Travel Archives | Page 8 of 12 | Golden Country Cowgirl

Bucket List Things to do in Texas by Region

Texas is a diverse state with a mind-boggling number of things to do. Bucket list worthy things to do in Texas by region recommended by travel bloggers. #travel #texas #food #wine #hiking

When I moved to Texas a few months ago and started researching where to go and things to do, I was almost overwhelmed. I knew Texas was a BIG state but I didn’t quite realize how much there is to do here and how diverse the state is. My new home base is near the very southern tip of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley (in the South Texas Plains region) where nature and birding are king. I have started exploring this area and plan to slowly work my way north (and the little bit that there is farther south), exploring all the wonders of this amazing state. To help me in my exploration, I asked some fellow bloggers to give me recommendations of their…

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Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas

Zoos may be a controversial issue for some but I absolutely love them and appreciate what they do. I love being able to see animals I would never otherwise see in the wild and that may, in fact, not exist in the wild in the near future. I won’t apologize to anyone who doesn’t agree with me for feeling this way. So, if you feel strongly that animals should only exist in the wild until humans wipe them off the face of the earth, please just pass this post on by. I’m going to tell you about the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, and the important work they do. I grew up in southern California and visited the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park…

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International Museum of Art & Science (IMAS) in McAllen

The International Museum of Art & Science in McAllen, Texas, has many interactive exhibits that are educational for adults and children alike.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to McAllen, Texas, to meet up with a group of fellow RVers from RVillage (an RV membership group). I wanted to make the most of my time in McAllen so I looked for something to do in the morning before the meet up. It was raining, and the forecast was for rain all day, so, of course, I wanted to find something indoors. Museums are a great rainy day activity and IMAS, the International Museum of Art and Science, looked like it would fill the bill. They had a guest exhibit that sounded especially intriguing, the internationally acclaimed Symphony of Color. About the International Museum of Art & Science With more than 50,000 square feet of exhibit space,…

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Geocaching with Harlingen Parks and Recreation

Geocaching first came to my attention several years ago when I lived in southern California. I love scavenger hunts and solving puzzles so I thought it sounded like fun. I was about to get involved when I decided to move to rural northern California where there really weren’t many geocaches. Now that I’m in Texas, there are dozens, if not hundreds of geocaches all around me. Searching for geocaches seemed like an entertaining way to learn something new about an area, so I started geocaching with Harlingen Parks and Recreation and their Geo-Quest. I think it will be fun to log geocaches in all the places I visit while I’m RVing around the US! What is Geocaching? For those who may not be aware, geocaching…

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Museums of Harlingen: Early Rio Grande Valley to WWII

The museums of Harlingen, Texas, the Iwo Jima Memorial Museum and the Harlingen Arts & Heritage museum, top the list of best things to do in Harlingen.

When I moved to southern Texas, I started making a list of things to see and do, starting with the closest places first. When I searched things to do in Harlingen, Texas, the museums of Harlingen came out on top. Museums of Harlingen Iwo Jima Memorial Museum The Iwo Jima Memorial Museum is one of two museums of Harlingen, Texas. As much as I love history, I have to admit that military history is not my thing. In spite of that, I wanted to see what this place was all about and, it turns out, it was pretty interesting. Sure, I’ve seen the famous photo by Joe Rosenthal of the flag raising at Iwo Jima and I’m sure I saw the John Wayne movie, Sands…

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Most Viewed Posts 2018 Edition

This is one of my favorite posts to do during the year. It is so fun to look back over articles and see what was popular and resonated with my readers.

This is one of my favorite posts to do each year. It is so fun for me to look back over my articles and see what was popular and resonated with my readers during the year. It gives me food for thought about what to include as future posts. 2018 was a year of huge changes for me. The first few months of the year, things went on pretty much as usual. I visited lots of places in Gold Country to find the gems to share with you on the blog. Then, somewhere around May, some events got put into motion and I decided to start a whole new chapter in my life. I wrote all about it in post #7 below. Top Ten…

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San Antonio Mission Trail: Visions of a New People and Culture

The five missions on the San Antonio Mission Trail, as a group, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2015. They are the largest collection of Spanish colonial architecture in the world. #travel #tourism #texas #sanantonio #missions

When I went on my first day of sightseeing in San Antonio, Texas, I learned that the Alamo is just one of five missions on the San Antonio Mission Trail. The five missions, as a group, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2015. They are the largest collection of Spanish colonial architecture in the world. If you’ve visited the San Antonio Mission Trail or missions anywhere, tell me about your experience in the comments below. For my three nights in San Antonio, I stayed at Braunig Lake RV Resort in Elmendorf. This park is really conveniently located, just 10 minutes from local shopping and only about 30 minutes from downtown San Antonio, yet it has a rural feel. I will likely stay here…

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Best of San Antonio in One Day: The Alamo, Pearl & River Walk

I purchased my hop-on hop-off ticket, added the Rio Cruises River Walk tour, and made my way inside the Alamo to begin my San Antonio sightseeing adventure.

By the time I got to San Antonio in mid-November, I had been on the road for 33 days. I had been to some amazing places and had been enjoying remarkably beautiful weather until I arrived in central Texas the week before. For almost a week it had been cloudy, drizzly, rainy and windy, so I was really happy when the day I planned to go do San Antonio sightseeing, the weather cleared for the day. The sun came out and it was in the 70s. Just in case the weather didn’t hold for another day, I wanted to see the best of San Antonio in that one day. Normally, when I plan to go sightseeing in a city, I do a lot of research…

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Boondocking at Walker Honey Farm and Dancing Bee Winery

Walker Honey Farm and Dancing Bee Winery in Rogers, TX, may be a little off the beaten path but well worth a visit for amazing raw honey and honey wine.

I joined Harvest Hosts RV membership program to find some unique and interesting places to stay on my RV trip from northern California to southern Texas. I picked at least one intriguing place in each state and built my RV park stays around them. When I found Walker Honey Farm in Texas, I knew I needed to add it to my stops. Why Walker Honey Farm? First, they were the only honey farm I came across, but more importantly, they make mead. My former significant other and I made mead for several years and I still remember how much I enjoyed it. Part of the attraction of mead, I think, is that it is pretty hard to find*. There used to be a winery in…

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Things to do in Bakersfield in Three Days

When you think of Bakersfield, do you think of a place to visit and explore? No? Me neither! But there is more to do there than you might imagine.

When you think of Bakersfield, do you think of a place to visit and explore? No? Me neither! When I was planning my RV trip from northern California to southern Texas, I scheduled an overnight in Bakersfield to break up the drive. At one of my going away parties – yes, there was more than one since my trip kept getting delayed – my friend, Sue, said, “If you are going through Bakersfield, you HAVE to go to the Buck Owens Crystal Palace.” Who knew? So, I penciled in a couple more days there to have time to do just that and spent 3 days in Bakersfield. I did more research to see what else there is to do in Bakersfield and was surprised at…

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