenos or the bacon like some places can do. We really liked that the meat was grass-fed and all of the ingredients were locally sourced and organic.

My favorite thing about Austin was the ice cream. We stopped in at Lick and it was fantastic! They’ve got unique flavors like Texas Sheetcake, Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie, and a few made from coconut milk!

While we didn’t get to do much on our list for Austin, we did get to add the Texas sticker to our map and take a much needed week off!

See y’all down the road!!

Fredericksburg, TX

By Jennie Simpson | March 3, 2016

Guten Tag! Willkommen to Fredericksburg! Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

The language the German settlers brought with them to this area back in the 1800s can still be heard and seen in most of the signs and buildings around town and if you listen carefully, you can even hear it when you listen to the locals. The building in the photo above is called Vereins Kirche and has been a church, a fort, storehouse, meeting hall, library, and office before becoming the museum it is now. It was first built as a church but was demolished in 1896 and was rebuilt in 1935 and is considered a landmark for the city of Fredericksburg.

If you get to visit Fredericksburg, come hungry

and be prepared for some amazing food! The two pictures above are from a place called The Old German Bakery. We found it close to the end of our stay which was a bummer. I would have loved to have eaten there a few more times! We ate at several locations during our nine day visit and only once did we get a meal that was just so-so.

We found some seriously cool places to indulge in our love of German food!

If German food isn’t your thing…never fear! We also found some of the best burgers we’ve had there. The one above is from a place called Alamo Springs Cafe. It’s out in the middle of nowhere

and has some amazingly good onion rings! It’s worth a visit if you’re in the area.

It doesn’t really look that impressive. Just a regular burger. But then you bite into it and you realize you’ve stumbled on to greatness. Now, I’ll be honest here…we were interested in this place initially because of the name. Jennie’s Smoked Burgers & Tornado Fries. And come on…smoked burgers… Guys, these are amazing burgers. They’re made from smoked brisket. Mr. Man has declared that these burgers are his absolute favorite. I kind of agree with him. I know we say we found the best burger a lot…we love burgers…but if I had to choose one to eat the rest of my life…it would be this burger.

We did other things besides eat our selves silly. I promise. We visited the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park. The photo above is his house on his ranch. The house became known as “The Texas White House” because he spent more time there than at the DC White House.

We took a tour of the inside of the house. If you go, I really suggest you do the tour. The stories they tell of LBJ, the house, and the staff are interesting and really give you an insight as to what life was like for him. See the pie on the stove? It’s not a real pie, they leave it there because of the significance of it. On November 22, 1963 the staff were all preparing for some very special guests that were to arrive the next day. The guest had never had pecan pie. As the pie was coming out of the oven, the House got a call to let them know that they were now all employed in the President’s house. LBJ was the new President because JFK had been assassinated. JFK was scheduled to come to the house the next day. They’d been preparing for him.

We also got to hear about LBJ’s love of phones and televisions. Basically, anything that would give him information about what was going on in the world. There were phones in every single room of this house.

And I do mean…every…single…room. Can you imagine what he would have been like with today’s technology?

We also visited the Johnson City part of the LBJ National Historic Park to see his childhood home. I won’t put any pics up since this post is already picture heavy. But it was very interesting to hear stories of the boy LBJ was. It really seems as though he was destined to be President.

We walked around the Sauer-Beckmann Farm for an hour or so. This is a living history German farm that shows what life was like during 1900-1918. There are volunteers that stay here in seasons to work the farm.

The volunteers dress in period outfits and work the farm with period appropriate tools. We got there right at lunch time for them, but they invited us in and told us all about what they do. We didn’t get to sample the delicious smelling lunch, and let me tell you…it smelled good!

We found it really interesting how the house was broken up into separate sections. The kitchen was completely separate from the living quarters.

There was a building for the gardening/food canning and storage. We loved learning about all the gadgets they had for separating cream from milk to husking corn to making their own sausages. The boys are convinced we need them all.

Speaking of sausages…we even got to see their smokehouse! It smelled heavenly!

We were so close, we had to make a detour to Luckenbach! It’s not really much of a town now.

Littlest got the chance to stand on one of the stages. The town is really just a business now. They have live music pretty much daily and hold special events often.

If you go, make sure to go behind all the business stuff and cross the bridge. Head down to the river for some gorgeous live oaks.

We spent a couple of hours hiking around the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. We, of course, had to do the hardest hike there. The Summit Trail…the trail that marches you right up the side of the rock that the park is named for. I don’t have the details of how far up we went…it was steep and it was maybe a mile.

But, holy jumpin’, the view was stellar!

We were surprised to find small pools and grass with a few trees at the top.

We were able to visit two distilleries. The one above is called Garrison Brothers. It has a really cool set up. You can go get a flight (where you can taste the different bourbons they have) then take it outside to one of the many tables they have set up and take your time sipping and tasting. There are some outdoor games (washers, boccie…) that you can play and then they have a tour of their distillery you can take.

We also went to the Hill Country Distillery. This is a smaller operation. You can go in for a tour and a tasting of their products. Both distilleries had some good stuff and both offer you a different perspective on the business.

We stopped in at the Wildseed Farms, but there wasn’t anything blooming since it’s the wrong time of the year for wildflowers. We did get to mosey around their store and look at all the seeds. They’ve got any wildflower seed you could want! We might have even bought some.

It might have been the wrong time of the year for wildflowers, but there were plenty of flower gardens to enjoy!

And the flower gardens/boxes/planters were everywhere in Fredericksburg!

Should we talk sweets now?

If you’ve got a hankerin’ for something sweet…

you’ll find it in Fredericksburg.

Burgers, bbq, German food, breweries, wineries, distilleries, museums, National/State Parks, shopping…there is something for everyone in Frederickburg!

Aufwiedersehen!!

See y’all down the road!!

San Antonio

By Jennie Simpson | February 24, 2016

Our plan was to spend two weeks in San Antonio, but we’ve found that bigger cities aren’t really our thing. So, we ended up cutting our visit to one week. We managed to get everything on our list done for this area in a couple of days. We’d been to San Antonio before so our list wasn’t very long. We wanted to check out the San Antonio Missions, see the Riverwalk, and have some good BBQ and German food.

There are five Spanish colonial missions that make up the San Antonio Missions World Heritage site. We got to visit three of them and the boys earned another badge for their collection!

My favorite of the three we visited is Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo. This one was the biggest of the Texas missions, but that’s not why it was my favorite.

I really loved the architecture here and the stone work.

This is the Rose Window of San Jose. Look at the detail in the stone work.

I was surprised by the number of people visiting this mission. I stood in this spot for what felt like an hour waiting for the front of the mission to clear some so that there wasn’t a huge gaggle of people in my picture.

We also visited Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purmisima Concepcion de Acuna. This one was my second favorite of the missions we visited.

The architecture and the details in the stone work were wonderful. There weren’t nearly as many people at this one since it isn’t as big or as well known.

The twin towers, barrel-vaulted roof and dome ceiling are virtually unchanged since the mission was built over 250 years ago.

Y’all might recognize the third mission we went to. Mission San Antonio de Valero is also known as The Alamo. This was actually the first one we visited, but it’s my least favorite of the three for several reasons. The biggest being the sheer number of people there. It was a little insane. When the mission era ended, the Spanish officials turned the mission into a military barracks and outpost.

Not far from The Alamo (right across the street) you’ll find stairs leading down to The Riverwalk.

What’s the Riverwalk? The Riverwalk is a series of walkways along the San Antonio River one story below the streets of Downtown San Antonio. There are shops, restaurants, and hotels. We walked a small portion of the Riverwalk to get the experience of it.

We were all so hungry we didn’t hang around the Riverwalk long. Yes, there are restaurants, but we were in search of something specific.

We ate at a little hole-in-the-wall place called B&B Smokehouse.

It was tiny, packed with locals, and the food was great!

We’d been looking forward to some German food since we ate at that great place in Phoenix! We found a place in San Antonio called Dresden Cafe.

Dresden Cafe makes all of their sausages and brats in house and they are some of the best we’ve had. We got one of each kind they offer and then ended up getting five pounds of our favorites to take with us. Yep, they were that good.

We found a German bakery called Schugga. You can get a meal there too and when we go back to the San Antonio area we will be heading back there to indulge in some of their nonbakery items! We met some new friends at Schugga and ended up standing there chatting for about an hour. We’re hoping to see Eric and Jacky somewhere down the road! Everything we got at Schugga was amazingly good!

We were only 45 minutes from Lockhart, home to the famous Black’s Barbecue.

We piled our plates with smoked meat and sides. It all looked good!

We wanted to be impressed. We tried. But…we probably won’t go back.

My favorite thing there was the pecan cobbler. It was so stinkin’ good!

If y’all go to Lockhart, make sure to stop by the courthouse. It’s impressive!

We really enjoyed being back in a Texas city and seeing some our favorite stores and restaurants!

See y’all down the road!

Ghost Towns and Border Crossings

By Jennie Simpson | February 13, 2016

We spent two weeks in the Big Bend area and while Big Bend National Park was what brought us to the area, we were pleasantly surprised to find that there was so much more to do!

When we planned this part of our trip, we didn’t plan to cross the border to Mexico, but when everyone (including the Park Rangers) kept mentioning that it was a fun and safe part of the experience in the Big Bend area…well, we decided to try it. We crossed over at the Boquillas Crossing which is right in BBNP.

We went through the Border Patrol building where we learned what to expect and what we wouldn’t be allowed to bring back into the U.S. and then we headed out the back door to the Rio Grande River where we rode in a row boat across the river to another country.

We rode burros up to the town. Now, we could have ridden horses or in a truck or even just walked…but come on…look how cute those burros are! And, we felt like it would add to the whole experience.

When you cross the river, you get assigned a tour guide. We got Omar. There was a slight language barrier, but we got a long fine. He stayed with us the entire time, showing us his town and telling us a little about it. The entire town pooled their money and have switched to solar power!

We got a tour of the town, then stopped for lunch at Jose Falcons. The food was amazingly good!

We had to try the sopapillas. They were crisp and covered in cinnamon and sugar and they were gone fast.

They’ve set up souvenir stands along the road usually right outside their homes and the prices are very fair. We bought several souvenirs on our way back to our burros on the edge of town.

It was one of the boy’s favorite days. They ranked it right up there with Alaska, so y’all know they had a great time!

In the mid 1800s the discovery of cinnabar, the metal mercury is extracted from, brought miners to the Terlingua area. Today, as you drive through the tiny town, you can see one of the largest concentrations of mining architecture in the area.

I’ll admit that when we first pulled into the “ghost town” I got a little worried. I’d heard the stories of Terlingua being unsafe. It’s a good 80 miles to the nearest city and it’s right next to the Mexican border and we’ve all heard the stories about border towns being violent. When we got to BJs RV Park where we had reservations …we immediately felt a since of community.

Don’t blink. If you blink, you’ll miss the town. What I found so interesting is the fact that people still live in this “ghost town”. They build their homes right out of the ruins of the homes left there by the past residents so you’ll have ruins hooked to newer structures.

The blend of old and new-ish gave the town an old movie lot look, but there’s a real feeling of community here. People come for the novelty of seeing a ghost town and maybe venturing into Big Bend or to cross the border into Mexico, but they come back to Terlingua for the community.

There are a few businesses in Terlingua. The Starlight Theatre is a great little place to eat.

Make sure to stop by on Mondays when the whole town shows up for the 2 for 1 burgers! The burgers are good, the decorations are quirky, and the locals are friendly…and there’s live music later in the evening. There’s a great pizza place too, but Littlest will be doing a post about that so I’ll let him give y’all the details on the Long Draw.

If you’re looking for a place to stay while you explore the area…

I would suggest BJs RV Park where the hookups are good, the wifi is excellent (and you’ll need it with no cell service), and the community is welcoming. Some of our favorite memories of our time in Terlingua are of the nightly community campfires at BJs. We never once felt that we weren’t safe while we were in the area. I know a lot of people shy away from coming here because of things they’ve heard or seen on television, but we didn’t feel or see anything but a small close-knit community that welcomes any and all to come visit them.

I can’t leave out the sunsets. They were absolutely breathtaking.

See y’all down the road!

Big Bend National Park

By Jennie Simpson | February 3, 2016

Big Bend National Park is harsh and unforgiving and isn’t apologetic about it at all. If you want someplace soft, lush, or easy, this is not the park for you. But, if you’re into adventure, you want some fantastic views that you have to work to get to, and you love a park that’s diverse…this is definitely your park.

This park stretches out over 800,000 acres, includes massive canyons, vast desert expanses, forested mountains, and part of the Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River!

We spent a day driving the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.

The drive is only 30 miles, but we stopped several times to get in some hiking. We did the Burro Mesa Pouroff Trail and found this really cool area that has a dry waterfall until one of the flash-floods comes through.

We stopped by the Castolon Visitor Center to have a picnic lunch and gaze at the cliffs of the Santa Elena Canyon we were heading to. Castolon used to be a Military Outpost and you can see some of the old equipment that was used during that time.

In Big Bend National Park, the roads end at the river. The Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive takes you down to the Santa Elena Canyon where you can get out and hike through the U.S half of the canyon.

Everything I found about the Santa Elena hike said you cross a small creek. I really thought there would be a bridge. And…I was right…kind of. See those sticks? Yep, those are the “bridge” and no, they’re not held down by anything. One wrong step and splash!

Let me show you the high tech set of stairs we used to get up the side of the creek. Now, can we stop and appreciate the fact that I am only 5′? I got up! It wasn’t graceful, but by golly, I made it!

And Holy Jumpin’ was it worth it! Santa Elena Canyon is only 8 miles long, but is 1,500 feet deep and in some places only 30 feet wide.

The canyon was the end of the line for the scenic drive so we back tracked a couple of miles to this dirt road (we seem to always find ourselves on dirt roads) that would allow us to make a loop of the drive instead of having to go back the way we’d already seen. We found this old farm house. The Big Bend land is dotted with old farms and ranches.

We also found this section of badlands and climbed up over a small hill for the view above. There wasn’t a trail, we just caught a glimpse and got out to explore.

We took a drive down to do the Boquillas Canyon hike one afternoon. That’s the Rio Grande River and the border you’re looking at in the picture above.

The Rio Grande River winds south and makes the Texas/Mexico border. It makes a big horseshoe shape and it’s within that horseshoe shape that Big Bend sits. On one side of the river is the US and on the other sits Mexico.

We had been warned that some of the Mexican citizens liked to cross the river (border) illegally and put out “tip jars” and “souvenirs”. We were also told by Rangers that they considered any of these things contraband and would seize them if found. On our Boquillas Canyon hike we found both “souvenirs” and “tip jars for the singing Mexican”. I dunno…seems kind of harmless to me. We didn’t purchase any souvenirs or leave a tip, but I really don’t see the harm in it. In the photo above you can see the home of one of the Mexican citizens that was hoping for a “tip”.

Boquillas Canyon isn’t as well known as Santa Elena Canyon, but it’s still a neat hike and is quite something to see the river disappear into the canyon itself.

One of my favorite spots in the park is the Hot Springs area. We got there right as the sun was trying to sink, but we had just enough light to get a quick look before we headed on down the road. In the early 1900s J.O. Langford heard about the hot springs and set out to own it under the Homestead Act. Eventually, he opened it up to the public where they could soak in the 105° water for 10¢ a day.

We found the hot springs surprisingly full considering the time of day. We didn’t get in, we just wanted to see them.

The rocks of Big Bend are…complex. If a rock can be complex. Two seas, one right after the other, flowed in the Big Bend region hundreds of millions of years ago. They left thick deposits of limestone and shale in their wake. The Chisos Mountains rose about the same time as the Rockies and at the same time a wide strip of land sank along a fault line and in the center of it all was volcanic activity. Complex.

One of the best hikes in the park is the Grapevine Hills hike that takes you to the balanced rock you see above. It’s not a long hike, but the last quarter mile has some truly Harding Icefield Hike worthy parts. Funny, those parts are turning into our favorite parts.

If you want to see a mountain lion or a black bear, you’ll need to head to the Chisos Mountain section of the park. We went into the visitor center there and they have a board with all of the wildlife sightings. There were more than I thought there would be. We didn’t get to see any, but we didn’t get to spend much time in this section of the park. Two weeks isn’t long enough to really see this park.

I couldn’t leave out the flowers. I didn’t see many…it is winter.

I know, I know…these aren’t flowers, but they’re pretty enough to be! I saw just as many pink and purple prickly pears as I did regular green ones. I like the pink the best.

I was surprised by how many ocotillos we found at this park. Several had pretty red buds at the tops.

Since The Dude is pretty busy with school right now, I’ll go ahead and throw in the wildlife we saw too. We found this huge bee hive in Tuff Canyon. It was extremely active.

We also finally got to see a javelina up close! This little guy wouldn’t turn around for me to get a better shot so you’re stuck with a picture of his tushy. We didn’t push it since these guys are rumored to run in packs of 15-25. We didn’t want a stampede on our hands. We also saw roadrunners, bobcats, and coyotes!

There are those that will simply drive the paved roads of this park and call it good. They’ll miss most of the striking rock formations, the craggy ravines, spectacular vistas, and amazing river canyons. Maybe they’re intimidated by the stigma a desert carries of being a barren wasteland or perhaps it’s that all of the plants and animals aren’t soft and inviting.

Big Bend National Park isn’t really visited by the usual national park goer and that’s a shame because you can look at all the pretty, glossy photos of any place you want…but you’ll never truly understand the sheer size of the canyon walls or the wide open expanses unless you’re there. We will definitely go back to Big Bend. We feel like we found a diamond in the rough.

See y’all down the road!

#goseedoexplore