Texas Bucket List

Texas Bucket List

The Texas Bucket List – Hotel Settles in Big Spring

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Big Spring – Traveling west in the Lone Star State usually means you have to spend the night at some cookie cutter kinds of hotels along the side of Interstate 20. But if you plan your trip accordingly and happen to book your stay in Big Spring, you’ll find some lodging that will leave you feeling refined. “It attracts people from the business world as well as just people that appreciate historic hotels,” said Mark Yanke.

Mark is the General Manager at Hotel Settles and he’s settled into his job just fine. “To find a classic hotel like this in today’s day that’s maintained as well as it is in a town like Big Spring of 26,000 people is pretty unique,” said Mark.

Built in the late 1920’s, Hotel Settles started checking in guests when the US economy decided to check out. “Will and Lillian Settles were local ranchers here and discovered oil on the ranch and decided they wanted to build something special for the community,” said Mark. “So they did. So they built Hotel Settles. Took them three years to do so. We opened it in October of 1930. Ran it for a couple of years before hard times hit in the oil industry. Then they sold and it went through many different ownerships between now and then actually to a point it kept falling and falling in disrepair until it was closed for 30 years.”

What was once the tallest building between Fort Worth and El Paso fell into major disrepair from 1982 to 2006. That’s when self-made millionaire Brint Ryan, who happened to be born in Big Spring, decided to do something about it. “He grew up here in Big Spring,” explained Mark. “He now lives in Dallas. He has one of the world’s largest taxation specialized firms in the world. I think he’s in 60 different countries, so he wanted to do something for the community. He’d been looking at this hotel for many years. Purchased it in 2006 for $75,000 and spent the next five years getting it ready. Opened it in 2013. It had been closed for 30 years, so he found the original prints and designs, pulled it all out. And what you see is pretty much how it was designed back when it was originally opened in 1930.”

What was once an eyesore of Big Spring is now an opulent place to stay way out in West Texas.  “Now that it’s been renovated the locals love it,” said Mark. “The passerbys love it. The local businesses love it.”

The hotel features all sorts of nods to the past, with art deco décor on the walls and nothing digital on display. The hotel makes you feel like you’ve gone back to the 1930’s and some of the rooms do too. “This is room 305 on our historic floor,” said Mark. “All the rooms on the third floor are historic in nature. As you can see, this was the original size of the rooms back when they opened in 1930. They were a little bit smaller, weren’t they? The third floor, the majority of those rooms there are the original size. The bathrooms are quite small as you can imagine, but then the tower up from there, we changed those and we’ve got 65 total rooms.”

Another nod to the past is the ballroom. Restored to its original glory, you can feel the history in this room. “So grand, beautiful,” said Mark. “You picture a bandstand down here and a dance floor and the dancing that took place and the meals. And it must’ve been quite something. You can just hear the ’30s music playing in here.”

While the 30’s weren’t exactly a time to party, today we celebrate life any chance we can and that’s why the hotel’s old pharmacy has been converted to serve a different type of elixir.

“Welcome to the pharmacy bar,” said Mark. “It’s very comfortable. But yeah, some of the photographs of the original pharmacy look quite a bit different obviously, but I think people still really enjoy the character and feel and it makes for a great hotel bar.”

If this isn’t a cool enough place to sneak away to, there’s another room that could be right up your alley. “This is another man cave,” said Mark. “Welcome to the Judge’s Chamber. This is a great spot for private events. If you want to come down with some friends and play some cards, shuffleboard. Have some cocktails, have a cigar. Great getaway if you want to do something a little bit different with some close friends.”

All that’s left to do is to have a good meal, and of course Hotel Settles has got you covered. “We do a great chicken fried steak, and he does some pretty good specials as well,” said Mark. “He’s run some nice short rib specials, so that’s always good. People enjoy that.”

From the fine food to the ambiance in every corner of the hotel, it’s a fantastic stop on The Texas Bucket List but for Brint Ryan, this was more than just a project. It was his way to give back to Big Spring. “There’s a lot of great hotels in Texas, but to find one that is special and unique and cared for in its original form from 1930, there’s not many of those,” said Mark. “Been a real effort to really restore the downtown area. A lot of the downtown buildings are being refurbished, new businesses coming in and boutiques and things. And so, we really think that this is the beginning of something really special in Big Spring again.”

 

The Texas Bucket List – The Kettle House in Galveston

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Galveston – Anyone who grew up spending their beach days in Galveston is probably familiar with a mysterious metal structure down on the island known as the Kettle House. Sitting on the side of the road on the Island’s main drag, no one ever really knew what it was for, just that it had always been there. “Anybody from Galveston or anybody who’s come here and come to the West End, passed by it and saw it, whether they remember it or not, most people do,” said Michael Cordray.

Michael Cordray grew up down on the Island, so he too knows this sturdy structure that sticks out well. “Driving past a house 35 years ago should not be iconic and memorable to anyone,” said Michael. “But we get emails literally every week from somebody who remembers driving by this rusty little structure 35 years ago.”

One day Michael decided to do something about it and found out the story behind this crazy looking casted cottage. “It was supposed to be a metal storage container of some sort for some sort of liquid cargo, like at a plant or something like that,” explained Michael. “The gentleman who ended up with this property and this structure, he was a welder and he was building this tank. The kind of rumor is that he cut it in half after the deal fell apart, and he transported it here to a piece of land he owned. He always wanted to build it into a corner store, and that never happened. So it really has never been anything other than a metal shell.”

With his wife Ashley by his side, they took on the Kettle House.  But this isn’t something they did on a whim. The couple restores homes in Galveston for a living and they even have their own TV show called, fitting enough, Restoring Galveston. “We’ll always work on houses because that’s just a passion of ours, old historic homes and renovating them from really bad shape to really exceptional,” said Michael. “So we’ll always work on them. But the TV show definitely keeps us at a pace that’s probably a little faster than we’d do if we were on our own.”

Ashley brings the energy to the show, and letting her opinion be known is sort of her calling card. “I did not want to buy this place, I can say that,” said Ashley. “There’s probably footage.”

Ashley wasn’t as eager to put the pedal to the mettle when it came to the kettle. “Ashley had no interest in buying it, and I said, ‘We’re going to buy it,’” said Michael. “I don’t think she regrets it. She is pleasantly surprised. She may regret some of the houses I said we’re buying no matter what, but this is one that we definitely appreciate having purchased, worked on. It’s been fun to own.”

Even for the pros, this abstract abode was quite the undertaking. “Michael, what do we spend on this place? Let’s really knock their socks off,” said Ashley. “80 grand. Back then $80,000 down here, that was a lot of money. You could buy some really cool properties for that kind of money. I was like, ‘Uh-uh, I don’t see it. I think this is a really bad investment, but we’re going to just… I’ll go with it if you think.’ And he was right.”

As part of their first season, Michael and Ashley restored the Kettle House from a roadside attraction to something you could actually stay in. “You still want to work on kind of infamous houses or houses that have obscure features,” said Michael. “You’d like to highlight different things in different houses rather than making them all look exactly the same. So this was the opportunity to work on probably one of the oddest houses we will ever work on.”

Now revamping this relic wasn’t welcomed by all.  Some on the island had gotten used to seeing the old structure getting slowly eaten away by the salty air.

“It was probably a coin toss between people who were like, ‘Oh, I love that this is finally becoming something,’” said Michael. “And then there was probably half the people who were like, ‘I liked it so much when it was a rusty piece of metal.’”

“They’re mad about the deck. They’re mad about the paint. It’s like, we had to paint it,” said Ashley. “I remember the day we painted it, we were all over all the social media channels. They painted the kettle house, they ruined it. It’s like, you didn’t understand, it was literally rusting away. It was rusting away.”

“That’s kind of our thing, is taking something from just terrible condition and making it exceptional,” said Michael.

After 6 months of renovations, the Kettle House has turned into something it really hasn’t ever been. A place people can actually stay. “There was one little pie cut out for the bathroom, and we made that pie much bigger because everybody needs a bigger bathroom, especially since it’s the only one in the house,” said Ashley. “Then it was just kind of working with the beams on the ceiling and deciding how to quadrant off the rest of the house to make it actually livable.”

“It certainly offers a unique glimpse into what arguably shouldn’t be a house,” said Michael.

And in case you’re wondering, the kettle house does not boil over. “People are so… They’re like, ‘I can’t stay in a metal house. It would be too hot,’” said Ashley. “With all this spray foam insulation, new windows, and then the AC system, this is the coolest house we have. Seriously.”

The house is so cool, it’s actually part of the Galveston edition of a popular board game.

“It’s on Galvestonopoly. It’s made it,” said Michael. “It’s on the local board game. And it’s the cheapest property. So this is the Baltic Avenue of Galvestonopoly. Ashley’s going to pull it out of the game board archives back there.”

So if experiencing a stay at an iconic home on Galveston Island is something you want to check off the list, checking in to the Kettle House is well worth a stop. “It’s taken an old metal shell and we’ve turned it into a place where somebody can come stay,” said Michael. “You’re close to the beach and you’re in a great town. Why not stay at a unique place versus something that looks like every other house you could stay at?”

 

The Texas Bucket List – Tillie’s in Dripping Springs

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Dripping Springs – When it comes to visions of the Texas hill country, rustic places to stay, wineries, and even treehouses are usually the first things that comes to mind. But over in Dripping Springs you’ll find Camp Lucy, which has taken some flavors from around the world and planted them smack dab in the middle of the Lone Star State. “There’s no place that exists like this,” said visitor Stephaniee Lott.

“It’s just an otherworldly experience, I would say,” said Whit Hanks.

Whit’s family founded this place back in 1985 when his parents purchased the property as a weekend getaway. “My mother finally spent her time out here,” said Whit. “This was her favorite place, being out in the country.”

Whit went on to be an antiques dealer and real estate developer, but he wanted to turn his parent’s old place into something that Texans could enjoy. So in 2008 he created Camp Lucy, a property that started off as a wedding venue with several antique buildings from Vietnam that has turned into a tranquil place to find some relaxation.

“We have a total of seven Vietnamese buildings that have been incorporated into the infrastructure,” said Whit. One of the builings is “from about, I’d say 1880. From an area not too far from Da Nang, about the middle of Vietnam, south of Hanoi, about 100 miles.”

These old buildings sounded by green gardens provide the perfect setting for a picturesque wedding, but dealing with brides wasn’t something that Whit was willing to do. “Kim appeared on the scene and said she could run weddings out here,” said Whit. “And I’m like, ‘Well, I sure can’t so if you want to, then fine. You do it and you can pay me rent.’ And after a while, she was doing so well it was cheaper to marry her.”

Kim brings the pizzazz to the party. “I married well,” said Kim. “He’s a really interesting guy. And he had this great property and he had no idea what to do with it, so I did. I had a couple ideas.”

“It’s been a wild ride. Let me tell you,” Said Whit. “She’s got a lot of get up and go.”

As Camp Lucy grew, Whit wanted to put a place to eat on the property. “I wanted it to be a hamburger stand,” said Whit. “You’ll notice I have a pool over there. And I had in mind that it was like going to the country club. And you’d go up to the place where you got french fries and burgers and tater tots and then you’d take it back to the pool. And unfortunately, then I bought this building and the architects got a hold of it and it just got fancier and fancier and fancier.”

“We were going to have hamburgers and nachos,” said Kim. “And then, as we started building this beautiful structure, it just didn’t feel right.”

So the couple created Tillie’s, a top notch eatery with exquisite food pairings for any fancy night out with your plus one. “Okay,” said Whit. “It’s going to take more than hamburgers to pay for this place.”

Romantic dinners in a stunning setting surrounded by antique saints is a surefire way to impress a date. But if you’re looking for a more whimsical experience, Tillie’s also offers teatime. “We knew that we wanted to take some of the traditions from England and we wanted to marry them with some of the traditions from Texas so the flavors are going to be a little bit different,” said Kim.

Fine China from England along with a tiered tray of some of the finest finger foods we’ve ever found make this experience at Tillie’s a tough one to pass up. “You would start with your scones,” said Kim. “You see the crisp, the crisp on the outside? The crispiness of the bread and the consistency of the bread. That’s what I love about scones is they’re so just heavy and delicious.”

“I’ve never experienced teatime before,” said guest Jessie Henderson. “I haven’t made it across the pond as they say, so it was cool to be able to have that experience right here in Dripping.”

Back to the tower of food, up next is the savory tier. “This one right here is a deviled egg, little pâte à choux sandwich,” said Kim. “The pâte à choux is a bread. Like I said, it’s like croquembouche, so deviled egg. What’s fun about these is do you know that these eggs come from Camp Lucy?”

“It’s magical because it is situated in its own kind of ecosystem, little hill country forest,” said Stephaniee. “And it’s way more spectacular than people might imagine.”

“You need a couple hours whenever you’re eating this also because you need to let all the flavors blend and just enjoy yourself,” said Kim. “This is definitely an experience where you’re not trying to get in and out within an hour, including your drive time.”

And you have to close things out with some delicate desert. “Our Texas honey cake,” said Kim. “It’s really good. It reminds me of childhood and I think it’s that, almost that fluff on top.”

This teatime extravaganza will certainly leave you feeling satisfied, and it begs the question, when does one traditionally take part in this fine feast? “It takes place between two and four,” said Kim. “They would do a big breakfast with the beans, the toast. And then this would be their lunch, but it would be later. And then they would do a late dinner.”

Well here’s a toast to Texas with some tea on The Texas Bucket List. “A little bit of English culture brought right here to the hill country,” said Jessie.

 

The Texas Bucket List – Hotel Saint George in Marfa

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Marfa – If you’ve never been to Marfa, it’s hard to explain how unique this corner of the Chihuahuan Desert really is. Situated far from any major city, it’s usually a quiet hub for activities around Big Bend, and happens to have some mysterious lights and lots of art. Now in order to enjoy all these unique things to do, you have to find a place to stay, and if glamping doesn’t really get you going, there’s a hotel here that makes you feel like you’re in the middle of a modern city.  The Hotel Saint George.

Emily William is the GM of Hotel Saint George, and she moved out to Marfa in 2017 without knowing she was going to stay there. “It was pure accident, which is a pretty common story out here,” said William. “I had what was supposed to be a three or four-month consulting job with Marfa Public Radio. And Tim Crowley, the owner of this property, and I had got to talking, and he asked me to stay for a while and work on some projects. And about nine months later, I was the general manager of this hotel.”

The Hotel Saint George is the only full-service hotel within hundreds of miles, so it sort of sticks out in the small town of Marfa. “It was just the right time for Marfa to again, A, have more and more contemporary accommodations, and accommodations that were a little more upscale than perhaps the town could’ve supported a decade prior,” said William

Despite only having 1,800 people, you may think that this is a sleepy town, but Marfa has so much to offer. “The day-to-day pace is so different from cities that you really have to take a step back and take stock of how dynamic the town is,” explained William. “Culturally, in terms of restaurants, people’s projects, new buildings, the town has really changed remarkably.”

That’s thanks to all the folks bringing culture with them from across Texas. “It’s a place where you want to talk to everybody you meet because they’ve all got an interesting perspective on what they love about this part of Texas, what they love about Marfa specifically, what they’re doing, and that’s really where you find the interesting things about Marfa,” said William. “People with big ideas and big dreams, and that means interesting bars, interesting restaurants, concerts, all kinds of stuff that you just don’t see in places this tiny and far-flung.”

One of those big dreams was the Hotel Saint George, the first hotel of its kind in this small town that offers guests a different experience in these parts. “When you bring the kids out for Thanksgiving break, everybody’s camping, it’s really nice to have a place where you can have a cocktail and a nice bed, big screen TV, large bathroom before you spend another seven hours driving back to Austin or wherever,” said William. “If you’re going to go all this way out, you might as well do it in comfort.”

The other part of Marfa people enjoy is the food and at this hotel, you don’t have to go far for a good meal. “Their solace is at least they know they’re going to have a place to eat dinner and breakfast the next morning, more importantly,” laughed William.

What also makes the Hotel Saint George unique is the art in every room and every hallway, which you should expect in a town like Marfa. “It’s a town that really supports creative work,” said William. “Almost all of the art on the property is by artists who either live here and work here or have some really meaningful connection to Marfa or the area. You see really distinctive artworks in the rooms, in the hallways down here, and it’s not unusual to just run across the people who made them. Most of them live down the street.”

And that encompasses Marfa, a Texas town that still has deep roots with locals while inviting those seeking refuge from the big cities, but expecting the finer things in life, all while getting some fresh desert air. “You don’t really have to go very far in any direction to be spending time in really quiet, open spaces,” said William.

The Texas Bucket List – Blue Hills Ranch in McGregor

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McGreggor – McGregor, Texas might be known as the testing ground for Space X engines, but rocking rockets aren’t the only out of this world things you’ll find in the wide-open spaces of central Texas.  There’s also the Blue Hills Ranch, an animal sanctuary that allows humans to have one heck of an interaction with some amazing creatures. “To be able to kind of make a dream come true, I think it’s definitely an amazing feeling,” said Skylar Lightfoot, who has been helping keep the 150 animals that call the Blue Hills Ranch home happy since 2020. “Started off doing tours, helping out in the office, helping with weddings and events, and now pretty much manage majority of the place,” said Skylar.

With 28 different species on hand free roaming around the range, you never know who will come up to say hi while you tour the property, but the donkeys will be sure to butt into your conversations. “She is actually one of the first animals here on the property,” Skylar said of a donkey who approached as she spoke. “We have Bonnie and Clyde. They got their name because they actually escaped within the first week of them being here, and so we had to reinforce some fences and put in a cattle guard.”

Working at the sanctuary is one of those rare occupations that don’t feel like work for those that help out at Blue Hills Ranch. “Not everybody gets to spend time with them every single day, it’s kind of like a once in a lifetime thing,” said Kaylee Pratt, another caretaker with a big love for some of the biggest animals on the property. “I actually worked with giraffes before I came here, so I knew I wanted to continue working with animals, especially exotics, so I knew I had to come back,” said Kaylee. “They’re just really intelligent creatures. I mean, they can see very far, they can see bright colors. They know not to strip trees completely down so they don’t kill them. They’re just intelligent and beautiful.”

Visitors are allowed to hand feed the far-reaching giraffes, and sometimes the giraffes go in for a little sugar too. “Well, it’s not every day you get to get giraffe kisses and learn about something that you don’t get to see every single day,” said Kaylee.

If you’d rather have a more relaxing experience, you could always take a swim with some otters. “We’re actually one of I believe three or four places in the United States where you can actually swim with the otters,” said Skylar.

While sitting comfortably in the hot tub, these fury little guys will swim laps around you and be more than happy to use your head or shoulder as a perch. “Ours are river otters so they’re kind of used to being on banks of rivers, and so they kind of like the obstacles, something to kind of perch up on,” said Skylar. “And in a pool they don’t really have those obstacles so we found out that either a swim spot or a hot tub is kind of the best way to go for them. Ours are a little spoiled. I’m sure the wild otters aren’t exactly as picky as ours.”

Surprisingly to some, this experience has moved people to tears. “We’ve had several people actually cry. It’s definitely not uncommon for people to cry,” said Skylar. “I would have never thought before working here that there was such a high fascination with otters, but that’s a lot of people’s number one favorite animal, and people will cry. People start laughing hysterically just at the cuteness level of otters.”

So if swimming with an overly curious otter or letting a long necked giraffe eat out of your hands or mouth is something you’ve wanted to experience, this place is well worth a stop. “Providing for the animals is definitely first and foremost, our main goal and priority, and to be able to give people the experience to be able to kind of experience the animals in a non-zoo setting is definitely a plus as well,” said Skylar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Texas Bucket List – The Summit at Big Bend in Terlingua

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The vast expanse that is the Big Bend region of Texas is one of a kind. Soaring peaks, stretches of desert and the Rio Grande cutting its way through the region makes for one of the most incredible sites in the entire Lone Star State.  In the middle of all this nothingness is the tiny town of Terlingua.  With a population of 110 folks, it’s fascinating how many people are drawn to this desolation destination.  But when you see a glamping destination like The Summit at Big Bend, you understand the draw.

“This is unlike any other place in Texas,” said Billy Bartko, creator of The Summit.

Billy and his wife, Jess, created The Summit in 2021 and in that short amount of time, they’ve built so many domes for folks to stay in, that their little corner of the desert looks like a space outpost.  These domes have king-sized beds and beautiful views of Big Bend, but if you want to lay your head down on something as hard as a rock, the caves at the Summit have proven to be quite popular.  “The two caves really are built for a romantic reconnecting trip,” said Billy.

Billy and Jess both used to be commercial pilots, but they came to Big Bend to start a new life on the ground.  After one successful venture in glamping, they came to this piece of property looking to buy a jeep, but it turned into so much more. “For me, I was like, ‘Wow, I never knew this part of Texas existed!’ Born and raised Texan. Never knew it,” said Jess.

“So, this place has been special to me since the minute we got here. The previous owner just told us to drive up the hill and drive around the ranch, and it was just nothing but one spectacular view after another,” explained Billy. “Fifteen minutes into it, I very jokingly said, ‘I want to buy the ranch,’ and the next day we offered to buy the ranch, and about three weeks later we had a deal on it, and about two months later, we owned it.”

“I knew when I first met him, he was going to be a lifetime of adventure,” said Jess.

“You’re looking at Old Mexico to the south, directly behind you is the Lajitas Hills. And then off to the west is you’re totally looking into the state park. So, it’s just incredible,” said Billy.

Construction began and when Billy came across the caves, he knew exactly what to do with them.  “The holes in the rock were already here. One of them was basically being used as a storage bunker and the other one is a garage,” he explained.

Complete with a shower, bed, a fridge, a fantastic view and even Wi-Fi, this cave is the kind of place where anyone would be happy to hibernate. “What we really did here was we wanted to bring the outside in,” said Jess.

“It was distorted as least as possible, so that we could really just kind of capture when you walk in, you’re not walking into a room, you’re literally walking into the earth,” explained Billy. “It’s either very comforting to you or it’s not your thing. We respect both, but for us, it’s just a very comforting place to be.”

“So, this is our crystal cave. We named it that. As you can see, the crystal is all through the top here over there,” explained Jess.

These caves date back nearly 100 years when mercury mining was still going strong here.  “The entire 1,000 acres here has multiple old cinnabar mines on it. They were mined early 1900s all the way up through mid-1900s, ’50s and ’60s, somewhere in there they were closed down, but these are actually mining starts where they dug in about 100 feet, didn’t find any cinnabar, so they abandoned the holes,” said Billy.

“So, what they would do is they would come in and they would chisel out just enough to put the stick in there, and then it’d blow it, and then they would just take the pieces right on out of here,” said Jess.

“Hand drilled holes, packed with dynamite, blow off a chunk of rock, hole it all out by hand, mules. Several of the mines still have a narrow-gauge rail car. The tracks are still there, so they would haul it out on rail tracks. Just a crazy lifestyle,” explained Billy.

As you can imagine, building this in a place where the closest major retailers are two and half hours away, isn’t easy. “On one hand, it is the most friendly area to ever build anything in, and on one hand it is the hardest area to ever build anything in,” said Billy. “It’s the hardest place because you can’t get any materials. There’s one plumber in South Brewster County, there’s one electrician in South Brewster County. You may wait a year for the electrician to do anything for you. The plumber’s $300 an hour.”

What makes the stay in these caves so incredible is what makes this entire area so fantastic. The night sky. “The really crazy thing is the amount of stars that you can see at night. A lot of people, that’s really the whole reason why you come out here, right? Is the night sky. It’s the darkest sky in the lower 48,” said Jess.

“We believe in the power of the place and it’s certainly not us. And it’s not anything that we’ve built or anything like that. We have some cool stuff here, don’t get me wrong, but really and truthfully, if you come out here, it’s about the views. It’s about the stars,” said Billy.

“You lay in bed, you wake up in the middle of the night, and that Milky Way is just in your face. It’s pretty incredible,” said Jess.

Coming to Big Bend is one of my favorite stops in the Lone Star State and if you happen to be coming this way, caving in and booking a stay at The Summit is well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List. “If you are a true Texan, you were born in Texas, you vacation in Texas and you die in Texas, why in the world would you not want to see all Texas has to offer?” asked Billy.

“You do it so people can come out here and make the memories,” said Jess.

“Take it in, breathe it, live it, relax with it. It’s just so fantastic to be out here.”

The Texas Bucket List – The Menger Hotel in San Antonio

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San Antonio – The stories of old San Antonio go back centuries and on some of the most hallowed ground in the whole state, you’ll find the Menger Hotel. This hotel has been a popular place for nearly 200 years.

Garvin O’Neal is the general manager of the hotel that is located right next to the Alamo. He has worked in many prestigious properties across the Lone Star State, but the hospitality industry wasn’t his original plan. “I was in chemical engineering,” said Garvin. “I got a D in calculus my freshman year, so I said, maybe this ain’t for me.”  Garvin also does an amazing Robert De Niro impression and has even been confused for the famous actor!

After his long career, Garvin received a call from the Moody family who own the Menger Hotel to take over. Garvin answered, “I’m in… I love this hotel for years. Stayed in this hotel lots and got the Menger. Yeah, it’s a great hotel.” When asked what resonates the most with him about this hotel, he said the sense of history it has.

The Menger Hotel opened in 1859, just 23 years after the fall of the Alamo. It was built by William and Mary Menger who originally built it as a brewery with a boarding house. Ultimately, the Mengers used their profits from that to build one of the finest full-service hotels west of the Mississippi.

The hotel was redesigned around 1909, but the original 1859 lobby has the same bones. Soon after the hotel opening, the restaurant was added. The hotel then underwent more construction to add the east wing because of the large success of the place.

While walking through the hotel, you will still find some of the original furniture the Mengers had a hand in putting in. According to Garvin, “The Mengers went to Europe between the fifties and the seventies to buy great pieces of antique furniture like [the] Steinway. And as you look through the lobby, you see some pieces that are original to the Menger Hotel in the first phase and were purchased by William and Mary on their trips to Europe.”

Many people have stayed at the Menger over the years, including celebrities like Roy Rogers, Babe Ruth, and presidents Grant, Lee, McKinley, Eisenhower, and Clinton. Additionally, several Texas history authors, such as Sidney Lanier and O’Henry, have spent weeks at a time at the Menger.

The Colonial Room is one of the most famous areas where people have gathered over the years because of its reputation for serving a tasty treat. This restaurant has become known for its homemade mango ice cream, and let me tell you, it is fantastic!

There is another aspect to the Menger Hotel that is a popular topic – the spooky stories. “I think when it comes to paranormal, it’s the power of suggestions. So people come in thinking, ‘wow, this place is haunted.’ Then you walk the hallways over there and it is wooden floors and they creak, right? They creak and you’re like, ‘wow, that’s weird,” said O’Neal.

One of the most famous spots for hauntings is the King Ranch suite. In this very room and even exact bed, Richard King, the founder of King Ranch, passed away in 1885. Garvin said “it’s also the most requested room in the hotel because people want to go and have Richard King visit. He’s the most popular ghost, apparently, in the hotel.”

Garvin chalks up the creepy noises and creaks to the hotel’s old age. Although, he did mention he has had one creepy encounter of his own.  “I’ve had one fleeting moment of something very bizarre. I sensed somebody being next to me up there. But I haven’t let it get to my head.”

There is also the Menger Bar which deserves a story of its own! But this time, we only checked in on one of the most storied places to stay in our great state of Texas.

If you’re looking to see and experience Texas history, a stay at the Menger Hotel is a great spot on The Texas Bucket List. Like Garvin says, “If you want to get a sense of culture and go back in time to the late 1800s and get a feel of San Antonio from that perspective, then you probably need to stay at the Menger.”

The Texas Bucket List – Cypress Valley Treehouses in Spicewood

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Spicewood – When it comes to lodging in the Lone Star State, we’ve seen all sorts of interesting ways to spend the night under the big bright stars of Texas. From see through plastic bubbles, teepee’s, top of the line desolate destinations, to yurts you can call your own. While all these locations were unique there’s one thing they didn’t have. A view from the trees.

“Now you know what I mean when I say this is adult comfort in a tree,” said Amy Beilharz, the owner of Cypress Valley, a central Texas hideaway in Spicewood that specializes in shelters that happen to be suspended in century old cypress trees.

“Our whole goal is to get people out in nature, find really unique places that we can share with people and then provide them something like a tree house that’s so enticing,” explained Amy. Living in the trees?  Who could have come up with such an idea?! “I’m from California originally. And I moved to Austin in 1984,” stated Amy.

Amy purchased this property back in 1997 and wanted it to share its unique central Texas topography with the world. “We kept trying to find a way to share it, because it’s like a little state park, but we didn’t want to destroy it in sharing it,” explained Amy.

So in 2005, she opened a zip line adventure course and according to Amy, it was the first in the continental United States. “It was just a zip line. And then the first year we would do the last tour of the day because our guides would be so tired, we got so popular so fast and we’d do the last tour. And everybody kept asking if they could spend the night in the trees. So that winter we built a treehouse,” said Amy.

Today, the tree houses have taken over her property with 5 different spots to stay on site. “We just decided to refocus our energies on providing people a deeper experience in nature,” stated Amy.

Considering Amy used to work in the technology sector in Austin, she gets a kick out of her more recent venture. “My prior life, I was in high tech and building and designing phones, data communications. And at that time I was looking for ways, this is in the eighties, looking for reasons people would want to use these things, right? And now at Cypress Valley, I’m pretty much giving people a way to stop and get off the screen and enjoy each other,” Amy explained.

The seclusion helps. To get to a few of the more private treehouses, a trek across a suspension bridge is required. “We tell people to pack light. You’re going to go over a suspension bridge that moves a little. It’s part of the adventure. You don’t have a hallway and an elevator. This is not your typical hotel,” said Amy as we walked across this suspension bridge.

Once safely across, you see why these treehouses are so sought-after. “That’s actually an interesting dilemma and we’ve worked with it because everybody does want a treehouse in their heart. They have that childhood dream still. Right? So we want to keep it playful while at the same time you want adult creature comfort,” explained Amy.

“When you’re in a tree house, you’re experiencing the tree, right? You’re not just in a hotel box with a pretty landscape. You’re really out in nature,” said Amy.

The solitude and silence of being up in the trees makes you feel peacefully alone yet brings out the childlike instinct of doing something so cool and out of the ordinary. “We don’t play very often. We entertain ourselves. We stay busy, but we don’t have that real joyful playfulness that we did as a kid and a tree house just lets you do that. It’s like you’re already breaking all the rules, you’re up in a tree and it just opens that party back up,” said Amy.

If a family experience is what you’re looking for, the Nest tree house has a bit more space. That is home to the Swiss Family treehouse that is filled with all of the amenities needed to entertain the whole family!

And of course, if getting married in the middle of the woods is the wedding of your dreams, you can do that here too.

This experience is all about being one with the trees and having a tree all to yourself.  A unique feeling that only a few kids got to experience with their own treehouse but now everyone can get that feeling of having your own private hideaway. “ I think people are calmer and kinder the more time they spend in nature. And I really enjoy the fact that we’ve got something so seductive that people will want to come do it. They don’t have to be a nature lover to want to come do it. I think it gives adults a free pass to actually start to find that part of themselves again,” expressed Amy.

The Texas Bucket List – Indian Lodge in Fort Davis

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Fort Davis – Over the years on The Texas Bucket List, our trips to the Davis Mountains have always been a highlight in our adventures. The McDonald Observatory is one of my favorite stops we’ve ever featured on the show but the desolate destination makes this trip a little tougher than most.

Now if you really want to soak in the sites here, you’ll have to find a place to stay and if you plan well enough in advance, the Indian Lodge situated in Keesey Canyon is a pretty cool place to do just that. “This entire area, not just the lodge, not just the park, but Fort Davis, Alpine, Marfa, these are destination places for people to come visit,” stated Jeff Williams, the Park Superintendent at the Indian Lodge State Park.

Situated in the Davis Mountains State Park, the Indian Lodge is the only full-service hotel run by Texas Parks and Wildlife and it is very popular. “With any state park in Texas, you can make reservations up to five months in advance, and currently we are booked five months in advance,” said Jeff.

Built in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the resort originally had 19 rooms but now there are 39 places for Texans to get a good night’s rest. “The architecture of the lodge is called Pueblo Revival, and it was built as a tourist motor court. This was an effort to get car touring in this part of Texas,” said Jeff. “What it is now is a historic site, and we work our best to preserve it. But when they built it, you have to put yourself in mind of the teepee, the teepee hotels, or Route 66, because that’s the vibe they were going for here is that off-the-beaten-path unusual tourist draw thing for the culture that went crazy for traveling around the United States right before and after World War II,” explained Jeff.

While taking us on a tour of his office, which used to be the dinner room of the lodge, Jeff gave us an architectural breakdown of the lodge. The building is made from adobe bricks, the majority of the materials used were harvested from throughout Texas to create a beautifully detailed lodge. “Because of the fact that it was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, I think it’s important that everybody, at least, know a little something about that history, and that generation that went to work to provide for their families. It’s important that we honor that history, and preserve it, and pass that history along,” explained Jeff.

The surreal beauty of the white adobe walls sitting in the middle of a west Texas canyon is stunning and if you head up Skyline Drive next to the lodge, you can marvel at one of the most beautiful sunsets in the whole state. “I’ve become a collector of sunsets since I’ve moved out here. I have some pretty awesome sunset pictures,” said Jeff.

But when the stars come out at night, they truly are big and bright. “You don’t have to go to the observatory to observe the night skies, most of the time they are beautiful just with the naked eye from right here in the park,” said Jeff.

Popular with people who want to get away or have an amazing family adventure, chances are you’ll want to visit Indian Lodge more than once. “We came one year, and my folks turned right around and came the next year. They didn’t bring my brother and me with them that second time,” joked Jeff.

So if you’re looking for fun with family or just a romantic and relaxing trip to west Texas, pass on the teepee and lay your head at the Indian Lodge in the Davis Mountains, a magnificent stop on The Texas Bucket List. “You don’t get to see this kind of terrain, and these mountain features. You don’t get to see them everywhere in Texas. And if you have the opportunity, you ought to come see this beautiful part of the state,” expressed Jeff.

The Texas Bucket List – Yurtopia in Wimberley

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Wimberley – The tranquil terrain of the Texas Hill Country seems to accentuate itself on the winding roads of Wimberly. The Blanco River slowly runs over its limestone riverbed and all you can think about is finding the perfect spot to enjoy such a beautiful sight. Fortunately, we found one, simply called Yurtopia.

Brian Konradi and his wife Ann-Tyler are the caretakers of this paradise surrounded by the hills of central Texas, but their lodging isn’t your typical Texas-style shelter. After looking at the topography of the land and their options, the Konradi’s thought of yurts. Now you may be asking, what in the world is a yurt?  “Most people already have an idea of what a yurt is but sometimes their girlfriend or their husband or somebody has seen it on Instagram and say ‘I’m supposed to call you to book you for our anniversary, I don’t know what a yurt is but my girlfriend told me to do this.’,” joked Ann-Tyler. It turns out these tents are pretty darn romantic.

Each yurt has a name, like the Lola Ger. Lola was Brian’s grandmother’s nickname, and Ger is Mongolian for yurt. After we stepped into the yurt, it was incredible how spacious and beautifully handcrafted it really is.  “They’re all made in Mongolia, they’re made of natural materials using the Mongolian techniques and hand painted by a family in Mongolia,” explained Brian.

These dome tents are a popular form of protection from the elements for people in central Asia, mostly Mongolia of course. “All of the walls can collapse down, the rafters come out, there are no nails or screws in these rafters or the walls. The walls are all made from camel hide joints. They’re all hand hewn, you can actually see where they steamed them and bent them along the edges,” explained Brian. The entire structure of the yurt is held up by two posts called the bagon, and there is both a male and female bagon. How do you tell the difference? Well, the female bagon has a “fertility” rope that flows through it.

A lifetime of experiences traveling in Russia and along the Trans-Siberian Railway lead Brian and Ann-Tyler to putting yurts right here in the Lone Star State.  “I did a trip with a friend who was on a Habitat for Humanity trip, and we stayed in yurts there. Families that just set up summertime yurts for travelers in Kyrgyzstan and it was really amazing,” said Brian.

The couple is originally from Texas, Brian from Dallas and Ann-Tyler is from the Wimberley/Austin area, but when they got married in 1994, they went on a whim to Russia. “We moved to Moscow, found odd jobs and traveled all around that area,” said Brian.

Brian studied Russian in college and when Russia opened after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they saw it as an exciting opportunity. Their worldly experience played a role in constructing the crazy looking canvas structures that seem to fit in perfect with the peaceful Texas setting.  “We like the marriage or blend of Texas and the Texas Hill Country with this kind of international aspect of what’s come together with what we’ve built here at Yurtopia,” said Brian.

Now there’s two types of yurts here, the RiverBluff section is down by the river and is made more for the group experience. You can grab that chair and umbrella and just relax in the river, or also known as “river sitting”. “River sitting is one of our favorite things, and kind of our pastime,” said Brian. And for the more private affair, there are three yurt complexes, where you are completely to yourself, with everything you could possibly need all in one super private place. “You can come in your little sanctuary and hang out for the weekend or a couple of days during the week and never see your neighbors,” explained Ann-Tyler.

Now this little piece of heaven in the hills of Wimberly is adult-only, because keeping the utopia in Yurtopia is what this place is all about. “So we don’t have enough yurts, we can’t build too many more yurts before we’ve really done too much to what the property can handle,” explained Brian.

After a long peaceful sleep at Yurtopia, it’s safe to say that it’s truly an extraordinary stop on The Texas Bucket List, one yurt sure to enjoy. “Definitely think the Mongolians were onto something when they designed the yurt, there’s something unique and special about it and people really do wake up and say they felt like they slept differently than they have in a long time,” said Brian.