We went over Spring Break, but a lot of things we wanted to see were still closed. So we had to modify our trip somewhat. Started in Dallas.
17 Mar - Stopped in Hico for late breakfast and to talk about Billy the Kid. On to Burnet, for a brief stop at the airport to take pics with the tanks/airplanes (museum was closed). Marble Falls Whataburger and finally rolled into Fredericksburg.
18 Mar - Up early and at the Museum of the Pacific War, because he's really into WWII right now, but generally for the vibe. A lot of German family of ours passed through here on their way to the upper Brazos (Ballinger area). After that, we had an ice cream, saw the Vierens Kirche, and Chad Jr. played with the local kids while I had to take a work call. Then it was off to San Antonio and The Menger that evening.
19 Mar - The Alamo in the morning. We had been before, but he had just finished reading a Nathan Hale book about Texas History so it was worth a second look while it was all still fresh in our heads. We checked out the bar at the Menger and saw all the Teddy Roosevelt stuff in addition to seeing the Phil Collins (and other stuff). That afternoon, we went to the DoSeum and hung out at the pool, because 8 year olds can only handle so much history.
20 Mar - Up for some early morning photos of the Alamo. Nobody there. On to Presidio La Bahia in Goliad. We spent a while there as the weather was nice and we essentially had the place to ourselves. We saw the monument to the victims of the Goliad massacre as well as Zaragosa's birthplace since they are literally right next to the Presido. I didn't realize that until I was planning the trip. Popped over to the Mission, on the other side of the river from the Presidio. It looked like a really nice park and I could've spent all weekend there. They were having their rodeo that evening, but as much as I would've liked to have done that, we didn't know about it and hadn't budgeted time for it. Can't do it all. We then scooted over to the location of the Battle of Coleto Creek just outside of Fannin. There's not much there, but there is a little museum with a map of where they went over the battle field with a metal detector and it shows where they found all sorts of musket balls and pieces. That was very cool. From there we went up to Gonzales and stopped at their little museum and saw the "Come and Take It" cannon. It's a beautiful building with a lot of interesting history packed in a small place. It's more the general history of the area. It isn't just dedicated to the cannon. From there, we powered through to Sealy for the night.
21 Mar - We slept in a little, as the previous day was a bit of a whip, and then we were off to San Felipe de Austin. Can't recommend this one enough. After that, we went to Washington-on-the-Brazos and checked out not just the Independence Hall, but hiked the short trail around where the city used to be, the living farm they have there which was great for Chad Jr., and we saw the museum of the Republic there as well. Altogether that took up most of the afternoon. Then we powered through back to Dallas.
A bit of a whirlwind, but it was a bit from the hip as some of our other Spring Break plans had fallen through. Overall, a success though. Would recommend.