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Trip 2, Day 1/2 – Austin, Snow’s BBQ, San Marcos // Texas 2022

Isaac Church — Sun, 09 Oct 2022 02:00:10 +0000

Welcome to part two of our 2022 Texas adventures! For those of you just now joining, we traveled to Texas at the beginning of September to watch App State upset #6 Texas A&M. Last time, Dad, Trevor, and I made the trip; this time we added Larry Knight (a friend from Granite Falls) and Cody (one of my college roommates).

The first two days of our second trip, we ate some excellent barbecue, saw some beautiful scenery, and watched an extremely disappointing football game.

Travel // Allison's

We all took a half day off work on Friday, and met in Granite Falls just before 13:00. From there, we piled into Larry’s SUV and headed for Asheville. First, we stopped at Allison’s Family Restaurant in Morganton so everyone could get caught up on lunch. After fighting I-26 traffic, we finally made it to the airport, and wound up having to park in an overflow lot (which I’m convinced was actually in Fletcher) and ride a shuttle back to the terminal. We checked in, and finally made it through security, notwithstanding a slight mishap with Cody’s birth date in the airline’s system.

Allison's Family Restaurant

Flying into AUS

Terry Black's BBQ

We landed in Austin just after 19:00CST at the AUS South Terminal, and waiting a solid 30 minutes on a shuttle to take us on a long drive back to the main terminal. As Cody commented, “It took us 30 minutes to get from the airport to the airport”.

We waited in a moderately long rental car line, got our matching black Nissan Altima’s (one for Larry and Dad and one for Cody, Trevor, and me), and headed to downtown Austin to find some food. Of course, our first stop in Texas was going to be barbecue, so we went to Terry Black’s BBQ in downtown Austin.

Terry Black’s is a buffet-style (except they dip/weigh everything for you) joint that serves a tremendous amount of people. I primarily chose it because they’re open late, and was honestly not expecting the food to be as good as it was. We got brisket (plus the free burnt ends they gave us), a beef rib, turkey, pork ribs, creamed corn, mac & cheese, pickles, jalapeños, onions, and white bread. For dessert, I got a peach cobbler, and everyone else got banana pudding.

Terry Blacks' BBQ

The whole meal was excellent. The brisket and beef rib had a thick, peppery crust and a delicious fat cap. The turkey was tender and moist, and the sides were very good. It was an excellent kick-off to our trip.

Terry Blacks' BBQ

Austin, TX

We were all genuinely surprised by this place. I expected a bit of a tourist trap because of the sheer volume of business they do, but I was wrong. Everything was exceptionally good, even late at night. While Snow’s was better, considering we didn’t have to wait in line at Terry Black’s (or wake up at 04:00), I’d be more likely to revisit Terry Black’s. Don’t miss the beef ribs!

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Lexington

The Austin City Limits music festival was going on, so it took quite a while to get out of Terry Black’s parking lot. However, while we waited, we enjoyed some of the best people-watching we’d ever seen, as thousands of University of Texas students paraded down the road in rickshaw bikes, on foot, and via other various wheeled vehicles.

We finally made it out of the parking lot, and drove northeast to Lexington, TX. If that sounds familiar to you, you’re not mistaken; we stayed there last time. Just after our first trip, we decided to make yet another early morning barbecue run, this time with Cody and Larry joining us.

We stayed at an Airbnb just outside of Lexington in Blue, TX. The property was managed by Rosamaria, who ran the 10 acres as a well-decorated “health retreat”. Clearly, our planned pre-dawn brisket run didn’t constitute “health”, but the house was a nice place to stay for the far-too-short night.

Snow's, Part II

Sometime before 04:30, I dragged everyone out of bed. Everyone piled (quite literally) in Larry and Dad’s rental car, and we drove over to Snow’s BBQ, arriving just before 04:45. Last time, we arrived around 05:15 and were #44 in line; this time, we were number #85, despite arriving over 30 minutes earlier. The five of us rotated standing in line and sitting at a picnic table, until an hour or so later when someone from Snow’s brought out a pallet of dilapidated lawn chairs. We snagged three of them.

Early start in Lexington, TX

At some point, Cody and I walked down the street to observe the local cattle auction. Eventually, Snow’s broke out the cornhole boards, and Cody and I took on Trevor and Larry. Pro tip: don’t play Larry in cornhole unless you enjoy getting soundly beaten, especially not at 05:00.

Snow's BBQ

Cattle auction

We soon realized what all the fuss and longer lines was about: Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, a regional distributor, was sponsoring an event at Snow’s that day. They were giving away various prizes, and had commissioned a drone light show at around 06:00. I’d never witnessed anything like that…it was basically like a quiet, choreographed fireworks show. Here are some social media posts highlighting the event:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages (@cocacolaswb)

The in the dark. @snowsbbq for @CocaColaSWB
CC: @flintfieldtx pic.twitter.com/ToD1wvk4rW
— Mark Champion (@Mark_Champion) October 13, 2022

The restaurant started serving around 07:30, and we got our food around 08:45. The line definitely moved faster than our previous visit. We ordered everything on the menu, except for chicken, which sold out at #80 in line, just before us. The food was just as special as before, and the ribs were even better this time. We ate at a picnic table beside the pits, and then headed back to our Airbnb.

Snow's BBQ

Brisket

Turkey and pork ribs

Pork steak and sausages

Dad and Larry left quickly so they could travel to New Braunfels to watch Larry’s grandson’s football game. Meanwhile, Cody, Trevor, and I stripped the beds, checked out, and then started the drive back towards Austin.

Snow's BBQ

Lexington, TX

Okay, you know this place is going to get three stars, because we’ve made two special trips to come eat here, and have woken up at 04:00 to wait in line for hours. Would I wake up that early again? If you offer me a chance to go back, I probably won’t refuse.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

McKinney Falls State Park

Our first stop was McKinney Falls State Park, which sits southeast of downtown on Onion Creek. The park has two falls, a variety of ruins, a giant bald cypress tree, and an old Tonkawa shelter dating back to 500 BC. We hiked the trail to the lower falls, and crossed the limestone creek bed to traverse the trail through the homestead and grist mill ruins. Both the upper and lower falls were quite dry due to the lack of recent rain, but there were several people swimming in the creek at their bases. Next, we drove up the road to the visitor center parking lot, walked to the upper falls, found “Old Baldy”, visited the ancient rock shelter, and got semi-lost in a cactus field on our way back to the car.

McKinney Falls State Park

Smith Rock Shelter

Cacti

Upper Falls

Dutch Bros

By now, we were thoroughly hot and exhausted, so we decided to seek out something cold to drink. After a quick search, I excitedly realized that Dutch Bros had spread to Texas. Faith and I discovered the Grants Pass, OR-based chain during our trip to Colorado Springs this summer. We each got a Dutch Freeze, a frappuccino-like drink with chocolate and a shot or two of espresso. It was extremely refreshing, and we immediately started discussing when we would return.

San Marcos

Since we didn’t really have time for another adventure before the football game, we decided to drive on to San Marcos, home of Texas State University. We easily found parking next to the stadium, and proceeded to walk around campus and the town for a couple hours. Texas State has a beautiful (and huge) campus, highlighted by the San Marcos River flowing through the area. There’s a place on campus where they’ve canaled the river, and students can swim in the clear waters under lifeguard supervision. Farther downstream, you can rent a kayak and paddle through campus and town.

San Marcos River

While we’d rate their campus 5 stars for water features, we would rate it 0 stars for gameday atmosphere, 1 star for landscaping, and 1 star for friendliness. The friendliness star was earned solely by a campus employee who directed us from our parking lot towards the river and campus. Most of their campus is on a sizeable hill, with nice views of the buildings below. Other highlights of our campus tour included not finding a statue of George Strait (very disappointing, considering he’s an alumnus), finding a statue of LBJ (I guess that’s understandable, since he was president), and a finding a very large statue of fighting horses (with no plaque explaining its meaning). Interestingly, their performing arts theater also had a moat around it, scattered with several sizable snapping turtles.

Texas State University

Not George Strait

Moat

Snapping turtle

Texas State University

Football

Soon, we walked over to Bobcat Stadium, well before kickoff, to watch warmups and explore the venue. It’s a pretty nice stadium, but the overall gameday atmosphere pales in comparison to most college football games we’ve visited. Atmosphere aside, Appalachian played horribly, mostly thanks to a lack of pass defense, and suffered an embarrassing loss. But, as always, it’s great to be a Mountaineer, and we all had fun despite the dismal result.

Bobcat Stadium

Tailgating

Bobcat Stadium

Buc-ee's // In-N-Out

After the game, Cody, Trevor, and I managed to weave our way back to our car, despite railroad tracks and baseball fields making it challenging to walk in a straight line. Once again, we drove south on I-35, this time heading towards San Antonio for the night. On the way, we stopped at Buc-ee’s (read this post for more info) so Cody could experience the 138 gas pumps and endless snack options. Instead of getting “sat-out-all-day” food from Buc-ee’s, we opted to drive down the street to In-N-Out for a hot $3.25 burger. Can’t beat that! It took a while to get our food, but it was delicious.

Buc-ee's

In-N-Out Burger

We finally arrived at our hotel in San Antonio around 23:00, and immediately headed to bed.

Conclusion

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The next two days, we’ll explore San Antonio and possibly more of Austin.

– Isaac & Co.

Snow's BBQ

Restaurant

Location

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* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

The post Trip 2, Day 1/2 – Austin, Snow’s BBQ, San Marcos // Texas 2022 appeared first on Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com.

Day 2 – Great Sand Dunes National Park // Colorado 2022

Isaac Church — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 02:00:26 +0000

Wimberger's Old World Bakery

Faith and I woke up early and drove a short distance down the road to Wimberger’s Old World Bakery and Delicatessen, a German bakery that also sells German pantry essentials, specialty items, deli meats, sausages, and cheeses. We got a variety of pastries to try, and brought them back to the house for everyone’s breakfast.

Pictured, left to right: plum cake, apple strudel, streuseltaler (Bavarian cream filled pastry topped with marzipan and powdered sugar), two pretzels, ham and cheese pocket, blueberry streusel, and a cinnamon twist. All the pastries were outstanding, especially the cinnamon twist. We polished everything off except ⅔ of a pretzel, which we packed up for a snack later in the day.

Wimberger's Old World Bakery

Colorado Springs, CO

Wimberger’s is a rare combo of quality and value. I would have loved to have stayed and sampled everything they had!

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Drive // Spanish Peaks

After breakfast, Abby and Ian headed off to work; Faith and I loaded up Ian’s truck, made a pit stop for petrol, and started south on I-25. We drove past Pueblo, and continued on towards our destination for the day: Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. The park is about 85 miles SSE of Colorado Springs, although it takes nearly 170 miles on the road due to the Sangre de Cristo, Wet, and Greenhorn mountain ranges.

Spanish Peaks

Blanca Peak

On the drive south, we enjoyed views of the surrounding mountain ranges, including the famed Spanish Peaks. The Comanche call them Huajatolla (pr. wah-hah-TOY-ə), meaning “double mountain”. East Spanish Peak is 12,688′ (3,867 m), while West Spanish Peak rises to 13,631′ (4,155 m). The mountains have many dikes, an interesting geological feature.

Zapata Falls

Sand Dunes in the distance

Soon we were able to see the dunes in the distance. Nearing the park, we stopped at Zapata Falls campground. The 30′ falls are a short half-mile hike on a fairly easy trail…or so we thought. Turns out, the last hundred yards or so require hiking up the creek, which was flowing extra-swiftly and high due to recent rainfall. We decided it wasn’t wise to go farther (especially while carrying rather expensive camera gear), so we enjoyed the crystal-clear water for a while, explored the South Zapata Lake Trail for a bit, and then headed back down to the car.

Zapata Falls

Zapata Lake Trail

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Next, we drove to the Great Sand Dunes Visitor Center. There, we read about the history of the park, learned why there are sand dunes in such a bizarre location, and enjoyed the views of the dunes.

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Visitor Center

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve was established as a National Monument in 1932, and was redesignated as a National Park in 2000. The park is 167.7 square miles, plus the additional 65.1 square miles of the preserve. The dunes cover an area of about 30 square miles.

Signs at the visitor center

We were not aware of how many non-sand-dune activities are available in the park. There’re also high alpine lakes, marshlands, forests, and mountain passes. One could easily spend several days exploring the far reaches of the park, or simply enjoy a half-day like we did.

Wellington Ditch

We decided it was time to hike something. After driving a short distance back towards the main entrance of the park, we started on the short Montville Nature Trail. This connected us to the shorter Wellington Ditch Trail, which follows an old irrigation system built by the Wellington family, who were early settlers in the area. Just off the trail, we saw what I presumed to be the remains of their homestead. Apparently, they never used the irrigation system.

Beginning of the Mosca Pass Trail

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Wellington homestead

Great Sand Dunes National Park

It was a nice hike, with panoramic views of the dune field. We saw many spiked and flowering cacti along the path, along with a variety of other unique plants. The trail eventually ended at one of the park’s campgrounds, so we turned around and retraced our steps back to the car.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Cacti

Irrigation ditch

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Oasis

By this point, we were hungry and running out of energy, so we decided to seek out some food. We’d noticed a place just outside the park entrance, so we drove back to check it out. Turns out, there was a lodge/restaurant/general store called The Great Sand Dunes Oasis, so we stopped to grab a bite to eat. Since we expected to eat again sometime before bed, we decided to split a salad and a “Navajo taco”, which was traditional Native American fry bread topped with chicken, refried beans, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and red and green chili.

Navajo Taco

Butterfinger Ice Cream

The food was excellent, and definitely not something we’d ever had before. I’d heard of fry bread, but never tried it; I’d definitely get it again sometime. I passed on dessert, while Faith decided to get a Butterfinger ice cream bar from the general store adjoining the restaurant. We sat out on their front porch and enjoyed a view of the dunes while she ate.

High Dune

We returned to the park a couple hours before sunset, parked in the Medano Creek parking lot, and headed towards the dunes. Medano Creek runs between the dune field and the park road, providing a “beach” where people can enjoy the sand and water. They even have showers to rinse off once you’re done for the day. We learned that there are sometimes waves in the creek due to the water flow patterns in the area.

Medano Creek

Great Sand Dunes National Park

However, our destination was far above the creek bed: High Dune. The dune is not the highest nor the largest in the park, but it does appear to be the highest from the visitor center. It’s about a 1.25 mile trek up to the summit (depending on the route you select; there are no trails in the dune field). However, it felt more like 4 miles, because for every step you take forward, you slide back ¾ step, unless you’re lucky enough to find an exceptionally firm section of sand.

Climbing High Dune

After a rather arduous climb, we finally made it to the top of High Dune about an hour before sunset. It started to get a bit crowded, so in search of peace and quiet, we decided to traverse across a valley to an adjacent peak. We stayed through golden hour and sunset, enjoying the mountain vistas, and marveling as the sun lit up the dune field.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

We couldn’t believe how expansive the dune field was. It looks wide from the park road and visitor center, but you don’t truly get a sense of its vastness until you climb one of the higher dunes and can see the whole field. It’s seemingly endless. It’s an amazing place, and the sunset was maybe the best we’ve ever seen.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Descending the dunes was much more fun than the climb up. We lengthened our trekking poles an inch or two, found the most direct route down (also the steepest), and “skied” down the slope. The entire climb up was worth it just for one descent. We both loved it, and wished we had the time and energy to repeat. While this descent method gets a five-star rating for fun and fleet, it gets a zero-star rating for keeping sand out of one’s footwear.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Medano Creek Sunset

In-N-Out

After we finally got all the sand out of our boots (we almost could have supplied a small playground sandbox), we hit the road again, retracing our steps back on CO-150, US-160, and I-25. It was quite dark outside, so we had great views of the night sky while we drove, even though it was slightly cloudy.

Just before midnight, we finally arrived back in Colorado Springs, and after a 15 minute delay from a GPS mishap/user error, pulled into In-N-Out burger for a very late dinner. This was our choice because I’ve always wanted to try it, but also partially because it was one of the few places still open at that hour.

Faith and I both ordered Double-Doubles “Animal Style” (lettuce, tomato, a mustard-cooked beef patty; add pickle, extra spread, and grilled onions) and fries. I got a chocolate shake, and she got a lemonade. The burgers were delicious, and surprisingly inexpensive. I would definitely return sometime, and will also henceforth advocate for the chain opening locations in NC.

In-N-Out

After polishing off our extra-healthy dinner with a frenzy, we drove back home and bedded down for the night around 01:15, thoroughly exhausted.

Things Missed

I’m dedicating this section to all the things we missed out on today (other than not seeing the waterfall).

Alligators

Let’s start with the craziest one: if you’d told me there was an alligator/reptile farm in the middle of the almost-desert in Colorado, I never would’ve believed you. Apparently, there is. Bear with me a moment while I go down this rabbit hole…

Turns out, in 1977, someone started a tilapia farm in the geothermal waters in the San Luis Valley. In 1987, they had too many excess/dead fish, so instead of throwing them away, they brought in 100 baby alligators to organically dispose of them. The alligators grew quickly in the naturally warm water (and because of the nearly endless food supply), so in 1990 they opened to the public as the Colorado Gator Farm. Now, they also have tortoises, iguanas, poisonous snakes, and giant snapping turtles. The park also has albino alligators, you can hold baby gators, and feed the gators and some of the other animals.

We’d never heard of this place before we saw the signs for it, and decided we wanted to go. However, the most direct route was closed due to road construction. It would’ve been an extra hour out of the way to get there, so sadly we had to pass.

Chap Stick and Chapped Lips and Things Like Chemistry

If you go to the dunes, bring chap stick. We forgot ours, and both our lips were nearly bloody by the end of the day. The park is [literally] high and dry, and the sand blowing around definitely didn’t help the lip situation. Also, if you have anything magnetic (like the water bladder clips on our backpacks), particles in the sand will stick to them and be next to impossible to get off.

Baskets

If you hike with trekking poles, make sure to bring your wide snow baskets to the dunes. It would’ve made ascending a lot easier.

Video

Here’s a video of some of today’s adventures:

Conclusion

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Stay tuned for more…tomorrow will be a much more relaxed day in Colorado Springs.

– Isaac and Faith

Great Sand Dunes National Park

The post Day 2 – Great Sand Dunes National Park // Colorado 2022 appeared first on Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com.