Day 1
We left our house at 6:57am. Drove all day and arrived in Roswell New Mexico at apx 8:00pm. We took some pictures in Rosewell before it got to dark. We drove by the alien museum (but didn’t stop) it was already closed by the time we got there. We’d decided earlier not to go as we felt it might be too much for our small children. We kept driving to a little town called White City. We stayed at white city carvern inn (White City, New Mexico). It was a nice place, very large rooms which we liked.
Day 2
Left White City hotel at 9:15am. Drove to Carlsbad Cavern’s: 9:45am. Toured the Caverns until about 2pm. You walk down into the cave walking in and out of various caverns and rooms. Its an incredible cave! Very beautiful! Near the bottom there is a huge cavern that they call the Big Room and the ceilings are an impressive 255 ft tall!
One part that gave me the chills is called the bottomless pit. There are no lights into it but there is a sign that tells the history of the pit. Its a black hole. We used our cell phone lights to shine down and the lights reflected off the sides of the pit but the blackness at the bottom just kept going. Its one of those things that just leaves you wondering where it goes and what its like down there. We left Carlsbad cavern’s around: 2:00pm.
For lunch we stopped and cut up watermelon at a turn off on the side of the road not far from the Carlsbad Cavern at an Indian cliff dwelling spot. We walked down and explored where the indians use to live. It is a spot protected by a rock overhang. There is a wash which occasionally fills with water when it rains.
We continued our drive and arrived at hotel at midnight. We stayed at the Drury inn (San Antonio TX). We stayed two nights.
Day 3 Happy Birthday to Birthday Girl!
Today we explored San Antonio. We had a wonderful breakfast at hotel. The Drury Inn has the best breakfasts hands down! We went to the Alamo and saw the grounds. We saw where Travis was killed. Saw where Davy Crockett’s body was found. His was found dead next to the flag pole on the right side if you’re facing the front of the Alamo). The original Alamo didn’t have a roof, and didn’t have the arches that it has today and that we know it by. The roof and arches were added years later. The story of the Alamo has always been one of my favorites. The story of the commander Travis who told the men the night before the attack that they would most likely all die if they chose to stay with him in the Alamo. He drew a line with his sword in the dirt. He asked those that would choose to stay and fight for freedom to cross the line. All but one of the men crossed the line (signaling they would stay).
We drove to the River Walk and walked up and down that. Such a beautiful place. We had an early dinner at Casa Rio on the river walk. Then went back to the hotel and had dinner there, we didn’t realize they served dinner until we got back to our hotel. So we had dinner while swimming at the pool.
Day 4
Went to the mission Espada (oldest of the San Antonio missions).
Went to mission San Juan mission.
Toured the inside of the Alamo (got tickets the day before). The Alamo just reopened last week (from being closed through corona virus).
Walked to the San Fernando cathedral where the Alamo mens ashes were buried. The Mexicans piled up the bodies of the dead in three large piles poured oil on them and burned them. Apparently after that the ashes were buried under the San Fernando church (built 1720) and the men’s ashes weren’t discovered until 1936 or something. At that point they were put into a casket which is now on display inside the church. Unfortunately the church was closed and locked when we went by hoping to see the casket.
Drove 1.5 hours to marble falls. On the way I made peanut butter and jam lunches for the kids.
6:00pm arrived at world mark in marble falls, tx
Went to Walmart and let Brooke choose a cake for her birthday. Found one on sale for $12.45
Day 5
Slept in. Enjoyed being lazy while kids watched a movie. Explored marble falls. Drove by lakeside park. Picked up subway for lunch (abt 25 for 6 foot longs ).Then went swimming from 3-6pm. The hotel here has you make a reservation to use the pool. You can only choose one spot a day. You sign up at 5am on the day you plan to use the pool. Frankly it sucks. Nice hotel/ resort but not impressed with all the rules and staff. We had to pay $25 for Internet as well.
Day 6
Drive to Killeen tx to look at investment properties. Not impressed. There is a neighborhood around 10th street and it just seemed like that while half of town was a war zone.
Continued driving to Waco tx where we went to see the branch dividian “compound” (governments term for it). That was so surreal and sad to see. It’s hard to describe the feeling honestly. Kinda a realization of what actually happened there
After seeing the Branch dividian we drive into Waco and it’s a nice town! Rob dropped me off to see the magnolia silos (chip and JoAnn Gaines store).
Day 7
Relaxed for the day. Drove to lakeside park where we walked around and explored it. Then went swimming. We were the only ones to use the pool that whole day since it was raining pretty hard most of the day. We packed up all our stuff so that we could leave quickly the next morning.
We got the kids 3 little Cesar’s pizzas for dinner and got our pizza hut pizzas.
Day 8 My Birthday!
I woke up so excited, this was the day we were going to the beach! I love the beach and this was my first birthday to ever spend on the beach! We were able to sleep as long as we wanted (until about 8am). We got the kids breakfast (cold cereal and fruit) then loaded up the car and left Marble Falls. We drove to Port Aransas where we arrived at our hotel (the Holiday Inn Express in port aransas. We arrived there at 2:30. They allowed us to do an early check-in which was nice. We unloaded our stuff, changed into our swimsuits then drove to the beach where we played until we were freezing cold because the weather turned windy and temperature had dropped. But the water was warm! We all played in the water and loved every minute of it.
Once back and the hotel Rob and the kids sung me happy birthday and we share the little Debbie brownies that a friend left at our house. Lol (I never buy little debbies). Rob was concerned about getting me a cake for my birthday but I told him no as we’d been eating Brooke’s Walmart cake for three days and I was very tired of cake haha. The little debbie brownie was perfect!
Day 9
We woke up got breakfast, which was suppose to be a hot buffet breakfast and it was anything but that, we were so disappointed. After breakfast it was a very cold and cloudy morning so we went shopping at Aaron’s at the local shops. We wanted to get boogie boards and postcards. We found some boogie boards for $10 each. We also got Carson and Stephan new flip flops. We went to the grocery store to get lunch. We bought bread for peanut butter and jam and carrot sticks to go with it. Easy and cheap meal for family travel.
We went back to our hotel and ate lunch changed into our swimsuits and went to the beach. We got to the beach at about 12:30 or 1 which was perfect, the clouds cleared, the sun came out and it was a beautiful day! This was the first time our kids had ever used boogie boards and they loved them so much we went back to the store and bought enough five.
Day 10
Ate breakfast, loaded everything in the car, put on our swimsuits and went down to swim in the hotel pool (the kid really really wanted to, I’d have preferred the beach but I was so sunburned from the day before that I didn’t mind. I could stay in the shade at the hotel pool.
After swimming in the hotel pool (we swam until 12 noon) we drove down to the beach to dip our toes in one last time say our goodbyes to the beach then left. It’s always hard for me to leave the beach. I love being on the beach so much and I liked this beach a ton because it was so warm.
We ate at Subway for dinner in San Antonio and left the subway there around 5:30pm. We drove until Clovis, New Mexico where we stayed the night (got to Clovis at about midnight mountain time). We stayed at the super 8, we were pleasantly surprised at the good experience we had there.
Day 11
We had breakfast at the Super 8 hotel, their breakfast was hands down better than the Holiday Inn Express breakfast. We had to take it to go but that was just fine! We hit the road by 9am and went to see billy the kids’ grave in Fort Sumner. That was so interesting. Billy the kid was buried not far from where he was shot. He was shot in the Maxwell House (which is now gone). But peter Maxwell (who owned the house and was the one talking to pat Garrett the night billy the kid was shot, he is almost buried there. Then peters father Lucien Maxwell is also buried there.
I kinda feel for Billy the kid. He was orphaned at a young age and stole some food. Then he got in a fight with some guy that was making fun of him and he ended up killing him so he ran from the law and that’s basically how he got started. I kinda feel the way pat Garrett killed him was low (shot him in a dark room, no trial). Idk though maybe what I’m reading is painting the story wrong. I guess there are always two sides to a story. His past does not change the fact that he did some pretty bad things. The history of Billy the Kid is fascinating and something I’d highly recommend further reading. Here is a link to an article I felt does a good job.
Texas was a great place to visit! So many wonderful things to see and explore together as a family.