Family Vacay in Texas

For my dad's 60th birthday, we went to a dude ranch as a belated celebration. It sounds kinda dorky, right? Skeptical as some of us were (*cough* Cliff), we set off for San Antonio with our cowboy boots. Well, Ada and I brought our boots, but Cliff had none—psh!

Getting there

The flight went pretty well other than having Ada on our laps and an obviously annoyed lady in front of us, offended at every mere PEEP out of Ada. While waiting for Grammy & Pop-Pop to pick us up, we chatted/Ada flirted with an old cowboy from the Info desk. He was so helpful and friendly! Too bad we didn't actually need help.

We braved the Texas humidity and loaded into G & PP's air conditioned car and set off for Bandera, TX, where the Dixie Dude Ranch awaited us. Ada was too excited to nap during the hour-long drive. 

Home on the Range

We checked in to the ranch and met one of the friendly dogs, Sancha, along with one of the ranch kitties. Justin and Christy arrived shortly after us, from their mini Austin vacay. This first photo here is the only spot on the ranch where internet was available—but I'm not complaining!

We settled into our quarters, sharing a cabin with G & PP. Ada had her own room, though sadly no door to separate it from ours. The cabin was rustic but had everything we needed, including a kitchenette and a crappy coffee maker. Our cabin was more secluded than J & C's, making it a nice spot for the fam to hang out at during our downtime. 

View from the porch

After settling in to our cabins and catching up for a bit, we headed to our first dinner at the ranch. Our week included three meals a day at set times, making it easy to plan around and fit different activities in. Our first meal was chicken enchiladas. While the food wasn't superb (it was about what you'd expect from a kitchen doing their best to feed a big crowd), there were plenty of side dishes and variety to keep everyone happy. Plus, everything tastes good when you've spent the day in the Texas heat, ridin' horses and fishin' and walkin' the grounds in your cowboy boots!

The ranch provided some form of after-dinner entertainment each night. On our first night, we got to sing along with the singing cowboy, "Makin' Dust". Apparently there's a distinction between cowboy songs and country music—I'm sure I prefer the former. For the rest of the evening, we explored the rest of the activities available on the ranch: horse shoes, playground, and campfire/marshmallow-roasting!

View of the horse corral

Playing horse shoes