This post covers our return drive to California with four stops in Texas. And away we go!
Our first stop was to spend the night at an Indian casino near the Oklahoma / Texas border. We chose this stop to break up the drive to Texas, and you can see the casino from the highway. It looked like a large, modern, and interesting place to stay. It is named the Winstar World Casino and we remembered it was off of a major highway, which turned out to be Highway 35. As we left St. Joseph, I searched Winstar Casino on my Garmen GPS and an address came up in Durant, Oklahoma, which is on the border with Texas. When I searched it on my phone, this picture came up.
While it did not look familiar, it had to be the right place, so we were off. As a double check, since the map programs ALL seem to hate me and send me on wild goose chases, Cindy searched the map program on her phone. It said the location was 15 days away. That was clearly wrong. So we drove. By the end of the day, the GPS said we were within a mile of the casino, and we were still not on a major highway. Had the GPS done it to me again? Sort of. It had taken us to the Winstar Casino. We wanted the Winstar WORLD Casino. Cue the mumbling and cursing. The casino we wanted, and had a room reserved at, was an hour drive to the west. We drove the hour and arrived at the correct place. It turned out Cindy had put the correct casino into her map program, but had it set to walking, so that explained the long ETA. The map programs truly dislike us.
As far as the correct casino went, our room was very nice, the casino had several restaurants ranging from casual to formal, and there was a small non-smoking area that really was smoke free. It also had a 6,500-seat theatre attached to it called Lucas Oil Live. We will return to the Winstar, either for a show, or just another overnight stay. Here is the sunrise from our room the next day.
If you would like to check it out, use the link at the end of this post. For our second stop, we drove to McKinney, Texas and visited our good friends the Burdicks. We spent the afternoon at the local Topgolf. Cindy had some pretty good shots.
The next day Dan and I golfed at a local golf course while the girls did some shopping. We always enjoy our time with the Burdicks and this was no exception. On our final morning at our Holiday Inn Express, one of our favorite hotel chains, we had the free breakfast and enjoyed a delicious waffle in the shape of the state.
Our third stop was to drive to Spring, Texas to visit our daughter Corrianne and her boyfriend Alex. For dinner, we went to Ambriza Mexican Restaurant in Houston, Texas. Cindy had the Chicken Enchiladas Verde, Corrianne had the Enchiladas Pollo Mole……….
….Alex had the Mestizo Rice Beef Short Ribs, and I had the Ceviche Tostada.
The food was outstanding and more than link worthy. You know where to find it. The next day we all visited the local outlets, then the Market at Springwood Village. On the last day of our visit, we started the day with special donuts.
For lunch, we went to Tejas Chocolate and BBQ in Tomball. We learned that Michelin not only awards Michelin Stars to restaurants, they also have different types of awards. In 1957, they started awarding the Bib Gourmand. The Bib Gourmand recognizes friendly establishments that serve good food at moderate prices.
In the 2016 edition of the Paris guide, a brand new L’assiette or The Plate symbol was launched to recognize restaurants that ‘simply serve good food’.
Starting in 2021, they added the Michelin Green Star. This is awarded to restaurants at the forefront of the industry when it comes to their sustainable practices. They hold themselves accountable for both their ethical and environmental standards, and work with sustainable producers and suppliers to avoid waste and reduce or even remove plastic and other non-recyclable materials from their supply chain. If you love food as much as Cindy and I do, you not only have to visit the Michelin website, link at the end of this post, but also have to download their app. Back to Tejas Chocolate & Barbecue. After Corrianne and Alex explained some of the Michelin award stuff to us, they insisted we have lunch at a place that had received a Michelin Bib Gourmand Award. That led us to Tejas.
We ordered a little bit of everything to share.
To say the food was outstanding would be an understatement. It was link worthy and beyond. This is worth a special trip so if you are anywhere near the Houston area, use the link at the end of this post to treat yourself to some amazing BBQ. Even though the visit was short, we really enjoyed our time with Corrianne and Alex. Our last stop on the way back to California was to stay in Terlingua, Texas and visit Big Bend National Park. We stayed in a very unique lodging.
It was a two-room bubble lodging. That’s right, a canvas inflated bubble. The bubble on the right with the clear plastic on the front was the living room, and the bubble on the left was the bedroom. There was a spa outside that we were able to use one night. The entrance was an airlock, meaning you went in the front door, made sure it was closed, then went through the second door that led to the living room, closing that door behind you.
The living room bubble had a couch that faced the clear plastic with views of the local mountains. Behind the couch was a microwave, coffee maker, and water tern.
The bathroom was attached to the living room. There was a flush toilet next to a sink. The shower was behind the sink and felt very open.
Here are a few pictures of the bedroom bubble. The clear top had a cover that was on during the day to help it stay cool and we took it off at night so we could see the stars. The nighttime pictures did not turn out, but trust me, it was amazing.
Our bubble accommodations were very unique and a once in a lifetime experience that we enjoyed very much. While we may never do it again, we cannot rule out doing it out. We strongly recommend trying it for yourself. There is a link in the usual place. After settling in, we headed down the street and visited a local store named the Cottonwood General Store. We were able to get some food for dinner, breakfasts, and even a decent bottle of wine. Besides our great stay, we spent two full days in Big Bend National Park. It was not enough. Here are some pictures of the scenery.
In the distance you can see the entrance to Santa Elena canyon.
Big Bend National Park shares a border with Mexico, with the Rio Grande River separating the two countries. Santa Elena Canyon is in the southwest portion of the park. It is 19 miles long with some walls as tall 1,500 feet. There is a 1.6-mile hike you can do into the canyon on the United States side that we did.
At the trailhead was a sign warning about the dangers of starting the trail during certain wet seasons and what to avoid.
We started our hike toward the canyon entrance. It was level with a wood path in several places.
When we reached the river crossing, it was deep thick mud with some tree branches going across the water. We did not have the correct shoes for the crossing.
We walked up stream and it dried out enough to allow us to scramble up a small embankment and start our actual canyon hike from there.
After hiking in for almost a mile, the trail ends when the canyon becomes too narrow, and the sides of the canyon were too sheer to allow for a trail.
If you have been paying attention, the hike was supposed to be 1.6 miles, yet we hiked for almost a mile to the trail’s end. That means after hiking out we actually did closer to 2 miles round trip. Not a big deal for us, but if the 1.6 miles sounded long to you, maybe skip this one. We returned to Terlingua and went to check out the local ghost town called, “Ghost Town Texas.” It was basically a few shops and buildings and was one of the least interesting ghost towns we have ever visited. We ate at a local restaurant that was average, so the ghost and food scenes were less than inspiring in town. The next day, we headed back into Big Bend NP. Our first stop was at the Panther Junction Visitor Center, which also where the park headquarters were located.
There was a display highlighting some of the local hikes.
We decided to try the Boquillas Canyon Trail located in the eastern part of the park. On the way there, we stopped at a hike not featured in the visitor center. This hike was less than 1 mile long and was at Dugout Wells. Here is some of what we saw.
Dugout Wells was worth the stop and hike. Right before we got to the Boquillas Canyon Trail, we stopped at a bluff that looked out over the Rio Grande River into Mexico. There was a mule in the river.
There was also a makeshift “market” where Mexicans cross the river and set out items for sale with a lock box for you to pay. The “market” is on the honor system. Park officials ask you not to buy things to discourage the practice, but there didn’t seem to be much enforcement against them. This was probably because they were neatly set up and not too intrusive.
We made it to the Boquillas Canyon Trail, and it was beautiful. It went along the United States side of the Rio Grande River into Boquillas Canyon.
Here are some views from the hike.
There were wild mules along the river.
The river views along the trail were amazing.
Across the river from Boquillas Canyon is the town of Boquillas, Mexico. You get there through a US checkpoint and are taken across the Rio Grande River on small, motorized row boats.
We wanted to visit Boquillas, but did not have our passports, a requirement for the visit. If you want to visit, there is a link at the end of this post with the requirements. That way you can be better prepared than we were. That concluded our visit to Big Bend NP and I can guarantee you we will be back. This is a must visit so use the link at the end of this post. We went back to Terlingua and ate at Venga Cafe. The food was not link worthy, but definitely the best in town. The inside was interesting, with mirrors and pictures on the wall that were available for purchase.
The next day we packed up and hit the road for our drive home. It was an uneventful drive, the kind we like. The next post will be about Missourians Heather and Machelle’s visit with us in California. Until then, don’t live in a bubble, but maybe just visit one sometime.
LINKS