The Ultimate Texas Road Trip: A 12-Day Journey Through the Lone Star State
Traveler from the bustling Metropolis of Houston to the rugged beauty of the Texas Hill Country will uncover the highlights and hidden gems that showcase the true Spirit of Texas so buckle up and join us as we hit the open road for 12 days of barbecue hiking Museums Art
And more one quick note since Texas is so big this video mainly focuses on the central portion I do have another video on the western part including big band in the description all right let’s hit the road and jump into 12 days exploring the great state of Texas
To begin our journey we set out from Ontario airport with a quick two and a half hour flight over to Dallas made it to Dallas and Pops is already ready with his cowboy hat I’m ready to go as soon as we got to the baggage claim we agree with our first Texas surprise
This is our welcome to Texas the tornado side is uh siren is going off and we have to move away from the windows as the weather continue to get worse we were ushered down into the tornado shelter pretty crazy never had this experience before welcome to Dallas the tornado shelter
After they ushered everyone in we spent the next 45 minutes watching the weather and waiting out the tornado warning eventually we were allowed back up but we didn’t know it was gonna be another few hours before we got to leave the airport so we are like there’s some good rain out
There right now and a little bit of lightning what a way to start our trip through Texas eventually the baggage claim roared to life and we were able to collect our bags three hours later our wet bags have arrived and we are finally leaving the baggage claim to start our Texas road trip
By this time we were hungry and we were racing the clock before the first barbecue place we wanted to go to closed we grabbed the car and we headed to Deep Ellum and Pecan Lodge regardless of whether or not you want barbecue when you first arrive in Dallas
Deep Ellum is a cool place to go for nightlife and interesting food options it’s a really hip spot though so it’s hard to park out on the weekends and at night time and note that parking can be pretty expensive made it down with about 15 minutes to
Kill to our barbecue spot we just lost my drop pops off went and got something in the park I’m walking back if you haven’t followed any of the other videos I posted in this series then note that we went to Texas in order to try Texas barbecue as one of the main
Through lines for our story we headed immediately to Pecan Lodge as it’s one of the top spots in Dallas and it was on the top 50 best barbecue spots in Texas on the Texas monthly list we ordered a little bit of everything after our long travel day
All right pops is diving into our first Texas barbecue this looks decadent it’s a good start it’s a fabulous start a little spice a little salt delicious pops also orders this what is this this is the baked sweet potato it’s called the hot mess looks like a sweet potato with barbecue
On top of it very unusual he was told that this is the popular thing to get here that’s really interesting combination some of you wouldn’t think of putting together barbecue sweet and salty yeah we basically left everything we had here and we had to eat pretty fast as they
Closed about 10 minutes after we ordered If you come during the day they have an awesome outdoor seating area right next to the smell of the smokers First Texas barbecue did you live up to Expectations first Texas was fabulous can’t wait for the next one from there we grabbed a slice of pie at
Emporium pies as it had come highly recommended and then we left the neon lights of Deep Ellum behind and headed to our hotel to check in They grabbed a slice of pecan pie for the hotel and we are back after our long day watching March Madness and that’s the end of our first day in Texas but more fun stuff starts tomorrow starting our full day in Dallas the Bishops Art District we’re gonna get
Donuts and then we’re gonna go explore you guys know that when we visit a new place we love to seek out a good donut shop this is actually the new location for a donut shop that we visited in Miami but we liked it so much we figured we had to
Go to it again in Dallas the salty loves y’all so it’s about 8 30 on a Friday and nothing’s really happening or open down here yet but good coffee good donuts and this is just a cool place to explore with the murals come back if you like to
Do some shopping later in the day y’all it’s pops all right now we’re heading on to something that’s truly Texas waiting in line for barbecue poor Pops I got him a car that he can’t get in and out of unfortunately While it was still early in the day we heard that this barbecue spot was popular so we wanted to get there about 30 minutes before they opened Barbecue spot when you see a massive cow on the side of the building made it at 9 30 pops is the first in line there’s already about 15 people behind him and it opens at 10 30. I do have to say that this is one of my dad’s
Favorite things he loves sitting in line and talking to people so I think he’s gonna have fun with all the barbecue waiting we’re gonna do Cadillac barbecue is ranked number six on Texas monthly’s top barbecue places in the state of Texas this is the reason that Us and other people were waiting in
Line for it to open after the introduction to the meats available that day my dad was first in line and was ushered in to make his order that’s what I’m talking about look at this look at that rib that’s incredible since this was our first major barbecue
In Texas we ordered a little bit of everything to try this is our pastrami beef rib they say everything’s bigger in Texas look at this rib is it over at a pallet and a half of meat right there Swami beef rib and if you put barbecue sauce on it they
Said they will kick you out so Your mouth wow this is an incredible place to eat they had great barbecue and great sides do note though this is the only time we ordered a beef rib on our entire Texas trip as they’re very expensive I didn’t know that before I ordered and I think
This one cost me around 55 dollars vegetables broccoli and apples you’re so healthy you had to throw in the towel so uh pops isn’t letting it go to waste though it’s too good all right we made it to downtown Dallas first stop is the sixth floor Museum
The sixth floor Museum looks at the life death and Legacy of President John F Kennedy it’s a popular spot so buy your tickets in advance that X right there marks a spot where approximately John F Kennedy was shot and then the window right here is where he was shot from
As you walk around the outside area you can explore the grassy knoll where many of the conspiracy theories come from and learn more about John F Kennedy they only allow Photography in the museum so I can’t show it to you but I can say it’s well worth visiting in the
Same way as today when say they know where they were when the Twin Towers came three I was a second grader and I can remember all of us were taken out of class lined up in the cafeteria and all sent home and we didn’t understand what
Was going on but then that week at home I remember my parents saying you have to watch all this on television so we were non-stop in front of the black and white TV watching all the things that developed the time when Lee Harvey Oswald got shot and all the things
Around that and plus the huge funeral parade and everything it was just at a critical time in American history and even as a small child six seven-year-old I could remember it if you have a memory of John F Kennedy’s assassination yourself leave that in the comments after leaving the sixth floor Museum
Take the five-minute walk over to the JFK Memorial it’s meant to be an open Tomb signifying the freedom of President Kenny’s spirit it’s definitely not what I was expecting to see but it’s still a beautiful Memorial we left the car in the parking area and decided to set off to explore Dallas on
Foot the walk that we’re doing down here is about two and a half miles through downtown Dallas which is which is a perfect way to burn off All That Barbecue that we ate for lunch next stop we’re heading up to the top of our Union Tower right there but you have
To place your bets on whether you think pop is going to go up there or not from the sixth floor museum is about a 10 minute walk to a union Tower after paying your fee you have to wait in line to get the next available
Elevator to take you all the way to the top I made it up to the top and as you can see Pops is not here with me really cool views though the tower sits 561 feet above downtown Dallas and it was built in 1978. you can walk all around the outside and
The inside of the large ball and it gives you a 360 degree view of the Dallas area Foreign because one of the elevators was broken but the views that they’re pretty incredible We’re on our way over to Pioneer Plaza and we have found the mythical Pegasus there he is and he’s moving as we speak this Pegasus is actually like the mascot for Dallas as it’s sat atop the largest skyscraper in the city that was built in 1934. this is the original science sitting
Here outside of the Omni Hotel We made it to party behind me Bob’s probably terrified some young children with that running Pioneer Plaza features a famous cattle drive sculpture that was completed in 1994. the sculpture consists of 49 bronze st-shirts/” target=”_blank”>teers and three Riders I think it’s especially cool the way they have them going through the water
Supposedly it’s one of the largest bronze sculptures in the world and it’s definitely something you want to see on your visit to Dallas be sure to walk all the way to the top to see the rider at the top of the hill and go down and see the waterfall
There’s also a Pioneer Cemetery with some of these dates going back to the early 1800s right next to this culture it’s been a lot of fun downtown Dallas is very walkable and we’re seeing a lot of cool sites along the way next up we headed to the ATT Discovery
District where their headquarters are and which feels kind of like a mini Times Square Cowboy Pops in the mirror room you can start your Instagram with this photo right here there’s restaurants art and interactive Tech experiences you can have here so this is just a place you walk around
The experience it’s kind of cool Pops I challenge you to Connect Four do you accept that challenge I accept and I would bet money on this challenge one dollar done Bobs didn’t even realize he had won he was getting more pieces he didn’t even know does it qualify as the win if he didn’t realize that he won no one of the most impressive things is the massive TV screen on the side of the building plus they have the globe art
Installation that lights up at night time right across the street they have the Flying Horse Cafe and we stopped in for some coffee and a pastry before we continued on that was a great stop for coffee now we got a couple more places we’re gonna explore
Next up we headed to one of the things I was most excited to see in Dallas the giant eyeball this is the giant eyeball but this is as close as you can get to it as it’s on private property I think it’s massive though there’s pops right
Here and you can see how big that eyeball is originally designed for an art project in Chicago that I sat there for a few years before it was moved here in 2013. it’s official the giant eyeball is my favorite thing I’ve seen in Dallas what do you think boss it’s pretty amazing
Pretty unusual not your favorite thing though not my favorite food we’re on our way to a park but we decided to go to the Museum of Art because it’s free the Dallas art museum is probably one of the best art museums I’ve ever been in supposedly they have over 25 000 pieces
Of art here and the building is massive this is the smartest thing I’ve ever seen at Art Museum please touch this piece which looks like that one so people do not touch that one this one looks so much like Josh and I I couldn’t resist standing in front of it
One of the most important pieces to see while you’re here is the icebergs by Frederick Edwin Church this is an awesome piece look at this big guy and he is looking down at that little guy my dad and I spent over an hour here and it’s impressive that this museum is free
If you want to go deeper there are some rotating exhibits that you can pay for but we didn’t even do those and we still had a great time and this is the Clyde Warren Park which actually goes over the highway pretty cool open space if you want to explore
We’re just walking to the end and then we’re gonna go back to where we parked our pot the Clyde Warren Park is five acres in Downtown Dallas and it’s a meeting place from people all over the city to come and hang out they often have food trucks
And events on the weekends and if it’s a nice day you should definitely come see it so we walked about two and a half miles through Dallas got all the way to the end of the park took an Uber back to the sixth floor Museum and now it’s been
About eight hours since we had barbecue so I think we can have a little bit to eat before ending this video for our dinner Spa we are a little bit outside of downtown Dallas at the Dallas Farmers Market the Dallas Farmers Market is a great
Place to get a meal they have a large 26 000 square foot Food Hall with lots of different restaurants and shops plus they also have a farmer’s market where you can get lots of fresh produce that’s outside of the food Hall I almost got the breakfast tacos in the
Back but I decided to go as healthy as I possibly could After All That Barbecue pickled vegetables chicken rice how do you beat that and you viewers know that he’s not fooling anybody with that pops isn’t eating anything so this is healthier than any nothing we only had
One stop left in Dallas and that was to visit the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge finished in 2012 this bridge is 400 feet tall and 1200 feet long I’m a huge fan of bridges so you know I love spots like this but I mean look at how cool that view is
And they got this pedestrian walkway so you can get lots of views of the bridge in case you want a cool spot to relax and watch this Sunset you can take these chairs look at this View made it back to the hotel after a full day exploring Dallas tomorrow we head to
Fort Worth this is day three technically in Texas and today we’re in Fort Worth we stayed in Dallas the night before and started the day by driving in and going to buongiorno we’re always on the search for a good cappuccino that’s not just a latte like mini coffee shops fake we figured an
Italian coffee shop would be the way to do it and it was really good here also it may seem like it’s really early but it’s actually 7 30 and the Sun is just now coming up next up we are at the Worth Water Gardens which is one of the things I was
The most excited to see plus there’s probably not going to be anybody here this early in the morning the Fort Worth Water Garden is a stunning Urban Park located in downtown Fort Worth that opened to the public in 1974. there are multiple pools situated around the garden but the active pool is the
Most dramatic of the three it features a 38-foot waterfall that Cascades down a series of terrorists and steps into a pool below you guys how cool is this that’s awesome just to have this in a public park you can walk down and stand at the base of the waterfall which allows you to
Feel the Thundering power of the falling water it’s one of those things I had seen in pictures for a long time and I was so excited to be able to see myself also going early in the morning like we did allowed us to have the entire place to ourselves
This pool has been featured in movies and music videos and other parts of popular culture over the last few decades do note that it’s a little bit slippery and some of the steps are a little tall if you make the walk down to the base all right it’s a Saturday and we’re
Heading to the number one barbecue place in Texas which is called Goldies how many people you think is going to be in line at 8 30. uh I would say a nice round 50. it doesn’t open until 11 30 either I’m gonna say 49. What’s that show Price is Right
After arriving at 8 30 a.m We Are greeted by a line and we ended up being number 60 and 61 so pops was right Texas monthly puts out a biennial list of the best barbecue joints in Texas and in the 2021 Edition Goldies was the
Number one spot so it’s about 9 45 right now still an hour and 15 minutes left to go and there’s probably 70 people behind us while it was already popular before the list this skyrocketed it to another level and that’s why all the people are waiting here on a Saturday to experience
The barbecue if you get to meet people and fill that sense of community and everybody’s just hanging out with many of the places even providing free beer or free water so you can just have a drink and have a good time it’s 11 o’clock they’re letting people
In there’s 50 so people in front of us about 150 people behind us we’ll get what we want it is nice to have the line finally moving after all this waiting I wish I could say it was a fast experience to get through the line once it started moving but it definitely was
Not it took us about an hour and a half from where we were at in line to finally order our food you can see the door I can touch the door we have made it to the board and nothing is sold out yet so unless they come and
Write something we might be we might be all right once you make it to the front you’re ushered in and then you order the meat you want by the weight my dad and I got a quarter of a pound to a half pound of the three different
Meats and then we got a sausage link to try and two of the sides it ended up being a ton of food but we had waited for three hours so we wanted to make sure it was worth it and we ended up skipping dinner I gotta go brisket first I’m gonna Dive
Right In it’s already cut nicely that brought us something and the meat is Smoky tender juicy wow outstanding is it worth the wait yeah for sure but I don’t want to put this real down I’m just gonna taste it but now I gotta eat it maybe it’s because I waited for three
Hours but I can’t even believe how good that brisket is like it should not be that good it is insanely good all downhill the rest of my life you left some food on the table no I took it with me from Goldie’s we headed about 25 minutes north to the Fort Worth Stockyards
Next up we’re at the Fort Worth Stockyards this is a Historic Park of the city a lot of cool things you can do including a rodeo we’re going to do later pops Park in the car I’m going to find the herd and then we’re going to meet up
This area of Fort Worth started as an outpost for Cowboys which are driving cattle to the market along the famous Chisholm Trail today the stockyard is one of the most popular attractions in Texas and it really feels like you’re back in the cowboy times when you’re here there’s tons of different bars
Restaurants and attractions along with a wooden maze that’s popular for younger children and of course the Fort Worth herd we happen to go there on a weekend when they were celebrating St Patrick’s Day so it was incredibly busy but it was still a fun spot the main attraction in the Stockyards is
The cattle drive which happens every day at 11 30 and 4. if you get there early you can go over to where the herd is hanging out and you can chat with the Cowboys about all the Longhorns they have these animals are Majestic with massive horns and I chatted with the Cowboys
About them for a while it was probably a dumb question but I was interested in if the horns ever fell off like deer antlers and the Cowboys told me that they don’t fall off and they have them their entire life foreign just hanging out waiting for the Stampede which happens at four o’clock
Which is about 15-20 minutes from now since it was close to when the cattle drive was happening the Cowboys kept driving the cattle around the pen which was cool to see it was fun to see them up close like this and to see each of the individual Longhorns and their personalities The Stampede is about to start watch out pops there they go they’re leaving since it was so busy for the St Patrick’s Day celebration I wasn’t able to get a spot along the road so my dad went over to see if he could get a spot
And I watched the cattle go through the parking lot into the holding pen I still can’t believe that they’re able to drive the Longhorns through the street with so many people surrounding them and not have anybody get poked by the horns also it’s pretty unique to have this
Historic experience and it’s the only twice daily cattle drive in the entire world I wasn’t able to get another shot of them walking the road but luckily pops came through in the clutch with this pretty cool shot of them going under the stockyard sign the whole experience is over very quickly as they don’t walk very far and they walk relatively fast along the street After the cattle drive was over we braved the crowds and headed towards the John Wayne Museum my dad is a huge fan of cowboy movies and this is one of the things he really wanted to see while we were in Fort Worth this museum has 10 000 square feet of
Exhibit space and traces John Wayne’s life all the way from his early childhood throughout his career Bobs look at how many movies John Wayne was in 60 something yeah oh my gosh Plus they have countless pieces of memorabilia from throughout his life and from the movies he was in the exhibits are well put together and engaging and I learned a lot about John Wayne hey Pops what’s your favorite John Wayne quote it’s from True Grit courage is being scared to death but
Settling up anyway Billy Bob’s Texas the world’s largest Honky Tonk next up was Billy Bob’s which has been here for over 40 years and is basically a Texas Institution Billy Bob’s was the nightclub of the Year many years in a row it’s one of the world’s most famous
Honky Tonks and it’s basically a large bar concert arena and Country Music Museum all rolled into one it’s a great place to grab your drink of choice and just hang out especially if you’re killing time waiting for the rodeo like we were by Charlie Daniels you know the devil
Went out of Georgia was played on that the Country Museum portion has all sorts of signed instruments and hand prints from some of the top country musicians apparently you can tell how loved somebody is by how many uh lipstick marks they got Now I’m convinced it’s the world’s largest Honky Tonk there’s a rodeo Arena inside of it there weren’t any rodeos happening when we were there and of course it’s not anywhere near as big as the Cowtown Coliseum but it’s still pretty cool to see inside of a bar
Two things first that’s an awesome place to watch March Madness and to have a drink second pops and I are really tired from just eating barbecue and sitting all day but we have one more thing left to do and let’s go to a rodeo Our last stop of the day was at the Cowtown Coliseum a Fame spot in Fort Worth and one of the only weekly rodeos in the United States yo if you want to do this book it in advance as a ticket sellout and I have to say this is an incredible way to end
Your day in Fort Worth I knew basically nothing about the rodeo but the time flew by and the crowd was engaged and cheering the entire way [Applause] Thank you Finished our time in Fort Worth with that Rodeo pops what’d you think about that so much fun that was a blast you guys got to do it if you’re in the area we will see you tomorrow good morning today we are saying goodbye to the Dallas Fort Worth area and we’re
Heading south to Houston before leaving Dallas we want to get coffee and I found full City roaster but then as I got closer I realized it’s full City rooster and they have a rooster mascot pops and I uh both are in on that that’s pretty good hold it down with it here’s
An actual picture of what pops and I have been eating these last few days nothing but fruits and veggies vegetables fruits salad brisk it in here at all City rooster is a great stop on the way out of town it’s a small batch coffee shop with good coffee good pastries
That was an awesome find I didn’t expect to have such great coffee cool people cool place if you’re in Dallas definitely go we’re not doing a lot of stops between Dallas and Houston as we have some time sensitive things we have to do in Houston today but if you want to stop
Ennis Texas is a great place in April as the bluebonnets are blooming there they have a whole Trail you can do plus Collin Street Bakery has some supposedly world famous fruitcake unfortunately it’s not open today or else we would be trying that but let us know how it is in
The comments now on to Houston thank you all right before we make it to Houston we’re having a true Texas experience and we are going to Bucky’s never been gonna see what all the fuss is about have you ever been to Bucky’s Pops I have not been to Bucky’s all
Right first time Bucky’s visiting Texas and not stopping at Bucky’s is like visiting Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower this place is apparently where everyone stops Bucky’s is a massive gas station and store and one of the buckies is actually the largest convenience store in the world
They sell everything here from Bucky’s shirts and swimsuits to brisket and beef jerky fully converted Bucky’s is awesome all right so this is what Bucky’s is known for the beaver nuggets pups give it a try right here it’s nice snack crunchy sweet it’s kind of like a big caramel corn kind of yeah
Good I like it good road trip snack pops is update is reviewed to say yeah those are pretty good those are pretty good yeah not bad after about three hours of driving and our stop at Bucky’s we arrived in Houston we made it to Houston and our first stop
Is at Smither Park and then we’re gonna tour the orange show area in about 30 minutes one of the things I love seeing most when I travel is folk art Houston is actually a great spot for this and one of the reasons we got here so quickly is because a couple of the
Spots I really wanted to see are only open on the weekends another Park is open throughout the week though can you do it King pops of Smither Park he’s probably one of the only people who fits into the crown construction of Smither Park began in 2011 with Builder Dan Phillips and
Stephanie Smither creating it you can see this is a work in progress too they’re still working on this section next I guess the park was designed to honor her late husband John Smither and since its creation over 300 artists have worked to make pieces here
Pop scan the QR code and what’d you find well they have two levels of an easier or a harder scavenger hunt you can go all through and find the different things we found quite a few of them different animals different other things we found one of the scavenger hunt items
This is the sawfish if you’re traveling with family be sure to scan the QR code to see the scavenger hunt whenever I’m exploring a new city I always try to find places like this because every city has a zoo or a children’s museum or science center but
Not a lot of cities have really unique art places so I love finding these types of things when I travel That was an amazing area to explore but the real reason we’re here is to tour the orange show which is what we’re gonna do next door show is located right next to Smither Park and it was built by Jeff mckissicks this spot’s probably not for everyone
But again I love folk art and I love seeing it when I travel I buy a ticket in advance if you want to see it but it was only five bucks when I went hold on hold on pops this spot is over 3 000 square feet and
It was built by one man from 1956 to 1979. what I love about it is that a lot of it is still open for you to climb on an experience from many different angles it definitely feels like a maze as you explore and I’ve been told that they
Actually have small concerts here at certain times of the year actually bathroom here too I wouldn’t have thought that like Smither Park there’s also a scavenger hunt you can do if you come with children and overall these types of places are just unique and fun to explore
That’s a tiny spot but I loved it I love seeing that kind of stuff that folk art we’re gonna go see a couple more unique art places before we end our day in Houston from there we rushed over to another folk art spot called the beer can house
Which is run by the same Orange Show Center for Visionary Arts this one’s only open on the weekend as well and it has a small fee if you want to go inside but it’s free if you just want to see the outside this house project was started by John
Milkovich in 1968 and over the next 18 years he basically covered the entire house in flattened beer cans This is the beer can house from the inside supposedly the wife got to choose what was inside the husband got to choose what was outside which is why this is normal and the outside looks the way that it does Put this house together with the orange house the guy at the orange house thought oranges were the key to life this guy here thought that beer cured everything after exploring for about 15 minutes the house was closing and it was time for us to head on
Cart stop of the day the Art Car Museum that is so cool it’s like gargles on it and a head oh man I don’t think you could fit in there pops museum is Tiny and you do have to get a reservation in advance but it’s free to visit and it’s cool to see
They own dozens of art cars and throughout the year they change them out to have different ones on display I loved the museum and seeing the art cars and I wish it was bigger so I could have seen more of the art cars that they have in their archives
They have a yearly R Car Parade where the cars drive through the streets and I hope to come back to Houston to see that in the future Another cool spot it’s free but they do accept donations and they change the cars out about every three to four months so there are different cars coming through there but I loved it we got 30 minutes to kill before our tour that we’re doing to finish the day so
We’re gonna go get some coffee after looking on Yelp we found a highly rated coffee shop called Catalina coffee that wasn’t too far away and we headed over there that’s a great Houston coffee shop and shout out to Alex with Ray Stuarts Theory watches our videos and was so
Kind to us check it out if you’re in the Houston area for our last stop of the day we headed over to Buffalo Bayou Park to tour the cistern this is a great city park with a skate park children’s play area and a walking a running path along the water
However the Highlight is actually what’s under the ground you’re walking on built in 1926 the cistern held most of the water for the City of Houston for decades It’s only accessible via a guided tour and you can book a spot online if you’re interested in seeing it Can we all give pops a thumbs up for actually doing this tour I didn’t know whether he was going to go or not how was it was it was it scary no it’s not that it open it’s cool high ceiling well done pops one of the highlights is experiencing the amazing Acoustics and
The echo you can hear [Applause] they were originally going to demolish it and turn it into a parking area but I’m so glad they kept it and still allow you to tour it pops decided he had to do a little singing before we left Jose can you see
By the dawn’s early life foreign That’s awesome actually melt you sound a little bit better too I think well that echoing helps it’s like the shower I guess you know what let’s get some barbecue four for four that’s what we’re doing right now since we are only trying one barbecue place in Houston we decided that we’d
Also go to pinkerton’s this spot was on Texas monthly’s top 50 and a lot of people along the way told us that it was a great place to try all right jump man pops brisket Rupp is nice a little more subtle not so strong with the flavor in your face
Um falls apart nicely yeah pretty good one of the things people told us not to leave without was the dessert using my little mic to hopefully not get the background noise but this is the smoked bread pudding which I was very very excited to try so here we go
I mean that that looks strong it’s very good it’s hard to tell though I mean it’s like you get a little bit of the smokiness and then there’s a lot of really sweet sauce on top which is awesome it’s like a cream cheese and blueberry but it kind of hides the
Smokiness a little bit still very good dessert after all of our folk art and barbecue we’re back at the hotel tomorrow we’re going to the Space Center and Galveston I’m really excited because we’re heading to the Space Center today something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but our
First stop is the original kolache shop which is south of the city this family owned and operated three generation business has been here since 1956 and has a loyal following of customers that love their pastries pop Design’s first experience at a kolache shop are you gonna try the sausage first or the fruit
Ice rude ah just nice pastry tastes like the inside of a jelly donut but with a way different bread consistency it’s not like mind-blowing good but it’s definitely a nice pastry heading on to the Space Center from our breakfast location it took about 15 minutes to drive to Space Center Houston
For as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated with space and so when we planned a trip to Texas this is one of the things I had to do this is just the lobby this video covers a half day itinerary and we were here for about five hours
The first thing you have to do when you go in is to go book your Tram Tour as those are free but they book up very quickly these are the different places where we landed on the moon that is really cool to see the four main inside areas are the
International Space Station Artemis Mission Mars and the Starship gallery it’s especially great for the whole family as everything is very Interactive Skylab which was America’s first space station in the 70s you can go inside of the reproduction of it Skylab was used for about 24 weeks from 1973 to 1974.
It’s incredible to see how this piece of machinery functioned and how they lived inside of it check it out you can go inside over here you have the actual controls it’s kind of crazy I feel like my iPhone has more Tech than uh this does and then
Over here you can see what it looks like inside this is especially amazing as is the only mounted shuttle that the public can actually go inside hey Pops I don’t know if you could be an astronaut you have to lay in the Sleep suit right here and then you have to
Strap yourself to the wall in order to sleep after walking through the space shuttle you can continue down the stairs and also explore the large plane that it’s attached to in here there are many interactive exhibits that help you learn more about the entire moving process for the space shuttle
So we’re gonna go see the SpaceX rocket before taking the tram tour this is epic it’s the Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket that was actually in space and came back Arc tram guy told us this is one of two used SpaceX rockets on display in the entire world I’m seriously nerding out about this
Seeing the SpaceX rocket was amazing I can’t wait to go take the tour now our Tram Tour got postponed for about 45 minutes so it gave us more time to explore the Starship gallery hey Pops look it’s proof the original moon landing was faked it’s the original
Sound Stage for the Moonlight it was all down right here I can’t believe they wouldn’t hide that we’re just joking we landed on the moon excited there’s so much to take in here you could easily spend an hour in this gallery and you can touch an actual rock from the Moon
I have officially touched the Moon it felt like it felt like the earth a rock can we leave a like for pops’s amazing zero G Performance right here is that what zero g looks like right there it looks like dancing take two laughs that was the best one yeah nice work
We explored for another 15 minutes and then it was time to start the tram tour unfortunately my dad had a work haul he had to take so it was just me who went on the tram when I was there the blue Tran pass was included with your ticket this tour is
About an hour long and it visits The Astronaut training facility in rocket Park After driving through what feels like a city in the Space Center we made it to the Astronaut training facility here you can look down on basically a replica of the International Space Station and this is where astronauts train for their missions also there’s a lot of new technologies
That they’re developing here and it was pretty cool to be able to just walk through and see it all as we were boarding back into the tram we got to see an actual space rover that was out for a test drive an added bonus I wasn’t expecting
The tour then headed over to Rocket Park which was our last stop heading inside this is the Saturn Saturn V is the tallest and most powerful rocket that’s ever flown and it’s one of only three on display in the entire world this is worth the price of admission just by itself
One of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time these Rockets operated from the late 60s to the early 70s and were used for all of the Moon missions we’re leaving Space Center Houston and we’re heading down to Galveston check it out even the McDonald’s near
NASA has a astronaut with some french fries Leaving Space Center Houston we decided we wanted to experience the Gulf Coast so we headed down to Galveston our first stop was at Bishop’s Palace in 19 000 square foot Victorian house that was built in the late 1800s your head pops we’re in a historic place
They give you an audio tour and you can just type in the numbers and you can listen to what you’re looking at the house was owned by the Gresham family until 1923 when the Roman Catholic Diocese purchased the home they used it for the next 40 years as a
Residence for one of their Bishops before it was turned over to the Historical Society for tours those are all original old stained glass windows produced in Germany really really detailed Matthew Mark Luke and John up above that’s a painting of the bishop who kind of converted this into
More of a Catholic field Chapel where there used to be one of the daughters but if you like learning about an area’s history or seeing historic houses this is definitely one to check out we’re going to explore more of Galveston leaving the palace we decided to drive a little bit along the coast
It’s all of them basically that’s All That Remains from the last four that was built this is basically the Northeast tip of Galveston and it’s been a place that they’ve used for defense for over 200 years it’s also just a nice spot to sit and watch the boats coming in and out and
The birds flying off in the distance next we headed over to the most popular attraction in Galveston the Pleasure Pier Pleasure Pier is closed Monday through Thursday and only open on the weekends so I knew it wasn’t gonna be open but I at least wanted to see it since I’m used
To the Santa Monica One this is not the original Pleasure Pier that opened in 1943 and was destroyed by a hurricane in 1961. efforts are made to create a new one and this one was actually built in 2012. the last thing we wanted to do in
Galveston was to go explore some of the wooden tree sculptures which you could actually take a driving tour to see so these sculptures are all over Galveston and they’re just local artists who’ve taken trees that have died say in a hurricane and they’ve carved them to make these beautiful sculptures they’re
Really a lot of fun there’s dozens of these sculptures around Galveston and you can get a map online if you want to see all of them it’s definitely a fun scavenger hunt especially with the family we’ve made it to our last of the wind sculptures for this trip I have to say
This is a pretty strong one he’s representing for St Patrick’s Day too hilarious it’s amazing this is a really fun one spending our time in Galveston which was a supposedly a local favorite shrimp and stuff we asked many people around the city what their favorite spot was and a bunch
Of them told us shrimp and stuff this local restaurant has been here since 1976 and serves its famous po boy to tourists and residents alike this is a boudin Fireball jalapenos I like that yeah yeah that’s got a really nice flavor it’s cheese and jalapeno put that kind of sausagey rice coating
It’s actually got a nice flavor I like that we got a half crab half shrimp PoBoy I always like a good po boy so I’m excited about this manual plane’s got a good sauce it’s fresh with the vegetables good crab balls I mean saying goodbye to Galveston
Making the hour drive back to Houston and we will see you tomorrow on the drive back to Houston we decided to stop at the waterfall Park I have to say if you have the opportunity I would see it during the day and at sunset or night as when the
Lights come on it looks pretty cool with the waterfall all right that’s it for day five we’ll see you tomorrow for more exploring in Houston higher day exploring Houston it’s never nevertheless funny to see Pops try to get into this car apparently we should have swapped it at the airport
We started the day by heading back over to Gerald D Hines waterfall Park this is one of my favorite places in the city and it’s definitely something you have to experience yourself the waterfall was built in 1985 and it sits at 64 feet tall it’s been described as a horseshoe of
Water and I have to say that’s a pretty good description no street parking on one of the Lots next up we headed over to Black Hole Coffee House the spot has great coffee and delicious pastries plus it has cool art on the walls very muffin with that blueberries and every now I’m jealous
From coffee we headed into downtown Houston and stopped at graffiti Park here you’ll find a couple city blocks worth of buildings covered in murals well done the sky’s the limit murals are things I love finding when I go to new cities as it shows a little bit about the city’s art scene
There’s one more mural that you should see which is about a five minute drive away this is the other Main muralist in downtown Houston so you gotta drive to this one but I wanted to see it as it shows up in a lot of pictures and it’s pretty cool
We’re at truth barbecue about 30 minutes before they open and Pops us inside he’s gonna go be first in line and sit there even though there’s no one else waiting on baby second time truth barbecue is number three on Texas monthly’s top barbecue places in the entire state
Eagle started showing up about 10 to 15 minutes before they open and when they open there’s probably 30 to 40 people in line twice now in these places I’ve got to be number one in line that never happens to me I just want to make sure you notice that
Once it opens you order your meat by the pound at the counter and they cut the meat in front of you and scoop the sides if you can pick whatever you want to sit this Spa has a really great Vibe for lunch in the city and the food here was fantastic Unfortunately I’m an amateur and I didn’t turn the microphone on when I was recording so you can’t hear anything we’re saying but both my dad and I loved what we had at truth and this is one of my dad’s favorite barbecue places in the state of Texas
Be sure to try the smoked turkey here as well it was definitely the best turkey we had on our Barbecue Road Trip next up we made our way over to Hermann Park to explore we’re going to the Natural History Museum but first we’re going to the butterfly garden so some butterflies can
Land on pops if you’re going to the Museum of Natural Science the butterfly exhibit was only a small add-on so we decided to do that first they had an awesome bug exhibit that you could see before the butterflies next we made our way into the rainforest Conservatory which is three stories tall
And had a 50-foot waterfall in the middle this is where all the butterflies were and I was amazed by how many butterflies they had this is definitely one of the best butterfly gardens I’ve ever seen they’re still active right now and they’re everywhere we spent a good 30 minutes in here just
Walking around and seeing all of the Butterflies honestly it felt like there were thousands of butterflies and if you come to the museum you should definitely do this gotta check yourself in the mirror and make sure you have no butterflies on you I can’t believe they have a lifestyle
Version those are the ones that were attacking you in Alaska oh I see them yeah that guy got me in Alaska it’s interesting they had the mosquitoes lifestyle they’re born they find pops and then they suck the blood life out of me and die that’s all they do it says
Right here and then they die and make more to find me later thank you up next pops and I are gonna go see some dinosaurs I’m blown away by this Museum because of the amount of these that they have like they’re so intricate and just incredibly preserved it’s well worth seeing
Museum just to see this I mean look at this this is like a turtle we only spent about 45 minutes in this section but you could easily spend a few hours if you’re interested best fossil of all time look at this Mammoth it knocked my guy into the air
Of course this is just one of many exhibits they have in this massive Museum and I would say it’d take an entire day to see it all this area was based on this painting everything that you see in here you can touch and interact with and there’s
Cabinets you can open so pretty cool spot case you’re wondering while you’re at the Museum you can also buy a dinosaur skull it’s only 185 thousand dollars pretty cool to have hanging in your house though that’s a fantastic Museum we barely scratch the surface of all the
Stuff you could do here we’re gonna go explore the park a little bit but there’s a lot of other museums and a zoo so you can do a lot down here if you have the time this is a really beautiful Park these tree-lined walkways and the reflection
Pool definitely a nice place to explore for a couple hours or even a full day probably in Houston Hermann Park has been here for over a hundred years and it’s up to 445 acres in the heart of Houston it has memorials monuments a lake a golf course and even a train that connects
You throughout the property that is a big koi fish right there our next stop is a piece of art that was designed by the same person who made clouds gate AKA The Bean in Chicago right there this piece is called Cloud column and it was made by famed artist Anish Kapoor I will say it’s pretty cool how it has this Hollow cutout in the middle it adds an interesting and dynamic to it pop says this is a broken donut how is it a broken donut Maple bar broken in half next up it was time for dinner and so we
Headed over to The Hobbit Cafe which you might not know about pops is that he’s one of the biggest Tolkien fans around of the books the books the Lord of the Ring movies he’s a hater of the movies I’m a hater of the movies leave all the
Comments below about how to get the movie tell me how much you’re a hater of the movies those of you who have actually read the books as many times as I’ve had I think I’ve read the books 15 times see how hard it is to be me
The Hobbit Cafe is a themed restaurant dedicated to The Hobbit books created by J.R.R Tolkien [Laughter] it started in 1972 and it’s supposedly one of the only themed restaurants that got approval by his family they sell a wide variety of healthy food options plus Mead as a veggie sandwich right there that’s
The slim version I got curry chicken salad with saut-shirts/” target=”_blank”>teed jalapenos on the side we’re gonna do splitsies though so we can try each one hops is going with the curry curry chicken curry chicken with a saut-shirts/” target=”_blank”>teed jalapeno on top I like the curry if you’re a fan of Lord of the Rings you gotta go there but even if you’re not they’re actually really good food so definitely a recommendation we had one more thing we wanted to do right around Sunset so we had some time to kill and went to Urban South
We actually went here because our waitress at The Hobbit Cafe told us that it was a great Brewery with lots of very unique beers It has an awesome Vibe and it’s definitely a spot I’d come back to if I was in Houston what’s while we’re waiting I can challenge pop to a game of foosball [Laughter] Oh that’s right that’s how it’s done right there and now for our last stop in Houston seeing the bats most people who visit know about the bat colony in Austin but there’s actually a pretty significant back colony in Houston as well you can really hear the bats good in
Here all up in the rafters plus you can smell them too it smells pretty bad just like in Austin these are also Mexican free-tailed bats and they usually come out right around sunset just waiting for what is hopefully a good bat showing yep hopefully get some bats out here tonight
About 10 minutes before the official sunset time the bats started to come out this one was especially impressive as there was a lot of bats and you’re a lot closer to them than you are at the Austin Bridge even though I’m sure the colony is much smaller here it felt a lot bigger
Because of how close you were also in all my research I saw basically no other videos about the bats here so I don’t know if this is a thing that people don’t do but we really liked it How cool is that pops that was really cool really cool a lot of bats came out of there man a lot yeah they said that that there’s not as many bats here as there is in the one in Austin and I haven’t been to the one Austin a long
Time but that was still really cool and well worth doing while you’re in Houston but yeah that’s gonna be it for tonight hopefully you enjoyed hanging out with us going to Houston we’re gonna go to Corpus Christi tomorrow and continue with the Texas road trip from Houston it’s about a three and a
Half hour drive to Corpus Christi we had a really unique hotel we were going to be spending the afternoon at so we wanted to make sure we had time for that which is why we got such an early start we’re hoping to go to Padre Island National Seashore but the road there has
A crash on it so it’s closed right now so we’re gonna head back towards Corpus Christi go to the original Whataburger location and then maybe try Whataburger for our first time here’s the replica of the original Whataburger 1950 it was created and now there’s over 900 locations
Whataburger is to Texas what in and out is to California so we figured we needed to experience a little bit of its history and try its food while in Texas we have made it to the Primo Whataburger what a burger by the bay which even has
Hey calm down I’m trying to make a video right now if it has a second floor that looks out over the coast this is the way to experience Whataburger for the first time Whataburger started as a small Burger Shack in 1950 in Corpus Christi we just got the traditional burger and
Fries for our review all right pops first experience at Whataburger big burger looks good all about the onions hey man we’re still trying to film over here All right so it’s supposed to be a two-handed burger so I guess that is a two-handed burger also I’m rocking Texas I got the Big Ben shirt that the Bucky’s hat so I’m going full Texas right now with the Whataburger I’m not unhappy I wouldn’t say it’s
Blowing my mind or anything it’s a a good fast food Burger 7.8 not bad not amazing cheers I will say I’m somewhat impressed with the french fries and that spicy ketchup is definitely a nice twist the birds are literally trying to eat our meals right now look at that look at
All those birds they’re just waiting for us don’t forget to say hi to the founder on the way out and uh grab a cigar if you want to go after lunch it was time to explore Corpus Christi our first stop was the Texas surf Museum which was closed and
We were told it actually had closed six months previous at least if you can’t go to the surf Museum you can go to the official selfie spot inside the visitor center outside of the visitor center there’s a Walk of Fame and there’s actually a lot of Selena history here
Who have you know who I’ll give you a second to think about it the answer is like I always wore the calf and was a guitarist Stark hair so Michael Nesmith that’s some useless information right there good pops also has no idea who Selena is she’s a singer
If you’re a fan of Selena then definitely go over to her statue which is right near the water here people have signed and colored their thanks and memories on the bricks below the statue it’s a pretty cool spot and there’s definitely a lot of people taking pictures when we were there If you want to see another statue head south a little bit to the church that has the Jesus calming the sea statue this is popular for photos with Jesus standing on the boat looking out over the ocean after driving along the coast we decided to head over to North Beach and the
Texas State Aquarium I’m heading to the aquarium my Dad decided he wanted to drive around the city a little bit more but let’s go in and see some fish the Texas State Aquarium is the largest aquarium in Texas and one of the largest in the entire United States
It’s also one of the most visited tourist attractions in the state of Texas this large aquarium has an outdoor area with sea turtles alligators dolphins and even stingrays that you can touch I think the inside is the most impressive though with many different exhibits focusing on different parts of the world
There’s everything in here from birds and sharks and sea turtles to octopus and even jellyfish After I thought I had seen everything I was told that I hadn’t even gone to the Caribbean Journey section yet this is the newest part of the aquarium and it has a 400 000 gallon tank this is pretty incredible I’m just walking under all the sharks next to a shipwreck
Look at that one This is easily the best part of my visit to the aquarium and I spent a good 20 minutes just sitting and hanging out here leaving the aquarium that was a pretty cool spot lots of stuff to see it’s a little bit pricey but I had a good time there had not As you’re leaving the North Beach Section Drive a few blocks down the road and see this awesome souvenir store with a shark that you walk through to enter I don’t think you can bend down enough to get your head into that one Very nice I thought you’re gonna hit your head on that tooth before heading to our destination which is the town of Goliad we decided to find coffee and we found this awesome Harry Potter inspired coffee shop I’m definitely a fan of Harry Potter I read all the books and watched all the
Movies and it was really fun to see how they inspired this store all right pops is putting the Sorting Hat on Sorting Hat says Hufflepuff see what it has for Josh my turn what am I I don’t know oh Slytherin with the bad guys so yeah if you’re a Harry Potter fan you
Probably don’t want to miss this coffee shop from Corpus Christi it was about an hour and 15 minute drive to the town we were spending the night in we’re in the town of Goliad Texas now which was really important to the Texas Independence War got a really cool place
For staying tonight that we’re going to show you but let’s see this Mission first it’s a beautiful time right now with all these wild flowers too Goliad State Park sits along the San Antonio River with a highlight being the mission that’s right in the middle the original Mission was built in 1749
And this is not the original Mission it’s actually a reconstruction that was built in the 1930s and then continued to expand upon in the 1960s this is interesting as it says that they found this piece of another Old Mission and realized the kind of colors that they were using and that’s how they
Decided on how this Mission looked when they they recreated it with the colors as well in the building connected to the mission there’s a small museum with lots of the areas history pops feel free to try on this helmet it says let’s see if it fits your head it
Would never fit my melon Spanish helmet wow beautiful yeah they used this to distill liquor that was similar to Tequila these are all original walls about 300 years old and then these are all from the 1940s there’s a few more areas to explore including reconstructed rooms that show what life was like
All right now we’re heading about three minutes down the road at the Presidio which was important to the Texas Independence war and that’s where we’re going to be staying tonight which is so awesome Bob so excited are you that we are spending the night at this historic fort is amazing but to be able to stay here I mean even the park guards were like being here that’s so amazing it’s unusual Presidio La bahaya dates back to 1747 and after the Alamo it was one of the
More important places in the Texas Revolution if you’re interested in the history of the Goliad Massacre you can read about it online or you can see the video we put out with a lot more history information in the description We’re exploring all the interior parts right now including the chapel because we can’t access those later but one of these doors is the door to our room so we can actually come out here at night time and explore the courtyard on the grounds just not the interior parts
Before visiting our room we headed into the chapel which has been in continuous use since the 1700s it’s beautiful to see but it has a sad history as it’s where over 300 men were held prior to the Goliad Massacre behind me there’s the door to our room let’s go check it out
This was the original priest quarters and there’s only one room that you can stay in in this whole area so if you want to stay here be sure to get a reservation way in advance the quarters have two bedrooms one with two twin beds a living and dining area
With a fireplace a kitchen bathroom with shower and air conditioning so it’s pretty incredible that you can actually rent out a room in this Old Presidio and stay here and explore the grounds outside which are right over here so once the Presidio closes you can actually go out this door
And you can explore the grounds all night long if you want to but not the interior parts just the outside town of Goliad also has a lot of history and is worth walking around a little bit right next to the courthouse is a large Hanging Tree where sentences were
Carried out after they were given in the courthouse right next door there was only one restaurant in the entire town that was open on the Monday that we were there so we headed over to get some Tex-Mex can’t mess up fajitas and homemade corn tortillas oh those look good they know they do
As the only place open for dinner in Goliath today that was a surprisingly fine dinner heading back to explore more of the Presidio I’ve just been hanging out up here watching the sun go down watching the lights come on in the chapel it’s a pretty cool place to hang out right next to the cannon Hops and the cat we spent the rest of the night just walking around and exploring the
Courtyard but more on that in our full history video on this spot led by pops you can see that in the description All right putting this away we’re crashing for the night we will see you tomorrow Pop’s a setting the guest book about our adventures let us know if you ever come here and you see what we wrote Pops what’s your review of this spot it’s really cool it’s like staying in a castle is what it feels like an old ancient castle but then the history all
Around just really is amazing it’s a it’s a great place if you’re a buff of history and want to understand it better by being here you ready to uh head to San Antonio let’s go to San Antonio from Goliad it was about an hour and 45 minute drive to San Antonio and we
Planned our day to arrive at another barbecue joint this spot is supposedly one of the best in the city 2m Smokehouse the spots only open Thursday through Sunday and it has a great Vibe with lots of outdoor seating and murals painted on the wall we got there about 15 minutes before
They opened and it took us about 30 minutes to get through the line this spot was also on Texas monthly’s top 50 barbecue joints and one of the things they’re known for is actually the sides in the literature they talk about the glassy sweet glaze so I’m excited to try it
Very sweet very delicious the sites here are incredibly strong the elote and then this is chicharoni mac and cheese and then we got beans all of them are very strong I think it’s a very looks like it’s got some interesting uniquenesses about it with the way they do the chicharrones and this barbecue
Sauce that they have so it’s kind of gives you a different Taste of things it’s kind of fun heading back in to San Antonio to explore some missions starting the mission tour with the southernmost Mission Espada and we’re gonna do all four of these ending at Mission Concepcion
These missions make up the San Antonio Missions Historical Park which is actually a UNESCO world heritage site what’s incredibly impressive about being the UNESCO world heritage site is that there’s only 24 of them in the United States these sites are protected due to their natural cultural historical or scientific form of significance
And when you think about all the special places we have in the United States and that this was one of only 24 that were given this designation is pretty amazing to see I’m going through them quickly here but I’m hoping to make another video on them
In the future and you can actually bike or drive between all of them if you only have time to visit One mission while in San Antonio make sure that it’s Mission San Jose this one has a large Visitor Center with docents you can ask questions to and lots of information on the mission’s
History we just entered our third mission and this one’s already incredibly impressive there’s all sorts of housing along the sides basically a complete wall and then the chapel is over there this mission is over 300 years old and it’s one of the best to see as it was
Almost completely restored in the 1930s what you see here is of course the massive church building in the center but you also see the entire Community aspect that surrounded it here you can get an idea of where people lived and where they worked and what life was like on the mission
Some of the rooms even have artifacts and things left in them to give you that experience from there we made our way to the last mission which was another small one but was still interesting to see and explore a little bit also note that all of these are free to visit
These missions are beautiful well restored it’s amazing they’re still functioning Catholic churches which is also really cool definitely recommend you come down here there’s lots of things about it you wouldn’t expect that you’ll enjoy it only takes a few hours to see them all too if you’re driving or
If you want to make a full half day out of it you can rent a bike and you can go between all of them 20 minutes away was our next stop [Applause] some big cowboy boots this is a little far away for most visits to San Antonio but pops really
Wanted to see them and they’re 35 feet tall can you fit under the heel almost those are some pretty big boots that’s the spot you probably don’t want to go to unless you have a car it’s about 15 to 20 minutes outside of the city but I mean it’s fun when you’re in
Texas you gotta see the world’s largest cowboy boots we’re down in the Pearl District which is a hip Eating shopping area plus it has access to the Riverwalk so I’m just gonna walk around a little bit but there’s one part of the Riverwalk called The Grotto that I want to see it’s right
Down here the Pearl area of San Antonio is definitely one that’s worth visiting it’s built around the historic Pearl Brewing building which was a brewery that made beer from 1883 to 2001. it’s a great way to access the Riverwalk which is like a massive pedestrian walkway that goes to the center of
Downtown San Antonio it is The Grotto of the San Antonio Riverwalk right there in order to access The Grotto you’ll have to walk over the bridge and then back down to the other side of the Riverwalk it’s well worth it though as this is one of those places you’d never
Expect to see here this is the only kind of cave I can get Pops to go in definitely take some time and just wander around as there’s lots of little hidden things for you to find here watch out pops the giant skull is gonna eat you good acting
The perlier is really cool The Grotto area is really cool but San Antonio is really humid right now and it’s only March I can’t imagine when it’s like in the summer after exploring The Grotto we made our way back to the Pearl and we were going
To continue on but then we found out they had an ice cream shop there and since it was so humid it felt like a good idea which one is puffs that one or that one caramel Salt Lick is where it’s at that is an amazing ice cream Pop’s got like lavender though
After checking into our hotel it was back into downtown San Antonio to explore Tower of the Americas I’m gonna meet up with him for dinner be sure to check out the water features at the base and then grab your ticket and head up to the top of the 750 foot Tower made it to the top it’s kind of hilarious this one feels like the one in
Dallas so maybe it’s built by the same people still really cool though this Tower was built in 1968 for the World’s Fair and it was actually the tallest observation tower in the United States until the Stratosphere in Las Vegas was built It’s a 360 degree observation tower so you can walk around the outside in both an indoor and an outdoor area and as you can tell from the wind I spent most of my time in the indoor area foreign there’s also a lot of Texas history up
Here that you can read about if you’re interested but I didn’t stay for too long and headed back down to the base Pops has taken an Uber over our dinner spot and I’m just walking it’s supposed to be one of the top rated Tex-Mex places in San Antonio so we’ll see how it goes created in 1992 rosarios is often voted one of the best Mexican food restaurants in all of San Antonio
We were told that it seats over 500 people and that there’s often a two-hour line just to eat here luckily for us on a weekday during March Madness we didn’t have any weight for some reason I forgot to write down what we got but I can honestly say that
Everything we had was incredible and it was a great spot for dinner all we have left for our time in San Antonio is to walk the Riverwalk a little bit more and then see if maybe the boats are running when we get there and we can take a boat tour to end our
Video from the restaurant it was only about a five minute walk to connect with the Riverwalk it says our Chavez Boulevard I’ve been wanting to see the Riverwalk for as long as I can remember and I can honestly say it lives up to expectations as you walk closer to the main area it’s
So cool to see all the light up boats going past you the restaurants the hotels it’s just a super unique place to explore even with as touristy as it is I felt like it lived up to the hype also if you go you really have to experience it at night of course it’s
Cool during the day as well but there’s just something special about seeing it at night We made our way towards Market Street and the place that you could check in for the go Rio River Cruises I didn’t book it in advance and it was pretty busy so it took about 30 minutes for us to get onto a boat I was surprised that it only cost 14 a
Person and it’s definitely well worth that cost tour was about 30 minutes in length and our guide told us all about the history of everything we were seeing and took us on a pretty full Cruise of the downtown Riverwalk area it was especially fun to weave around
The boats and go under the historic Bridges as we made our way around the canals the San Antonio Riverwalk is a place I’ll for sure be back to I had a great time here and I didn’t get to spend as much time as I really wanted to
That boat was a blast it wasn’t too expensive and it was a great 35 minute narrated tour showed you the entire Riverwalk definitely do it while you’re here heading back to the hotel in more San Antonio tomorrow We began the day in San Antonio by heading downtown and visiting La Panaderia this restaurant was open in 2014 by two brothers with a love for baking and since then it’s become a really popular spot for breakfast in the city from there it’s only a five minute walk
To San Antonio’s most famous site the Alamo it was here that a galleon few the bravest of the Brave threw themselves between the enemy and the settlements determined never to surrender nor retreat they redeemed their pledge to Texas with the Forfeit of their lives they fell The Chosen sacrifice to Texas freedom
That is pretty amazing I’m not going to go into a detailed description of the history of the battle in this video as many better videos have already been made on it on YouTube and I will link to those in the description That being said the Battle of the Alamo is one of the turning points in the Texas Revolution here 189 Texans were killed after a 13-day Siege this led to the rally cry Remember the Alamo which became as simple during the Texas Revolution the Alamo itself is Tiny and you need to
Get a timed entry ticket if you want to walk through it but it’s definitely worth taking a few hours out of your day in San Antonio to experience this unique part of History You absolutely must visit the Alamo if you’re in San Antonio that was fascinating so much history even though it’s a tiny spot it’s still well worth exploring planned for at least a couple hours now we’re continuing to explore Texas history with the Buckhorn Saloon the Buckhorn Saloon is only a few
Minutes walk from the Alamo and it houses the Buckhorn saluna Museum and the Texas Ranger Museum this place has been here since 1881. look at how cool it is even if you don’t want to explore the museum be sure to walk into the main Saloon and you could get lunch or a
Drink here as well pretend like you’re doing something a cowboy would do you guys shoot or something I could put something moving click click effective gun if you want to go in it costs about 23 dollars a person when we went but there is a lot of stuff to see here We saw some of these guys in Fort Worth most of the Buckhorn museum is on the second floor and as you’re walking around you get great views down into the saloon I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many stuffed animals in one exhibit it is uh certainly a unique experience
As we continue There is an American Sideshow exhibit I never knew what was going to be around each quarter in this Museum in the Cabinet of Curiosities whoa the grossest thing I’ve ever seen all right I mean this place is pretty cool after you finish with the Buckhorn
Museum you can go back downstairs and go to the Texas Ranger Museum before exiting plus there’s an entire replica western town you can walk through complete with the saloon and even a jail cell I finally caught the ruthless Outlaw and putting him away where he belongs ruthless puffs you’re not gonna be able
To get back up just waiting at your time leave me alone I’m trying to sleep here Next up we drove about 10 minutes outside of the downtown area to visit the historic Market Square this is a unique place for shopping and for restaurants it’s the largest Mexican market in the United States this area is about Three City Blocks with a large cement walking area down
The middle and then different buildings with specialty shops inside of them so if you’re ready for lunch you can eat here there’s lots of restaurants but we’re gonna head on to get Puffy Tacos which is something that was created in San Antonio if you want to try Puffy Tacos head over
To Ray’s Drive-In about 10 minutes drive away The puffy Taco is a beloved San Antonio staple and the mascot of their minor league baseball team is even the puffy taco while the exact creation date for the puffy Taco is unknown supposedly it was sometime between the early to mid 1900s at rays More lightly fried it’s a little bit Airy it doesn’t taste greasy like you’d expect from like a fried shell very good you got to get close and hear this crunch very good after lunch we had a few more stops in the greater San Antonio area before heading north
The first of these was the Japanese tea garden which had came highly recommended to me I can definitely say this is a must visit in San Antonio as the gardens here are beautiful and unlike anything I had ever seen also known as the Sunken Gardens they
Were built in a limestone Quarry in the early 1900s as you walk the gardens you’ll cross over large bridges see koi floating below you and even see a waterfall while the path around it is not too long it’s definitely a place you’re going to want to spend an hour or two
Traffic noise but when you were down there you couldn’t hear anything also this is one of the most beautiful places in San Antonio I didn’t even plan to come here but I came on the way out and I’m so glad that I did parking can be a little challenging
Especially on busy weekends here but it’s worth trying to find a spot to park meeting back up with pops and we are leaving San Antonio to go explore cave you guys know me I love exploring caves and so I found this one about 45 minutes outside of San Antonio to see it’s
Called Natural Bridge Caverns heading into the cave on the hidden passengers tour there are two major tours here the discovery tour and the hidden wonders tour the discovery tour is the traditional one and I had wanted to do that one but it was sold out on the day
That I went so I did the hidden wonders tour I actually really enjoyed the hidden wonders tour and this is definitely a Fun Cave to explore what makes this one so interesting is that you basically descend through a vertical cave about 160 feet down it’s getting pretty dark behind us we
Are going through the cave is massive and as you go down it gets darker and darker with lots of different formations to see when we reached the bottom the tour ended for us with a large walkway that we could go out on and look down into the cave
They’re still working on this tour and you’ll eventually continue to go through and then back up the other side but we had to go out the way we came that bridge down there was the end of the tour where 185 stairs down so way deep in the cave and now we have to
Climb all the way back out if you have the chance this is definitely a good cave to explore and let me know how the discovery tour is if you do it in the comments We’re headed on a couple stops before we get to a unique place we’re going to stay tonight pops and I are going to the world’s largest Bucky’s right now a true Texas experience get the parking for this place this is like parking at a uh Rock concert or something
It didn’t feel right to not have a second Bucky’s experience on our trip to Texas plus this wasn’t a holiday weekend so we figured it’d be a lot better All right so we got a sample of Bucky’s brisket because we figured we had to do a full Barbecue review and Bucky’s had to be a part of it the folks were so kind here allowing us just to take a bite to taste it so here we go
It’s actually pretty darn good it’s actually really pretty good they say that’s what usually put the sauce on it but Goldie’s level no but I would not turn this down in California successful Bucky’s experience I spent more money than I was anticipating got lots of snacks got matching swimsuits
For the Twins and none we made it to our hotel for the night the gas station from Texas Chainsaw Massacre I will say that neither my dad and I have ever seen this movie but we’re gonna be going to snows tomorrow and you have to get there really early
In the morning and there’s not a lot of hotels around I found this place ah this would be pretty fun to stay at an iconic location like this this is the van from the movie sitting out here if you’re a horror movie fan this spot should definitely be on your list
They have a bench Memorial to the people who died right outside of the restaurant they have a smoker where they’re making barbecue and they have an entire horror themed store inside of the lobby when you rent a room they even have a collection of over a hundred horror DVDs
That you can check out to watch on the DVD player in your room I saw a lot of people come here just to get barbecue and to explore the store and it’s definitely an out of the way spot but a popular spot for horror fans pop survived the clown Motel will he
Survive the Texas Chainsaw Massacre here’s our cabin which is cabin number one you can go right in and there’s a communal bathroom so that’s over in the other area but two beds Plus copy of Texas Chainsaw Massacre if you’re looking for something to watch at night this place also has barbecue which
As you know we’ve eaten a lot of barbecue but we figured since we’re staying here we might as well give it a little bit of a sample all right so here’s our barbecue sampler plate it was twelve dollars you got brisket regular sausage two sides I mean
That’s not bad that’s a lot cheaper than the barbecue we’ve been buying this looks like a nice piece right here very nice nice flavor juicy almost part in your mouth yeah not bad if you stay here get some barbecue I like the touch of the Hammers on the door
There’s nothing to do around this spot so we just hung out walked around a little bit and then called it a night really early O’s barbecue too bright and early good morning it’s 3 30 and 56 degrees outside and we’re going to game line for barbecue also there’s a meat hook from Texas
Chainsaw Massacres room walking to the bathroom at 3 30 in the morning from our hotel it was about a 30 minute drive to Lexington and Snow’s barbecue got here at 4 30 there’s probably 40 people or so ahead of us and the first person got here at 11 45 p.m last night
I never thought I’d get to a barbecue place this early and wait this long but Snow’s barbecue was featured on Netflix chef’s table and it became an international sensation overnight it’s only open one day a week on Saturdays and it’s basically a rite of passage for anyone wanting to try the
Best Texas barbecue the first hour and a half this wasn’t a very fun line as everybody’s pretty much just sleeping or watching the pit Masters at work I will say that the people working here were awesome and it was fun to just talk barbecue with them it’s about seven o’clock right now it
Opens in an hour We’re number 30 and 31 there’s probably 200 people behind us now if I were you I would come before 5 30 between 5 and 5 30 is when most of the people started showing up then another huge group at 6 30 to 7.
Right around seven o’clock is when it started to get fun they opened up the shops you could buy a merch started giving out drinks and even had Raffles for front of the line passes and lots of other stuff heck yes we won the raffle Koozie sticker or seasoning I thought I only
Got one but I got three I got everything 7 30 and the line is moving we are not that far from the front while getting there early was kind of rough we were really close to the front of the line and it didn’t take us too long to get inside
All right we made it to the front of the line as on the door in front of the line baby eight o’clock eight o’clock is not bad not bad at all eventually it was our time to go in and this is just a small unassuming shop which makes it so interesting with how
Iconic this place has become we grabbed a little bit of everything and made our way back outside to dig in also note that the chicken is the thing that sells out the quickest so if you want to try one of their most famous items get the chicken
That is really nice the park is nice pop says that his favorite thing here is this chicken this chicken is so next level I’ve never had anything like this everything is excellent this is really special the sides here were just okay but the meat was next level and the banana
Pudding was a good end to the meal I traveled the distance stood in the long line it is the number one barbecue in Texas snows look at the barbecue we saw as we are going out from snows it’s Pop’s barbecue you could just skip pops barbecue I
Should have been waiting in line for that one instead you know maybe we’ll be the ones who discovered it and it’ll be on the top ten in the future yeah Fun it’s there’s so many on our way back to Austin we stumbled on this amazing field of bluebonnets come into this part of Texas in late March early April is the best time to be here what’s better to do after barbecuing a nap then play some mini golf what ball
Color you’re going with gotta go yellow I’m gonna do green Peter Pan mini golf has been an Austin icon since 1948. known for their famous statues that Grace all the different holes it’s a blast for families and for people just looking to compete my dad and I love having friendly
Competitions but luckily for me he’s not very good at mini golf like what are you doing over there basically out it’s done the whole time I basically pulled away from hole number two and never looked back to the entire rest of the time what are you telling me before
So mini golf is not pop strong suit on to the next spot there was no bet that’s why what’s the point of being concentrating there’s no bet Next up we’re at the Texas State History Museum because my dad loves Texas history when you arrive at the Bullock Texas State History Museum the first thing you’ll see is the large 35-foot bronze star right outside after paying the fee and heading inside you’ll find a pretty extensive collection of Texas history
This Museum states that it’s dedicated to interpreting the continually unfolding story of Texas I would say that’s a great way to describe it and I found that there’s hours worth of stuff to see here especially if you’re a history buff my dad and I spent the most time in the
Texas Revolution section as we got to learn more about the Alamo and the place we stayed in Goliad I would say this is a great museum for families with older children as the exhibits are pretty engaging and interactive plus there’s lots of interesting things to learn about such
As Texas ranching history and even Austin City Limits we’ve had a pretty long day already with our early start for barbecue but we wanted to see the LBJ Presidential Museum before we stop for today whenever my dad and I travel if we’re near a Presidential Library we try to go
In and see it this is the third or fourth that we’ve been to on our Journeys and this was definitely an interesting one and well worth the visit when you’re in Austin I knew basically nothing about LBJ before I came here so I appreciated being able to learn a lot more about the
Man and his presidency a few of the highlights for me were the massive archives area which takes up about four or five floors in the museum and the replica of the Oval Office While most of the presidential libraries have replicas like this it’s interesting to be able to see the different ways the
Oval Office was decorated and designed during the presidency there’s also a replica of ladybird’s office and it was cool to learn more about her as I’ve experienced some of the places named after her like the Lady Bird Johnson Grove in California if you’re interested in history it’s
Well worth setting some time aside to explore this spot in Austin how is the LBJ Library interesting I learned a lot even old man I didn’t remember any of that stuff other than getting under the desk for the nuclear bomb drums yeah very interesting I’d recommend it that was
Actually a long fun day and if you want to see more Austin stuff I actually have a lot of recommendations that you can see up here or in the description that’s it for today we’ll see you tomorrow for our last day on this road trip is our last morning in Texas and we’re
Heading to Waco as there’s a few things that I’ve wanted to do there like the Dr Pepper Museum and seeing the mammoth dick that they have there and then we’re gonna do one more famous thing in Austin tonight to end the video the other reason I really wanted to go to Waco is
That pops is a huge fan of Magnolia marketing I might drop them off and go do the other sites so he could have as much time as possible you know pick up another suitcase for me from Austin to Waco it’s a two-hour drive and there’s at least one Bucky’s in between
First stop in Waco barbecue as you can know Dad tell this was a barbecue centered road trip and we ate it basically every day you can tell someone is still excited about barbecue and someone is not as excited about barbecue anymore they also had some great deviled eggs and banana pudding here
From there we headed to the Waco Mammoth National Monument which is one of the things I really wanted to see and it’s about a half mile walk from the parking area to the dig site while this place is small it’s incredibly impressive and definitely should be on your list if you’re
Anywhere near the Waco area those are big mammoths the building that encloses the dig site allows you to walk around on an elevated platform and look down at it this is one of the largest concentration of mammoths they’ve ever found and there’s 24 mammoths that were found here
This site was discovered in 1978 and was actively dug for the next 12 years it wasn’t open for the public to view until 2010. there’s a human bone versus a mammoth bone that’s a really awesome spy it’s not a place that you’re going to spend a ton
Of time but I mean how often do you actually get to see a dig say like that but it’s cool the way they left this part so you can actually see what the Dig looks like and actually see the the bones in situ so in what in situ where
They are where they’re not taking out left where they are does anybody know what nc2 means uh there’s a thing called dictionary I’ll I’ll get you one on the way to our next stop we went to the Colin Street Bakery which is supposed to have the best fruitcake in the United States
So pops and I are here and we were like oh let’s try the fruitcake 21. this better be the best fruitcake we’ve ever had in our life right here never in my life is worth it my name is Collins Street Bakery fruitcake comes in a lovely little tin
There it is it’s very dense that’s the way it’s supposed to be it’s good it’s the way it’s supposed to be it’s very thick with and heavy with the fruit so is it worth twenty one dollars if you like Brew cake I definitely all my life I’ve heard that
Like fruit Creek is disgusting and that you should never eat it so it feels really funny that I’m having this experience but I don’t know pretty strange I think they did a good job it’s not for me pups is digging in and going for round two though number two apparently he’s
Gonna be taking this home with him definitely not hating on that experience it’s a fun spot and they have a lot of good looking pastries and other cakes but fruitcake’s just not for me next up was the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame in museum if you didn’t know my dad basically
Wishes he was a cowboy and loves all sorts of cowboy related history so he was very excited to walk through this Museum there’s lots of exhibits here on history and influential Rangers as well as how the Rangers were displayed in pop culture among other things of course
Great it’s so important it’s like an important part of Texas history the Texas Rangers are iconic when you think about The Taming of the West and Westward Movement so it’s so cool to have a museum here about that from there it was over to the most popular tourist attraction in all of
Waco Magnolia Market all right I’m not gonna lie I have no idea what this show is or anything but I know this place is really popular so we wanted to see it and it’s got a Cool vibe this is a Monday though and it’s crazy busy so I can’t imagine how it is
On a weekend we were told the top thing to do here is to go to the bakery and the line was about 30 minutes long so my dad waited in it while I explored the spot has two city blocks with lots of different food trucks and shops all along the property
The main highlight though are the two 120 foot tall silos right in the middle honestly this is an amazing place to hang out with the family with lots of food options a full baseball field and just a great place for kids to run around and play the Magnolia Market store is the one
That everybody seemed to be going in and it was pretty cool with lots of Home Decor but it was definitely a lot smaller than I anticipated I’m 100 not the target audience for this place but I can still appreciate it it’s pretty cool eventually past mid to the front of the
Line I headed back to the bakery to find some baked goods we got two of the most popular cupcakes and a cookie to try all right so we were waiting in line at the bakery and I have to give a shout out to Bella who heard my dad teaches
People with special ed they were talking a lot about that and they actually went up and surprised us and calmed our cupcakes so if you didn’t like Magnolia before we love them now because it was so kind that they appreciated what my dad was doing in Special Ed but anyways this is the
Old school cupcakes so it’s yellow cake chocolate frosting and sprinkles cheers cupcake connoisseur but I would say it’s really good good sweet chocolate it’s nice dense but still moist cake it was worth waiting for thank you Bella pops and I have gone full Magnolia everybody’s walking around with the tea
In the Mason jar so you know we had to have RT in front of the silos About two minutes away from Magnolia we’re doing something that I’m very excited about which is touring the Dr Pepper Museum and then afterwards we paid so that we could create our own flavor of Dr Pepper if you didn’t know Dr Pepper was actually started in 1885 in Waco
We had a timed entry to make our own soda so we headed there first here we go have you ever made your own soda before I have not always happy make your own Dr Pepper experience you’ll find it in stores very soon pops version I think this hat fits me very well you do look like a soda jerk after getting our small hats we were walked through the soda making process first up selecting our flavors all right I’m going with lime orange pineapple and Pops is still trying to decide what soda he’s gonna make so you
Have three flavors I went double lavender and Peach after selecting our flavors we mix them together tried it to make sure we liked it and then came up with the name Texas water Waco Prairie Dew that’s not bad not bad last up we got carbonated water poured
In our flavors and mixed it around Texas water is ready to be bottled we’re dead Texas water come from it’s yellow the liquid lab was an add-on experience when we went but we had a lot of fun with it and I could see this being a good spot for families
After making your drink you can explore the small Museum over here or go to the shop if you purchased a ticket to the museum then at the shop you can actually get a free Dr Pepper it does taste different it’s not as sweet as a regular Dr Pepper from a can
Very flavorful it’s great cheers Pops to Dr Pepper and making our own sodas yeah right across the courtyard they have an awesome three-story Dr Pepper museum and believe it or not Dr Pepper is actually the oldest soda company in the United States here’s the way the bottles look from 1890 to 1950.
We spent about 25 minutes walking around here but you could easily spend more also there’s a store with all sorts of Dr Pepper related merchandise if you need any of that he wants a Dr Pepper you sir you said would you like a Dr Pepper I think I qualify as a little pepper I fit you can see how close the Dr Pepper museum is to Magnolia market right there up in Waco we are heading back to Austin for one more thing we’re gonna do for this Texas road trip we made it back to Austin we’re walking
To grab something for dinner and then we’re gonna get on a boat and see the bats I’ve never seen the bats from the water so I really wanted to do that on this trip and we got there early to get a parking spot what we’ve found is that you know if you
Have a barbecue road trip all you really need is one healthy meal and it cancels everything out cleans you out completely just one meal a couple pieces of lettuce ready to start over so we’re at flower child healthy food for a happy world I’m all about healthy and happy
Avocado Caesar and I got the uh Mother Earth Bowl I’m not gonna lie this actually looks pretty good ancient frames it’s an ancient greens sweet potatoes avocado not bad after dinner it was time to walk back over the bridge and to get in line for our cruise with capital cruises
I had never done this before and I really enjoyed it and it was only like 15 a person when we did it the boat cruise is very slow since there’s a speed limit here but it gives you a lot of time to look around at downtown Austin and the different Bridges
Plus our guide was really knowledgeable and told us a lot of the area’s history after about an hour we made our way to the South Congress Bridge to see all of the people gathered to watch the bats I’ve done this many times before and you
Have to get there early in order to get a good spot so it was awesome to be able to show up and see them on the boat the bats left right around Sunset and this was a very unique angle as you got to see them from below and they flew
Over top of you if you’re in Austin and you’re looking for a fun way to spend an evening I highly recommend taking this tour as we had a great time and with that our epic Texas road trip is over I would say that was a pretty
Good one what do you think Pops I love Texas we took a deep dive into the food I love the culture and of course it’s just beautiful here thanks so much for coming along with us and we will see you on the next one thanks to all of our patrons for
Supporting our journey and thanks to all of you for watching this video up next we’re heading back to Alaska to drive the Alaska Highway and to do a lot of other Adventures so keep subscribed for that
New Texas Republic | Featured Products
-
Blouse, Daily Deals, Gifts, Tops, Womens
Bow Tie Flutter Sleeve Solid Ruffle Trim Blouse
$19.23 – $19.61Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageQuick View -
Blouse, Daily Deals, Gifts, Tops, Womens
Solid Color Pleated Loose Ruffle Hem Lantern Sleeve Off Shoulder Blouse
$22.06 – $23.63Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageQuick View -
Jumpsuit
Sweet Retro Solid Color Casual Bow One-Shoulder Jumpsuit
$19.11 – $23.59Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageQuick View -
Blouse, Daily Deals, Gifts, Tops, Womens
Solid Color Beaded Round Neck Puff Ruffled Short Sleeve Blouse
$24.03 – $30.61Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageQuick View -
Bikini, Swimsuits, Womens
Solid Color Shoulder Sleeve High Waist Lace-up Shorts Separates Swimsuit
$26.69 – $31.71Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageQuick View -
Daily Deals, Gifts, Skirts, Womens
Women’s Denim Ruffle Hem Knot Maxi Skirt
Original price was: $39.99.$24.99Current price is: $24.99.Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageQuick View -
Daily Deals, Skirts, Womens
High Waist Stretch Denim Knee Length Skirt
$32.71 – $36.31Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageQuick View -
Denim, Jumpsuit
Lace Spaghetti Straps Solid Color V Neck Sleeveless Jumpsuit
$29.08 – $31.51Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageQuick View
LEAVE A COMMENT
You must be logged in to post a comment.