Spring Break Part 3 – Lyndon B Johnson National Historical Park and San Antonio

April 13, 2019 P-TParaD Comments 1 comment

We left last time heading south from McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, Texas. The bad weather continued to plague us as we traveled further into Texas Hill Country. In this post, we stop at Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park on the way to San Antonio to explore and enjoy more of our Spring Break vacation.

12 March 2019 – Austin to San Antonio, with a stop in Johnson City

This was our view for most of the trip to Johnson City

Our next stop was the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, near Johnson City, Texas. The planned hour drive to took longer than expected. No one gave Texas a note about Spring Break weather. We had to get out a machete to cut through the fog.

Grilled Cheese and Junior Ranger books. The lunch of P-T ParaD kids.

Once we arrived to the park, we grabbed a quick lunch in the camper while working on Junior Ranger books and

figuring out what we wanted to see during our quick stop. The kids got on a big kick on the trip for asking for grilled cheeses on these kind of lunches.

There are so many reasons we love traveling by RV and this is one of the big ones. It was great to be sitting in our kitchen making a hot meal wherever we please with next to zero set up. It’s such a big change from the days we packed a monster cooler and ate cold sandwiches in the car many years ago.

Once lunch was finished, we toured LBJ’s boyhood home, which is preserved quite well. The tour was interesting to hear some of the stories of what influenced his desires to enter politics. After the tour, we headed to the Visitor Center and watched a movie about the Johnsons. It focused heavily on Ladybird Johnson’s contributions to LBJ’s presidency and their partnership. However, it also focused on the amazing amount of work she did as the First Lady for the Nation in general. She also was a tremendous advocate for the National Park Service.

During the Johnson administration 50 new National Park Service units were designated. His administration helped pass a lot of the environmental protection laws that have a major impact on our life today. I appreciated seeing the whole history of his presidency and understanding his motivations as a human and citizen of this country.

Sworn in and ready to get back on the road

We didn’t realize that the Johnson’s ranch was also part of the park until arriving. We didn’t budget enough time to see the whole park. It looked interesting to tell more of the Johnson’s story and their love of nature. We’ll just have to catch it next time. After swearing in some Junior Rangers, we loaded back up in the truck and headed towards San Antonio.

We finished the last hour of driving and arrived at the San Antonio / Alamo KOA. The kids couldn’t even wait for us to check in at the office before they tore off to the playground. We settled Patty the Trailer into our site and enjoyed a quiet night in the campground.

Dad can do all that paperwork. I’m hitting the swings!

13 March 2019 – Sea World San Antonio

We got a great deal on tickets to Sea World. So we took a small detour from our National Park obsession to check out some dolphins and rides. The last time we took the kids to an amusement park, they weren’t old enough to really get the most out of it. They had a blast.

We went to as many shows as we could. The kids soaked up all the lessons from the trainers, but enjoy the laughs and amazing animals too.

The kids are getting older and more independent. Even though they went on a ride by themselves, they still don’t stray too far from each other.

After a fun, but long day at Sea World, we grabbed some dinner on the way back to the campground and enjoyed another quiet night at the campground.

14 March 2019 – San Antonio Missions National Historical Park and Downtown San Antonio

We woke up early to get to downtown San Antonio. Our plans started us out at Mission San José, which is one of the four missions preserved in the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. The park gave us more than anticipated. We expected some interesting architecture, but of course the National Park Service provided a great experience at the Visitor Center to understand the cultural significance and history of the the mission.

The movie in the Visitor Center was informative. It described how the Spanish built the missions with the goal of turning the native tribes in South Texas into Spanish citizens. The tribes resisted the Spanish initially, but once European diseases ravaged through the tribes they turned to the missions for survival at the cost of losing their identity. The missions taught these Native Americans to farm, irrigate, masonry, how to raise livestock, and more. Many pieces of South Texas culture and really of the Southwest can trace its roots to the Spanish missions.

The mission’s engineering and artisan quality is unbelievable. It’s amazing how well it’s stood through time.

Spain’s methods and motivations don’t really match up with 21st century morals and ethics, but I’m appreciative that the National Park Service is charged to preserve all types of historical and natural places. Not just the history that makes us feel good. These types of history lessons are great primers to talk to the kids about the less glamorous side of humans. Heavy topics aside, the kids got their badges and we headed towards the River Walk.

We wanted to eat lunch along the River Walk and visit the Alamo while we were downtown. The line for the Alamo was wrapped around the block. While it’s still on the bucket list, it’s going to have to wait for another day. We walked around the River Walk some and grabbed some great Tex Mex at Casa Rio.

We drove back to the campground and the kids enjoyed the pool and some bike riding.