It was a lucky chance that led us yesterday to Bandera, the "Cowboy Capital of the World", which is set in Texas hill country.
We were actually driving up Interstate 10 heading for Fredericksburg (we never got there) when we passed an exit saying scenic loop. We decided to investigate so retraced our steps and headed North West where to our delight, we found the small town of Bandera. It might be small with a population under 1000 but was huge on both character and history as it became a main staging post on the drive North from Mexico to the Canadian border of longhorn cattle.
The cowboy actually evolved from the Mexican Vaqueros and not from Hollywood and were mounted horseman driving cattle across the Prairies. It was a geographical piece of luck that Bandera provided the perfect rest halt on the drive North as it had plentiful supplies of water, food and eventually, cowboys.
The town has great character as well as warmth and friendliness from its inhabitants and we ended up staying for most of the day taking in a free gunfight show as well as having lunch at Old Spanish Trail where all the bar stools are actual saddles.
We returned to San Antonio via a circuitous route through the delightful sun drenched Texan hill country and yet again, today for us provided proof of the wonderful benefits of no set itinerary and the pleasures and surprises that wandering can bring.
It also means that we are to stay around San Antonio for a couple more days to take in more places of interest including Fredericksburg which we hope to get to today.
As always the photos tell the story.
We were actually driving up Interstate 10 heading for Fredericksburg (we never got there) when we passed an exit saying scenic loop. We decided to investigate so retraced our steps and headed North West where to our delight, we found the small town of Bandera. It might be small with a population under 1000 but was huge on both character and history as it became a main staging post on the drive North from Mexico to the Canadian border of longhorn cattle.
The cowboy actually evolved from the Mexican Vaqueros and not from Hollywood and were mounted horseman driving cattle across the Prairies. It was a geographical piece of luck that Bandera provided the perfect rest halt on the drive North as it had plentiful supplies of water, food and eventually, cowboys.
The town has great character as well as warmth and friendliness from its inhabitants and we ended up staying for most of the day taking in a free gunfight show as well as having lunch at Old Spanish Trail where all the bar stools are actual saddles.
We returned to San Antonio via a circuitous route through the delightful sun drenched Texan hill country and yet again, today for us provided proof of the wonderful benefits of no set itinerary and the pleasures and surprises that wandering can bring.
It also means that we are to stay around San Antonio for a couple more days to take in more places of interest including Fredericksburg which we hope to get to today.
As always the photos tell the story.
No comments:
Post a Comment