Texas Bucket List

Texas Bucket List

Simmons Bank

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.

The Texas Bucket List – Mrs. Lee’s Daffodil Garden in Gladewater

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Gladewater – Over in Northeast Texas, between Tyler and Gladewater, you’ll find a few back roads that beckon to be explored.  During the month of February, the trees are still waking from their winter slumber. If you follow the long twisty turns through the thicket, you’ll come across a garden that springs into action earlier than others,  Mrs. Lee’s Daffodil Garden.

“This is Mrs. Lee’s garden,” Dennis Phelps said. “It’s the world’s best kept secret in East Texas.”

Dennis  is a former petroleum engineer who moved to East Texas from Midland to take on the perfect retirement gig.

“If I could pick my dream one then I’d pick this one,” Dennis said.

Maintaining millions of perennials in this lush 28-acre garden is a far cry from Dennis’s days in West Texas, and that’s a good thing.

“It’s just real peaceful,” Dennis said. “You can do a lot of deep thinking. There’s nobody out here but me, for the most part. “

During the majority of the year, usually 11 months or so, the garden looks like your typical East Texas terrain. Around the middle of February, and only for a few short weeks, something magical happens.  Daffodils direct from Holland put on a dynamic display. This was all started in the 1950’s by a woman named Helen Lee.

“It’s spelled Helen, and that’s the way people are going to pronounce it, but she pronounced it ‘Heelen,’” Dennis said.

Helen’s husband left her this piece of property after he passed away, and she turned it into a paradise. She converted gravel pits into lakes stocked with fish and bought a literal boxcar of daffodil bulbs from Holland.  Mrs. Lee enjoyed her gardens until she passed away in 1984, and it was her request that the gardens be maintained and open to the public during the bloom.

“That’s what she wanted,” Dennis said. “That’s the reason the land was kept together and I’m sure she’s up in heaven saying, ‘Good job.’”

Now, the only issue when it comes to viewing these delicate daffodils occurs if it drizzles.  

“We’ve seen a lot of storm damage here in the last couple of years,” Dennis said. “We’ve had years when we’ve been open one day. We’ve had years when we haven’t opened at all. And then, normally we’ll get a couple of weeks out of it.”

The serene setting of the gardens provides a great stop on The Texas Bucket List to enjoy the beauty of our great state, even if it’s transplanted from another part of the world.  In Texas, everything thrives once it finds its footing.

“Yeah, I think God’s doing good enough by Himself,” Dennis said “All I’m supposed to do is mow and keep the grass cut so when they come up they’ll bloom again. And that’s pretty easy.”

The Texas Bucket List – Basecamp Terlingua in Terlingua

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Terlingua – The Big Bend is one of the most remote and remarkable regions of the Lone Star State.  Natural, God-given beauty surrounds this desolate destination that draws in people from all over the globe.  When you arrive to this part of the world, it’s good to set up a basecamp and a good place to do that……Basecamp Terlingua.

“Not your average tee pee, and a pretty cool place to hang out, I think” Tony Drewry said.

Tony Drewry is in charge of this 40 acre refuge with all sorts of strange structures. He is the gatekeeper to one of the most picturesque places to stay in these parts.

“This is a lot more work than it probably looks like,” Tony said. “You know, here we are, sitting in the desert by tee pees drinking beer.”

A slower pace of life is what they live by here because there’s really no need to rush.  Enjoying your surroundings and solitude is the main reason to trek to Terlingua. At Basecamp, the accommodations seem native and rustic, but they’re really nice.

“Everything you need,” Tony said. “A king size bed, we’ve got some really heavy comforters for the winter months, we’ve got an electric blanket, we’ve got some supplemental heat. This skirt around the side actually keeps the dust from blowing in and things like that, because it is raised up at the bottom. Then this is also pulls out into a queen size bed, so you can sleep four in here. We get a lot of families that come through. Got a little nook for the books, got a coffee station, fridge. I mean, running water.”

Now if this view still isn’t up close and in your face enough, Basecamp has another option that’ll make you feel like you’re living in a bubble.

“I don’t know, bubble rooms, bubble house,” Tony said. “I don’t know what you want to call it.”

These unique bubble rooms are the only ones of their kind in the country, and they couldn’t be in a better setting.

“Pretty cool to be able to do a tour from the outside in,” Tony said. “Yeah, and it’s marine grade plastic. I mean, it’s tough. You can kind of punch on it.”

Made in France, Basecamp has two of the structures for rent that give you an eye-opening way to experience the outdoors.

“You lay there, you look at the stars, you watch the sunrise right over the mountains,” Tony said. “That’s the Chisos, you know, over in Big Bend National Park, and you can see it. Watch the sunrise in the morning. Man, it’s … You don’t even have to get out of bed. It’s pretty cool.”

Getting into the air bubble is sort of like getting into a spaceship.

“Step in here,” Tony said. “This is the airlock. We’ve got a little mini fridge, got some local books.”

Just like any other hotel room, you’ll find it all here.  

“Then we’ve got a full bathroom in here,” Tony said. “A toilet, a shower, and the sink. I’ve taken a shower in here. It’s actually quite an experience. You got a nice little skylight there. Kind of your own little slice of the mountains there, and a really great place to wake up.”

As the sun sets on Terlingua and the night sky takes over the majestic beauty of the Chisos mountains, Basecamp lights up. However, it only lights up enough to see where you’re staying because the stars are the stars here.

“I’ve had a lot of friends come out here and stargazing, you know, hanging out for the weekend, and he’s like, ‘Man, it sure is cloudy tonight,’” Tony said. “And I’m like, ‘No, that’s the Milky Way, man.’”

A stay at Basecamp Terlingua is well worth getting a good night sleep on The Texas Bucket List.

“I mean, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this,” Tony said. “I really … It’s almost … You know, you wake up every day and you’re just like, ‘Man, we’re so lucky.’”

The Texas Bucket List – Fort Chadbourne in Coke County

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Coke County-This week, we take you to a fort in Coke County, Texas that is filled to the brim with artifacts from another time.  It’s the grounds of this old fort and a man’s passion for telling this story that makes Fort Chadbourne well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.

We’re in Coke County at Fort Chadbourne.

“If you’re transferred to Fort Chadbourne in 1852 as a soldier, you’re sitting in the middle of Comanche territory,” Garland Richards said.

Garland knows this old post inside and out because he’s been exploring it since he was boy.

“I assumed that everyone had a fort in their backyard,” Garland said. “Seriously, I did not know any different.No one has enjoyed Fort Chadbourne more than me.”

Garland’s great-great-great grandfather Thomas Odem established a 150,000-acre ranch here in 1876.

“It stretched from Fort Chadbourne almost to San Angelo, encompassed a portion of Ballinger,”  Garland Richards said. “Got to realize that in 1876, there were no fences and it was all open range and this is where he chose to bring his family and raise 13 kids and utilize as the ranching headquarters for his cattle operation.”

Passed down through eight generations, Garland is now the caretaker of his own parcel that happens to feature this old fortification. A few years ago, he couldn’t bare to watch it continue to fade from memory.  He decided to rebuild and reinforce Fort Chadbourne.

“This is not the brightest thing that I’ve ever done financially,” Garland said.

In 1999, he founded the Fort Chadbourne foundation and funded this entire project privately.

“They told us that you can’t raise the funds needed to complete this project without governmental funding and we did it,” Garland said.

Each building on the property was painstakingly brought back to life.

“This is the ranch headquarters building,” Garland said. “This was a double officer’s quarters. This is where my great-great-great-grandfather comes in and he chooses these two structures that are joined together and he raises 13 kids. The archaeological excavation of this building told us how it was actually constructed. That’s the way we did it. Tried to keep everything as authentic as we could keep it. I’ve been working on this for about 20 years.”

During the renovations, artifacts were constantly being found. Even today, you can find things laying around all over the fort among the red velvet mites.

Now, we’re in the Butterfield Stage Stop,” Garland said. “You’ve got pieces of hinges, you’ve got the … this is a green beer bottle. You’ve got square nails. You are literally picking up artifacts off the ground. You’ve got a piece of glass, there’s the maker. You could actually find the … There’s a BDK on the bottom of it, you could actually find who made that bottle and when. That’s all you need is three letters to figure out that all that history.”

All the military and personal items Garland and his team have found can be see just a few feet from where they originated in the Fort Chadbourne visitors center.  

“There are about a million artifacts that have come from Fort Chadbourne,” Garland said. “This is one of the most historically significant, pristine, unmolested sites of any of the frontier forts in the United States.“

Since the fort has been privately owned all these years, Garland has been able to painstakingly catalog and display everything they’ve come across. I do mean everything.

“ A lot of the artifacts from Fort Chadbourne are located in some of the drawers,” Garland said. “All of these drawers are filled with artifacts. Anything from cannonballs to musket balls to surgical instruments. These came out of the cannonball shrapnel field. This is where they actually blew up. Anything from shotgun shells, to gun parts, to coffee grinders.”

Perusing the preposterous amount of pieces that were actually found on the property is impressive.

“Anything that was dropped from 1852 to 1876 there’s one of in here,” Garland said.

Coins, wedding rings, glasses and all sorts of military memorabilia have been found here.

“The buttons that you see in this case, you’ve got artillery, you’ve got the dragoons, you’ve got the cavalry, you’ve got mounted riflemen, infantry,” Garland said. “There’s Texas Military buttons. All found here. It’s part of the history of Fort Chadbourne.”

Every little thing here helps tell the story of Fort Chadbourne. With the abundance of artifacts, it’s a Texas-sized story.

“You’ll go out there and you’ll find other little pieces to the puzzle and when you put enough pieces to the puzzle back together, all of a sudden you can see the whole picture,” Garland said.

During it’s time as a fort, 27 soldiers lost their lives here. Six of them were awarded the Medal of Honor.  As a tribute, you’ll find all 3,500 recipients of that honor listed among a collection of actual Medals of Honor.

“These are the current Medals of Honor,” Garland said. “This is one of the early Civil War Medals of Honor. The rarest one in here is the Tiffany Cross. To be able to walk in and see all of these all in one place is pretty incredible.”

Seeing this incredible collection, hearing the stories, and exploring the fort is truly a treat for any Texan. As an added bonus, Garland brought out the big guns: A replica mountain howitzer cannon.

If you’re looking to dive deep into some valuable Texas History, Fort Chadbourne is well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do at Fort Chadbourne,” Garland said. “I’ll die long before I ever get my job done. Somebody else will come in and take it over.”  

The Texas Bucket List- Copper Breaks State Park in Quanah

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Quanah – When traveling west in the Lone Star State, it doesn’t take long for the terrain to start taking on a whole other look.  About an hour outside of Wichita Falls, you’ll the route to an incredible state park, just south of Quanah. Sitting on 1900 acres on the banks of the Pease River, this picturesque Permian part of Texas gives you the feeling that this is where the west begins.

We’re at Copper Breaks State Park.

“The nice solitude, open space is very serene,” Edwin Quintero said. “If you’re looking to get away from the city and really enjoy nature this is it.”

Edwin is the Park superintendent, and he’s originally from the Valley.

“My background is in Biology,” Edwin said. “As you can see this is perfect terrain for snakes. “

Head up or tails up, we don’t want to come across any copperheads at Copper Breaks.

“I knew I was gonna travel around the state and that’s why I like you know working for Texas Parks and Wildlife,” Edwin said. “You get to see some beautiful parts of the state.”

Edwin took us on a tour of the park that used to be the homestead of Comanche and Kiowa tribes.

“During the winter this is where you would see all their settlements,” Edwin said.

The rigids and peaks of Copper Breaks provided protection from the elements but also sparked interest from mining companies after the Civil War.

“All that greenish streaks on horizontal lines on the breaks that is the mineral form of copper,” Edwin said.  “It wasn’t profitable, I mean there was copper it was actually taking more money to mine for it than to actually see any of the profits from the copper. “

What the park does see is a massive amount of biodiversity.  With 80 species of reptiles and amphibians as well as being a central flyway for migratory animals, there are all sorts of passersby. However, there are a few permanent residents that roam the prairie.

“This is why Copper Breaks is very unique. We have 5 of the official longhorn heard and these guys are pretty awesome actually,” Edwin said. “You get to go to other parks where they have longhorns but I’ll tell you what you don’t get to get up close and personal with these guys. They’re very majestic, very rustic and this is what Texas is all about. It’s an iconic symbol of Texas.”

Feeding the large longhorns is something you can check off your bucket list.

“They love these cattle cubes they are basically like you know like m&m’s to them, very sweet,” Edwin said.

If you’re feeling like you need some longhorn love, just pucker up.

“ When you have handsome young fellows like me here all you have to is you have to go over and tell it ‘Hey Raider give me a kiss’”, Edwin said. “Nowhere else in Texas do you get to see kissing longhorns out here, but you don’t have to bribe them with some cattle feed or anything like that.”

 

If you’re looking for a serene state park with stunning surroundings and some slobbery steers, Copper Breaks State Park in Quanah is quite the stop on The Texas Bucket List.

“If you wanna come in and really experience solitude and the dark skies definitely come out to Copper Breaks,” Edwin said.