Deep In The Heart of Texas: A Photo Overload

The stars at night are big and bright
Deep in the heart of Texas.

The prairie sky is wide and high
Deep in the heart of Texas.

The sage in bloom is like perfume
Deep in the heart of Texas.

Reminds me of the one I love
Deep in the heart of Texas.

The cowboys cry “ki-yip-ee-eye”
Deep in the heart of Texas.

If you know us in real life or you read my blog, you know that Shawn travels a lot for his job.  And on occasion, Hannah and I get to join him. 
 
Now, I’m not much of a country girl, but somehow I ended up with one for a daughter.  She is all country.  She loves horses and cowboys and lassos and bandanas.  We spend many afternoons looking on Google Images for saddles and spurs.
It’s possible that she will wear cowgirl boots with her wedding dress someday.

So, heading to San Antonio was right up our alley.  Hannah and I flew down and met up with Shawn just as he was wrapping things up at the International Petrochemical Conference. 
Don’t be jealous.
He did get a pretty cool swag bag.
Ok, it wasn’t that cool.
Unless you’re an engineer.

Whatevs.

During our flight take off, Hannah giggled, squealed and shouted, “Weeee!  This is fun!”  Ah, to be 3 years old…
She slept for about 2 hours on the plane, which was perfect, because we flew during her normal nap time. 
She woke up when we landed.
”Are we at Texas?”
I told her we were here.
”I wanna go in!” 

So, in we went…

We started off at the Riverwalk where I got to meet Julie.  
And, oh my, it is beautiful there. 
‘Tis a wee bit of heaven, the Riverwalk.

She makes friends with animals everywhere we go.

 
We spent a 97 degree day at Sea World.   
I wasn’t sure our Northern blood would withstand the shock. 

Shawn and I love visiting historical sites
because, well, we’re history nerds. 
So far, Hannah hasn’t shown herself to be a history nerd. 
In fact, it appears that she is too cool for The Alamo.

The highlight of the trip was spending the day at a dude ranch in Bandero, Texas.  It’s the cowboy capital of the world, y’all. 
(I know.  I can’t pull off a “y’all,” but saying “you guys” in a post about Texas just seemed wrong somehow.) 
Anyways, Hannah got to ride a beautiful horse named Bandit and she loved every minute of it. 
I think she would have stayed up there all day. 

She became instant friends with the wrangler and was tickled that her cowgirl boots got dirty and dusty,
just like the real cowgirl.

We did other cool stuff, too.
Like climbing this here dinosaur.

Then we went down into a cave 180 feet below the ground.  When the tour guide said that there was 99% humidity down there, I knew we’d be wearing pony tails before we resurfaced.  We have the kind of hair that goes totally 80’s when hit with humidity and moisture.

What else did we do?
We floated along a lazy river,

buried ourselves in the sand,

and under the pillows.

I’m so glad our little girl likes to travel as much as we do.
I love seeing her experience new places.
And I love experiencing new places with her.
We loved Texas and I have a feeling we will be back. 
But, it sure feels good to be home.