Tyler and I realized that we are starting our forth year here in Texas and we haven't taken the kids to the ocean. We decided to rectify that and planned what we've decided was a GREAT family vacation.
Lyla always struggles when we leave her puppies behind. We found a great place that they don't hate going to, but she always tags along when Tyler drops them off. This time we stopped in Temple for a Buc-ee's and Jensen visit.
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Our next stop landed us in San Antonio at Natural Bridge Caverns. This was definitely one of the coolest things we've done. There are a lot of rock loving people in our little family. We did a guided tour and bought a mine bag from the gift shop. The pictures do not do the cave justice. It's the biggest cave in Texas and we did not appreciate what that would mean!
We don't look like tourists, at. all. Only one of us was afraid of slipping a falling while keeping a death grip on the stair rail. I'll let you guess who... (It was Grayson). The descent was easy, it was humid, but not more so than we are used to and not too hot. There was lots of water on the ground running through the caves.
Outside Tyler took the opportunity to initiate the children to be True Texans. There was quite a range of emotions. My laughter behind the camera didn't help.
The artifacts in the museum were VERY cool. 10/10 recommend paying extra to visit the museum. One museum worker learned we were from DFW and gave us a really cool bit that he shared with us about why the Alamo is so important. He left us with a copy of the letter from William Travis.
People added for scale.
This bridge goes over a deep "canyon" if anything is dropped it takes months before a mission is attempted to retrieve it. The only way to access it is to repel from the bridge.
The standing water pools were my favorite part of the tour. They were so interesting and we learned that they are ultra filtered so the water is safe for drinking! These parts of the cave will flood with super heavy rain.
We descended about 180 feet and then climbed all the way back out. I was worried this would be difficult for me, but I did well and we all enjoyed the tour. At the top you can drink from the fountain that uses water from the cave system.
Nolan did a really cool mining activity on his field trip and I really wanted all of us to do it on this trip. We splurged and each kid got a bag to mine in the "river" outside the store. Such a fun and awesome experience!
We spent the night in San Antonio. The next morning we hit up the Alamo.
We did the self guided tour. Each person got a personal phone that would give a shpeal that went with the numbers at each part of the church and museum.
Outside Tyler took the opportunity to initiate the children to be True Texans. There was quite a range of emotions. My laughter behind the camera didn't help.
The artifacts in the museum were VERY cool. 10/10 recommend paying extra to visit the museum. One museum worker learned we were from DFW and gave us a really cool bit that he shared with us about why the Alamo is so important. He left us with a copy of the letter from William Travis.
On the way out there a man showed us all sorts of guns and ammo used during that time period.
This is my, "it's starting to get busy and it's time to go" face. We are get there early to beat the crowds and heat type of people. It's worked quite well up to this point if I do say so myself!
We left the Alamo and headed for our final destination: Port Aransas
Until next time...
