Home, Home on the Range

Hey all! I'm finally back from my amazing trip to Texas! Wow, was it fun! It had to be one of the longest drives of my life though, nearly 23 hours to get to our destination! We made the best of it though and got to experience Texas from top to bottom. I have to say, Texas is a really cool state. The rural life is so much different than Illinois and it's surrounding states. I was almost surprised I didn't see a tumbleweed... On the other hand, I was also surprised to see how many deer I saw (I don't know if it was just me, or I just don't think of deer when I think of Texas!) My brain is always geared towards farms and agriculture in a sense, so a major part of the scenery to me was when we were in the more rural parts: the ranches. 

Bandera Co. is located just west of San Antonio

When I think of a ranch, I think of a cowboy, livestock, trucks and a long dirt road. From what I gathered just driving by these places, I was right. Texas is the state with the ranching roots. Bandera County in Texas is cleverly named "The Cowboy Capital of the World." (if that doesn't say something about ranches in Texas, I don't know what does). Ranching is called the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep in order to produce meat or wool. The landscape is perfect for grazing in my opinion! 


Today, there are many different types of ranches that are available to visit, such as; dude ranches, visitor ranches and working ranches. I, personally, have put that on my list of goals for life: Visiting/working on a ranch. I think it would be so much fun to ride on horses all day, living the life of a cowboy!