Texas Bucket List

Texas Bucket List

Spirit of Texas Bank

The Texas Bucket List – The Blueberry Place in Nacogdoches

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Nacogdoches – Amongst the towering trees of east Texas sits a field full of frolicking furry creatures.  Where butterflies gently flap their wings waiting for just the right summer breeze to lift them off for a flight and folks get their fill of fine fruit.  “It’s just beautiful. It’s a beautiful peaceful place,” said Sherrie Randall.  Sherrie owns the Blueberry Place, a farm hidden in the woods near Nacogdoches and we when pulled in to pull some blueberries off the bushes, we didn’t realize how beautiful this place is. “Mm-hmm, they’re very healthy, healthy bushes,” she said.

Before Sherrie was the boss lady at the Blueberry place, she had an aerospace career in Colorado that kept her eyes to the sky. “We work behind the doors… Secret stuff, yes…[Not allowed to talk about it] But it was fun stuff,” she said. Sherrie retired from the industry with her husband in 2001 and they wanted the perfect place to put up their feet. “East Texas is gorgeous and it’s a lot like Denver with the trees…Just flat,” she laughed.  When they found this field full of fruit, they fell in love but continuing to cultivate the crop for the crowds wasn’t something they expected to do. “We weren’t going to keep it, we thought, ‘Well we don’t have to do that, because we weren’t looking to do that,’” she said. Apparently, the town felt a little differently about the fate of The Blueberry Place.

“Closed on this place on a Friday night and Saturday morning there’s all these people out here picking blueberries and it was the Kiwanis club picking blueberries for the pancakes for the festival. It’s like the town’s patch…So we ended up having a blueberry farm,” explained Sherrie.  Overnight, Sherrie and her husband unexpectedly became blueberry farmers. “After we bought this, I answered the phone and this lady said, ‘Are you still open?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ She goes, ‘Oh we heard it was bought by old people.’ And I said, ‘I am the old people, I just have a young voice,’” she laughed.

As summer kicks off in the Lone Star State, people come from far and wide for the few short weeks to take a stroll and get their fill of fruit. “June [is the key time to come]. A lot of times by July 4th we are closed,” explained Sherrie. “[Only about] a month, month and a half… Then I get my privacy back.” While Sherrie jokes about her visitors, if you happen to run across the retired blueberry farmer during your stay, she’ll talk to you till she’s blue in the face because somehow, these blueberries bring people together. “You make a lot of friends, it’s like old home week when people come back… Especially when you get older, we made it another year. So it’s really cool,” she explained.

“It means a lot…for a small town, to have something like this to do,” said local, Britney Castle.  “I can’t really think of not having a blueberry patch down the road,” added customer, Nick Jacobs. “Mid-season are the clumping berries, so you can walk up and just find a big clump and you’ll get several berries at once,” said Sherrie. The bushes at The Blueberry Place aren’t treated with pesticides, so they are safe to eat while you pick.  “They taste like candy, coming off the bush they’re sweet,” said Nick. “There’s a lot of people that don’t realize, they have never seen a blueberry bush and they’re so different. They’re sweeter, especially here,” said Sherrie.

A pound of blueberries will set you back a buck fifty here but remember, you’re doing all the work. “We made everything so it’s self-serve. They drive in and they get their harness, their bucket, their bag, and they go out and do their thing, they pay and they don’t ever have to see us,” explained Sherrie. As you might imagine, this is very popular with the kids, and parents, well they love it too. “We live in town, so it’s nice to come out here and let him [her son] just be in nature really,” explained Britney. “Oh it means that I can wear them [the kids] out and they’ll go to bed early, it’s awesome. And they’re eating fruit, so it’s a twofer on that one,” confirmed Nick.

While it may take a while to fill your bucket, picking and partaking in blueberry binging at The Blueberry Place is well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List. “If you can come out here and enjoy God’s creation, this is one of the best places to come do that,” concluded Nick.

The Texas Bucket List – Toucan Jim’s in Center Point

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Center Point – Summer is always on our minds, especially when it comes to quenching our thirst in the Texas heat! We found the perfect place to do just that, a tropical paradise in the middle of the state known as Toucan Jim’s.

Now Center Point, Texas isn’t exactly the center point of state, but its location on the banks of Guadalupe River make it a clandestine destination between Comfort and Kerrville.  The truly hidden gem in this tiny town is a tropical oasis that sits behind a tired looking shack. Now this isn’t Saint Martin, Saint John or Saint Kitts, it’s not even Tulum or Trinidad, despite what the tables say. It’s simply a huge backyard that underwent an extensive decade long transition by Jim Lackey and Mike Blackledge. Together, they are Toucan Jim’s.

These beach bum buddies had a big idea back in the day. Instead of packing your bags, getting on a plane, flying to a far away destination, and finally making it to a resort in order to enjoy Havana like haven, why not bring that feeling just a few feet from home?  “We can always tell a first-timer because their expression… their eyes light up and you can see them mouthing the word, ‘Wow,’” said Jim.  “Yeah, and the longer you’re out here, the more that sets in,” added Mike. “We all love the Caribbean, we love Belize, Mexico. But for the people that can’t live there, we said, ‘Well, maybe you can come here and maybe for just a few minutes of your day make you think you’re someplace else.’” explained Jim. “After a while, you forget you’re even in Texas,” said Mike.

Now this is Jim’s old home, he grew up here and when he inherited it, he had this bright idea to bring the tropics to Texas. “There’s not a day goes by that we don’t have someone tell us, ‘Man, this reminds me of Cancun. This reminds me of Jamaica. This reminds me of Hawaii.’ And we really take that as a compliment,” said Jim. “We promise you it’s a lot cheaper than going to the Caribbean.” “And you can drive home in the evening!” said Mike. The transition from central Texas backyard to resort like relaxation took years to finish. 

“You probably noticed our sign, that says, hey it’s a jungle out here and make sure your server knows we’re here,” said Jim.  Not only is Jim co-owner of Toucan Jim’s, but he’s also the gardener of the group.  “This is a Southern Magnolia here that my mom actually planted 45 to 50 years ago and I can remember when it was a stick. This is what started everything and everything else was really built around it,” he explained.  Mike in the meantime makes all the tables, chairs, and palapas.  “Jim and I put in a pretty good day, not uncommon for us to put in a 16 hour a day seven days a week…Not a whole lot of time sitting around sipping margaritas,” said Mike.  But that’s exactly what they want you to do! “We have some excellent drinks. And we’ve sampled all of them,” said Jim.

“We’re known for our margaritas, piña coladas, the Barbados Surprise, and the rum punch is a big seller,” said Tonya Harding, the bartender at Toucan Jim’s.  She was ready to take us on a tropical destination of island inspired drinks. “I think we should go with strong…Let’s do a margarita,” she said.  The margarita is a house-made mix that takes you right to the shores of Mexico.
“We’ll do a piña colada [next].” Sampling the cocktails offered at Toucan Jim’s is like traveling with drinks.  “Are you on your way to Aruba right now?” asked Tonya. So delicious and frothy.
“Well, how about I make your rum punch? That’s our number one seller,” she said.  “We spent almost a year working on the rum punch recipe,” said Mike. It’s a pretty drink that tastes as deliciously fruity as it looks. The key to these tasty drinks is fresh juices. “We had tasted it down in Belize and we knew what we wanted and trying to find the proper fruits for it up here was real difficult,” Mike explained. “We experimented and experimented and experimented until we finally came up with the mix that works for us.”  “And I’ll be the first to say that the experimental part of the rum punch was fun… I think we stretched that out a little bit longer than we should have stretched it out,” laughed Jim.

Finally, we finished things off with a Barbados surprise. “You have to stir it,” Tonya explained.  It’s like a witch’s brew. Layers of red, blue, and white mix together with a stir of your straw, leaving you with a purple tented tropical treat. “There is alcohol in there. You got to be careful how many of those you drink,” added Tonya.

If you’re looking for a taste of the tropics right here in the Lone Star State, Toucan Jim’s is a terrific spot to sit back, sip a drink, and relax on The Texas Bucket List.
“We’re not just saying this, we promise that they’re really good drinks,” vouched Jim.

The Texas Bucket List – Cave Without A Name in Boerne

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Boerne—Kendall County sits on the Edwards Plateau and has some of the most quintessential hill country in the state, but below the beauty on the surface of our state, lies a cavern with another incredible landscape.

“We’re in the middle of the hill country and it’s great,” said Jesse Hilger.

Jesse Hillger built bombs for the air force for 14 years, but today explores this explosion of exquisiteness known as the Cave Without A Name.

“I love it. It’s great… You can easily spend two, three hours down there and think it’s only 30 minutes,” said Jesse.

The second longest running showcave in Texas, the Cave Without A Name, was officially discovered by James, Harold, and Mary McGrath in 1938.

“They didn’t expect to discover an amazing cave down there, but they did,” Jesse explained.

In 1940, the Cave Without A Name took the title of Cave Without A Name after a local contest was held to name the cave.  One 9-year-old boy claimed the cave was too pretty to have name, so it has been known that way ever since.

The McGrath children first encountered the cave while chasing a lost sheep, and the first few feet down they came across a moonshine shelter.

“We’re pretty sure that this was the area. If you look on the ceiling here you can see a lot of discoloration….Probably would have been for quite a few years as well…to get so much soot on the ceiling,” said Jesse.

Just a bit further down in the dark was something much more impressive.  Keep in mind, the kids who discovered it did not have a nicely constructed stairway to get there.

“So we’ve gone down about 126 stairs, and here’s our cave,” Jesse said.

80 feet below the ground are six massive caverns with all sorts of curious features that have formed over thousands of years.

“When the limestone was created, that was in the early Cretaceous period and dinosaurs were actually still roaming the earth at that time. They couldn’t actually roam right over this area though, because this used to be the seafloor,” Jesse explained.

This marvel made over time almost looks man made, until a closer look is taken at the incredible formations formed over millions of years.

“So over here we have two really cool formations. The white formation right there is a really unique, a stalagmite. We call that one Modern Art, because people see different things, and some of the different things people normally see are mushrooms or jellyfish… Now this formation that’s in front of it, that one kind of looks like a nativity scene,” Jesse pointed out.

A little further down the line sits the throne room, a subterranean brook, and pools of water surrounded by sediment basins.

“So in this room we have some more stone rim ponds…These lower ponds actually fluctuate with the amount of rain that we get,” said Jesse.

Along with these beautiful pools is the best food reference found below ground.

“We have what I’ve been told is the longest piece of cave bacon in Texas. It measures over 20 feet,” said Jesse. “My nephew came down here a couple of spring breaks ago. He was about four years old at the time, and he told me he didn’t think he could eat a full piece of it.”

So if you have a hunger for some subterranean adventures, The Cave Without A Name is well worth getting below ground for on The Texas Bucket List.

The Texas Bucket List – The Orchard in Idalou

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Idalou—Just a little bit outside of Lubbock, during the waning months of summer, you’ll find cotton sprouting up from the soil of the high plains getting ready for it’s final harvest—but it’s not the only crop getting ready to cash in for the season.

“This is kind of cotton USA to me. Everywhere you look around us, it’s all cotton,’” said Tucker Crawford, owner and caretaker of The Orchard.

Tucker grew up in Farwell, right on the Texas New Mexico state line.

“This apple actually did fall far from the tree. I’m a lot like my dad, but I took a complete 180.”

His 20 acres in Idalou are part of about 100 that he works with to grow apples right here in Texas. Tucker has a history in agriculture and pursued an Ag Economics degree in college.

“I didn’t really know what to do, but ag’s my background, just growing up in a small town and I loved the program. It really applied to life. I guess that sounds weird, but as far as just being able to relate it to real life, couldn’t have picked a better one for me,” said Tucker.

After college, Tucker spent years in a career in the world of banking. Eventually, Tucker got tuckered out with interest rates and traded it in for green acres.

“I’m ready to be on the farm…At 34 retire. I’m just joking, a long ways from retirement,” he continued, “being out in nature, being out in the trees is something for me, it’s kind of peaceful.”

Since 1982, the little apple orchard near Lubbock has been producing thousands of pounds of produce and their biggest obstacle is the unpredictable Texas weather.

“We started out not realizing the full potential of what the environment was going to bring, but fortunately for us, we were able to go in and make modifications or different growing habits—the way we plant trees, the densities, the direction, things like that,” he said.

From August to October, they harvest all sorts of apple—Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Fuji and Granny Smith.

“I would be willing to bet that one out of three have never picked an apple off a tree,” said Tucker.

He also is known to let visitors pick and eat an apple out in the field.

“Well, if you eat one, you’re going to buy more” he explained, “if you walked out here and grabbed an apple off the tree and went back in there and got home and ate one you’d be like, ‘should have got more.'”

While we forgot to bring our bucket, Tucker is always finding a way to fill his with ideas on how to make the most of his apples. You know what they say, one rotten apple spoils the whole bunch.

“If it’s a pretty apple we can put in a box, we know we got it sold. If it’s not a pretty apple, we have to figure out where we’re going with it then…” he said, “We’re experimenting with Apple Cider Vinegar, apple cider, hard apple cider, obviously fresh apples, German apple cakes. We make a lot of pies, salsas. You name it—apple butter.”

If spreading a little apple butter in an orchard is on your list of things to experience in the Lone Star State, The Orchard in Idalou is well worth a stop!

The Texas Bucket List – Larry Bruce Gardens in Kennard

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Kennard — In between Crockett and Lufkin, you’ll find yourself surrounded by trees as tall as the tales of Texas in the Davy Crockett National Forest. Down one of the long roads in the rural part of the state, you never know what you’ll come across, but on County Road 4600, you’ll find a clearing with a curious garden run by Larry Bruce.

“It’s been quite a journey,” said Larry, “and it just started out with us saying, hey, we better learn how to grow some tomatoes back here.”

Larry is a former landscaper and his wife, Sarah, a former interior decorator.  Together they run Larry Bruce Gardens on a piece of land that’s been in his family since 1866, despite being fenced in by a national forest.

“Somehow by the grace of God, my ancestors were able to hold onto the land and work it and make enough money. They were loggers mostly, and farmers. They had to raise their own food of course, but enough to pay their taxes and hold on to the property. It’s just really amazing.”

Since 1992, they have been a part of this place creating a unique farm to table restaurant that draws in a crowd.

“It’s just really been amazing how people will come out here in the middle of nowhere,” Larry expressed, “but they like our food.”

“We schedule our work around it,” explained Gary Dial, “we might get up at four o’clock in the morning, so we’ll be able to come. Might work until 11 o’clock at night just so we’d be able to come…We’re committed to coming out here.”

“Just unforgettable,” commented Beverly High, “there is no place like it on planet earth.”

“People have said, how did you have this vision? Well, when it started out, I didn’t have this vision. I was just taking one step at a time,” said Larry.

It all started with a kitchen and a garden and over the years Larry has expanded his capacity for growing greens and seating starving sightseers.

“It doesn’t matter how many people are out here,” he explained, “it just feels like a big family gathering.”

Known for their Sunday buffet of pickled okra, smoked brisket, and fresh vegetables, this gathering is about more than just good food, it’s also about good music. With his daughter, April, and son-in-law, Lloyd, Larry is known for not only providing a great meal but also great entertainment.

“He’ll be busing tables and then they’ll be doing a song and he just runs up there, gets his fiddle and starts fiddling and start singing along,” commented Beverly, “They make beautiful music together, really.”

This soulful combination of country music and down-home cooking wouldn’t be complete without a little bit of the Lord in your life. Before it all gets started, Larry, an ordained minister, holds a small gathering for the reading of the word.

Is it a restaurant? Is it a church? Is it a garden? Is it a canning facility? “Yes. All of the above,” said Larry, “and Bed and breakfast.”

No matter if your trying to fill your soul or fill your stomach, it all starts with the small miracle of being able to grow your own food and that’s what Larry’s garden is all about.

“You can’t get any fresher than that,” he says, “people love it and the way we prepare it is hopefully in our family traditional type seasonings and that sort of thing. It reminds people of growing up and going back home.”

Corn, tomoatoes, peaches, peppers, and zucchini are a few of the things grown here but the okra is legendary.

“We have so many fans of our pickled okra, we just have to grow a lot of okra every year. But it goes in some of our other dishes as well,” explained Larry.

Without a doubt, the freshness and flavor of the food in undeniable, but so is the feeling you get at this farm surrounded by a forest.  Fulfillment in so many ways that you really start to understand the words of Paul Harvey’s “So God Made A Farmer”—because this farmer is going above and beyond.

“We always pray for everybody to have a wonderful experience,” said Larry,  “when they come through the gates and we believe our prayers are being answered.”

“We could go to Lufkin or Crockett or wherever but we’re going to come here. Every Sunday,” commented Gary, “wouldn’t miss it for nothing.”

“We came to fellowship and we stayed for the buffet,” Beverly added, “It is the best food in Texas and probably even beyond.”

 

The Texas Bucket List – Monahans Sandhills State Park in Monahans

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Monahans  -West Texas has always been known for being a bit dry, but there’s one sandy spot that seriously seems out of place, even for these parts, the Monahans Sandhills State Park. Park Superintendent Michael Smith understands what it takes to work here.

“My house is covered in sand,” Michael said. “So it’s always sand in everything. Sweep the bed out in the evenings so you can go to bed, ’cause it’s full of sand. To be honest when I drew Monahan Sandhills State Park, I had never seen past the office up there. I was pleasantly surprised, it is a beautiful and unique park. It’s the only place in Texas where this particular type of ecosystem is preserved. And so I’ve been pleasantly surprised ever since.”

This place is literally like a Texas-sized sandbox that provides all sorts of recreation, but playing in it is most popular.

“This is where most families come to play, to dune, what they call duneing, or sliding down the dunes on anything they think might slide,” Michael said. “Children of all ages. There actually used to be a gentleman that lived in Odessa, that came out here regularly, way up into his 70’s, was coming out here and surfing the sand dunes pretty regularly.”

Watching these 60-70 lbs. kids have a hard time going down the hill makes one think what it would be like for grown men to go down.

“I’ve gone down on discs and on boards,” Michael said.“Have not tried the toboggans yet. A long disc.”.

A park since 1957, the sand dunes have been sitting here for very long time.

“So the theory goes that this sand was underneath the last ice age, located in the northern New Mexico, Colorado area, and it was ground under the weight of the ice until it’s much smaller and much closer to perfectly round than most sand is,” Michael said. “And so when the ice melted away, the wind and water was able to blow it this direction, wash it and blow it this direction, until it blew it down into the Permian Basin. So now we’re in a big bowl, and the wind and water can’t have the same effect on it that it had before up on the top. And so it stays down in here, now it blows around a little bit, but doesn’t blow out, and so it moves enough that the vegetation has a very difficult time encroaching on the sand, because it’s moving.”

This sand isn’t your average sand.

“This is the only place in all of Texas where this resource is protected,” Michael said. “So you can go to the beach, you can have your water, but this sand is very unique, it’s different material. It’s quartz, about 97% quartz. It’s almost perfectly round, it’s smaller, and is the only place in all of Texas where this resource is protected. So if you wanna see this type of resource, this is the place to do it. Up is hard, so because of its physical characteristics, the same thing that prevents plants from growing on it, makes it move around quite a bit easier than most other sand. It blows in the wind more, makes it harder to walk on. So I tell people, ‘Down is the easy part. Then you gotta go back up.’”

When you get it in your hands, it just doesn’t feel like going down to the beach.

“That is true,” Michael said. “When visitors are talking to us, one of the most common comments is how good it feels on their feet. Most visitors choose to go barefoot. It’s like getting a pedicure from God. It’s amazing to walk, it feels good on your feet. I’ve never made a reference like that before, that was a first.”

If you want to get the special foot treatment and maybe attempt to sled, summer is usually not the best time.

“When it’s very, very hot, it doesn’t slide as well,” Michael said. “So not only is it just a really, really hot place to be the sun reflects off the sand as well as the direct sunlight, it’s very, very hot in the middle of the summer. Best time to come is gonna be spring or fall. Easter is actually our single busiest day of the year.”

The Monahans Sandhills State park is a great place to see and experience a very unique part of Texas, making it a great stop on The Texas Bucket List.

“…you’re guaranteed to get sand in your stuff,” Michael said.

The Texas Bucket List – Palo Duro Creek Ranch in Canyon

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Canyon – The panhandle part of our state has plenty of places to check off the list. The Cadillac Ranch, the world’s largest free barbecue, and let’s not forget about the 72 oz. steak at the Big Texan.

Despite all of these wonders, the crown jewel is Palo Duro canyon, complete with an outdoor play dedicated to our state and a lighthouse, the famous rock formation that is.

If touring the state park isn’t enough to satisfy your love of this Lone Star State treasure, you can always head to the ranch next door for a very moving experience.

“We go at a slow pace, but it’s still pretty thrilling as you drop the elevation,” Darrell Carey said.

Darrell grew up in Pampa, and this former judge and lawyer helps run the Palo Duro Creek Ranch.

“You know, a bad day on the ranch is better than a good day at the courthouse,” Darrell said.

This five square mile piece of property used to be a part of the famous JA Ranch that Charles Goodnight established in 1876.

“This was the birthplace of the cattle industry in Texas,” Darrell said. “It’s just so much Texas history, wildlife history. It’s just so many things that are unique to this area, but also important in Texas history.”

Robert Mitchell is the man behind the wheel of a massive vehicle that will take you straight up to some serene scenery.

“Well, these Hummers are the best vehicles to have in this terrain,” Robert said.  

Getting a chance to take visitors on a very bumpy ride is much different than his day job.

“This is exciting,” Darrell said. “This is beautiful scenery. You’re kinda going off-road. What your best part is, you get to talk to me. It’s a tension release job. There’s no stress when you come out here.”

As you descend into the canyon on a dirt road, it doesn’t take long till your facing down a rock face.

“At some point, though, the steepness of the road usually gets their attention and they watch that,” Darrell said. “No, it’ll be entertaining. It’ll keep your attention.”

What’s hard to believe is these incredible views are just the beginning of the tour.  As you descend into the canyon, the harsh landscape turns green and what will be the Red River down the line trickles like a spring stream.  

“Close to nature as it was, probably 200 years ago when the Indians were here, whenever Goodnight was here, and Quanah Parker was here,” Darrell said. “Maybe, on occasion, almost being able to see ’em in the distance, as you imagine when they came through”

Turn the corner, and you’ll find yourself surrounded by hoodoos making the part of the state feel like another planet.

“You go down into the area that we call the Hoodoo Garden,” Darrell said. “Again, some special rock formations formed over millions of years that were sacred to the Indians, and they’re sacred to us. We like to keep them as they have been always. The Indians, for at least 17,000 years, were pretty much the only ones that were there.”

Taking a ride through the ranch is like taking a ride through time. A chance to see Texas in its most natural state in a method of transportation fit for a Texan is well worth a stop on the Texas Bucket List.

“Being able to share it with folks is also a pretty special part, and we enjoy that,” Darrell said. “It’s just worth being able to see firsthand, and touch, and walk on.”

The Texas Bucket List – Far Flung Outdoor Center in Terlingua

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Terlingua – The majesty and beauty of Big Bend is truly hard to behold. Covering over 800,000 acres and an elevation of over 6,000 feet, the features of this fine place are far and wide.  Hiking is how most folks see the sights in the national park, so if you want a bit more adventure you’ll have to head a wee bit west in Terlingua to take a ride at Far Flung Outdoor Center.

“Well the people ask my why we moved out here,” Greg Henington said. “It’s like well the car broke down, we’re still waiting for parts to get delivered.”

Greg Henington and Mark Evans got this business venture dedicated to adventure started back in the mid 70’s.

“Well, we knew folks wanted to see the Big Bend and we wanted to provide a way to do that,” Greg said.

They did just that…with four wheelers.

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve enjoyed sitting on mechanical machine and riding it out to some country that’s pretty spectacular,” Greg said.

We suited up to the sights with our tour guy Randy Carnes.

“I first came here in 1972 and fell in love it,” Randy said.

Randy took us to the hot spots accessible by ATV in the area, and if you’ve never ridden around one a 4 wheeler before, it is awesome.

“We require our guides to have a real good knowledge of the area,” Greg said. “It’s not just a ride around on the ATV. It’s all about sort of teaching folks about, this is our backyard, so we want people to respect our backyard and understand it and learn a little bit about it and have some fun in it.”

Our next stop, Indian Head mountain.

“Between 20 and 40 million years ago this whole region became volcanic,” Randy said. “Some of these mountains were actual volcanoes, other were volcanic intrusions. As this magma came to the surface it cooled into rocks and it’s very unstable.”

If you’re up for a ride through the scenery of West Texas that provides a good look at the beauty of the Big Bend, finding your way to Far Flung in Terlingua is a fine stop on The Texas Bucket List.

“It looks sort of like a barren, nothing’s out here, you know, wasteland,” Greg said. “Well, when you really start getting into the backcountry and look around, there’s just some amazing plants and geology, animals, insects, all kinds of things. I think people are sort of like surprised sometimes that there’s this much beauty out here when you start really looking. Right up there with the Alamo in my opinion. It’s one of our big treasures here in Texas.”

The Texas Bucket List – Veldhuizen Cheese Farm in Dublin

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Dublin – The cattle industry in the Lone Star State is big business.  From the plains to the valley, we’ve seen all sorts of livestock is all sorts of settings and when we pulled into the Veldhuizen Farm in Dublin, it’s safe to say we found some of the happiest cows we have ever come across. Stuart Veldhuizen takes good care of his cattle because they provide him and his family with lots of cheese.

“We really disturb them very little,” Stuart said. “The only time we really mess with them is milking, which is twice a day, so we really don’t mess with them a lot, they’re just curious as ever it’s like, what are you doing out here today? And so they just come up.”

Stuart isn’t exactly from around here.

“I say I got delivered out in Minnesota, brought to Texas, it’s where I’m supposed to be,” Stuart said.

His journey to the Lone Star State started in the early 90’s when the former diary farmer’s father found a magazine article about making milk in the most beautiful place in the whole world.

“My dad actually read an article about a Texas dairy and he showed me pictures and there was cows on green grass in December,” Stuart said. “And when you live in that world you think, how can that be? A dairy where there’s green grass in December?”

Their venture only lasted until 1996 when Stuart decided that making milk wasn’t for him, but after working off the farm for a few years he started to yearn for another adventure in agriculture. This time, he wanted to be the big cheese.

“Doing some research and found that raw milk cheeses looked like the up and coming thing, ended up deciding to do it,” Stuart said.

With the help of his wife, Connie, his daughters, Chelsea and Rachel, and Stuart’s dad, Veldhuizen cheese got off the ground.  To make the artisan cheese different from the rest, his daughter Chelsea had the bright idea of adding sheep to the mix.

“This is the only dairy in Texas that has sheep,” Stuart said. “I’m sure there’s a little bit around, more in Europe where there’s maybe some blends. There’s maybe a little in the U.S. but nothing in Texas.”

Stuart and four generations of his family got to milking and making all sorts of raw milk cheese.

“It’s just a beautiful … flavors of the cow side, and amazing flavors of the sheep side,” Stuart said.

One of the biggest differences with this cheese is the fact it’s raw milk which means it’s not processed.  In other words, you won’t find any yellow cheese here.

“Raw cheese means that it never gets warmer than the temperature of the cow during the whole cheese making process,” Stuart said. “So with most cheese that people are used to, they first pasteurize the milk at 181 degrees for 30 seconds, cool it back down to 89 to 90 degrees, do the cheese making process. What we do is we start with our milk at 89 degrees with our cheese making and it’ll only get up to 100 to 102. We never get it above that mark, so it’s raw milk cheese. So we don’t change the structure of the cheese, we keep all this natural flora that’s in our milk that gets passed on into the cheese. And so this’ll be run through the Cheddar mill and we will add salt to it and some beer today and we’ll mix all this in and then we’ll be running it or putting it into the molds.”

The cheese is aged in rooms that would surely be on any rodent’s bucket list. With 20 varieties on hand, you’ll find all kinds of queso.

“We make sheep Gouda and then we thought well, let’s marry the two and so now we have a blend, which is gorgeous,” Stuart said. “Now you’re just making everything Gouda. “Yeah. That’s a cheese joke, everything Gouda.”

Connie gave us a crash course on this culinary delight.

“We’re gonna go over here next to our sheep cheese, this is called Wooly Texas,” Connie said. “This is all sheep. We have a couple of all sheep cheeses, and a couple that are cow and sheep blend. So it’s gonna have a little bit different flavor to it, ’cause it’s a different type of milk. It’s really not saltier, it’s just how it hits your pallet. What happens is that cheese ages, they’re all aged at different amounts of time, flavors will concentrate, so you’ll taste them more but actually, so it doesn’t actually have more salt.”

It’s all comes down to happy cows and sheep making the most of their milk. With cheese this good, the Veldhuizen farm in Dublin is a can’t miss stop on the Texas Bucket List.

“I really feel that I’m really living more than the American Dream, because I get to have all these people at home at a place where we work and live life, it’s beautiful,” Stuart said.

The Texas Bucket List – J. Lorraine Ghost Town in Manor

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Manor – Texas ghost towns have a lore of their own.  Stories of the Old West and a connection to the past makes these sorts of places the perfect stop to ponder what life was like in the good ole days. In the ghost town of J. Lorraine, just off of 290 in Manor, you won’t find hardcore history because this place is here just for fun.

“Before I retired, I started the ghost town,” George T. Richards said.

George is about as much a cowboy as his town deserves a historical marker.

“I wear a cowboy hat, but I’m afraid of horses,” George said. “ They could step on you.”

For some reason, he really likes old western towns. George’s family moved to San Antonio when he was a young boy, and after getting his degree at Texas State University, he went on to serve in Navy.  

“At one point I was on the flight deck of the USS Independence, we were off the coast of Florida, and we watched one of the Apollo rockets,” George said. “I felt like singing The Star Spangled Banner, or something. So here I’m on an aircraft carrier watching a moon rocket go up.”

Eventually he went on to work for the Texas Attorney General’s office as a system analyst, but before he retired, he took to the town, his own town.  He began building everything on this 15-acre estate.

“My mantra was, at least one more board a day,” George said.  “Every day I would come out, on the weekends. I would come out and just keep adding to it.”

Since he was not a craftsman by trade, there were a few learning curves.

“I will say I wasn’t a carpenter, and whatever I’m doing wrong, I’m really good at it now, ’cause I keep doing it the same way,” George said.

He kept on hammering and gave his retro retirement community a name that was close to his heart.

“I named it after my daughter, Jennifer Lorraine,” George said. “It’s J. Lorraine, Texas.”

20 buildings make up the majority of J. Lorraine, and each little corner has its own unique characteristic about it.  It’s as if each little part of the place could tell a story of its own.

“I thought I was gonna make a big western perimeter, and in the middle would be the bar and the dance hall area,” George said. “Then I started that front façade and I realized that I didn’t know what I was doing.”

All kidding aside, the most common theme you’ll find in these parts is a place to pop a top.

“That just happens to be,” George said. “This is a bar town, I guess. Every other building’s a bar I guess.”

What exactly would convince a man to build his own world, his own reality?  Well, he just wanted his own magical place.

“I remember as a kid, I was watching TV and this guy would come on T.V., and he had built a place that had Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Frontierland … It was Walt Disney,” George said. “And it stunned me as a kid that grownups would build something that was just for fun. I thought, ‘Wow, that’s pretty neat. When I grow up, I’m gonna build something just for fun.’ So this is my little tiny Disney World.”

J. Lorraine is open to the public and has a maze, a theater, and all sorts of places to explore.  What you won’t find here are ticket booths. This small world comes with a small price: Free.

“I always say we’re kind of desolate out here, and we have been,” George said. “It’s hard enough to get people to come out anyhow, so if I charge them to come in, I don’t know if I’d have many people anyhow.”

Walt Disney once said that the real trouble with the world is that too many people grow up.  For a guy like George, well if the boot fits. Exploring J. Lorraine is well worth a stop on the Texas Bucket List.

“Well, I’m glad y’all stopped by, and get anybody else who wants to stop by to an old western town, we’d be glad to have them,” George said.