Pink Flamingo GTG - 3rd Day - LBJ Ranch Park

After coffee on the front porch of the Rec Hall at the Peachtree RV park, three carloads of us headed over to the LBJ Ranch.

 l to r:  Vickie, Sue, Colleen, Vickie, Pat, Sharon, Carolyn, Gloria, Karen, Martha, and Margareta.

This park is actually a combination of two parks: a Texas State Park and a National Historical Park (the LBJ Ranch).  They used to make everyone ride a bus around the actual LBJ Ranch but now you can drive your own car.  Be sure to stop at the Visitor's Center to sign in and pick up your CD which provides a great narrative tour stop by stop.  It's free and you just drop it off in the box on your way off the ranch.

As you can see, there is a great to see while you are here so be sure to allow enough time to see it all.

The Visitor's Center has a nice gift shop.  You can also watch a movie.  They also have a great poster on the wall depicting all the wild flowers in the area.

You will also want to visit the exhibit center and take a look at a typical dogtrot cabin right behind the Visitor's Center.

Use your CD and your next stop should be the Sauer-Beckman Living History Farm. You can drive over following the directions given or you can actually walk there following a nature path.  This is a great place for both young and old to visit. 

l to r:  Birdie, Pat, Sharon, Carolyn, Vickie, and Margareta pose at the front entrance of the farm.

The building on the left contains typical food that is canned or preserved right there at the farm.  The guides actually work the farm just as it would have been done at the time the farm was established.  They care for the farm animals, butcher and preserve their own meat, grow and preserve their own vegetables, etc.  They fix and eat meals just they would have done back in those days.  You never know exactly what you will see while you are there.

This young lady was in the kitchen showing us how she makes butter and cheese for their meals.

Across the dogtrot area, we got to see the rest of the house and how the family lived.  It was a very nice house.

This is the back of the house.  There was a chicken coop with chickens running around in their yard.

This very large sow was relaxing in the pig pen in front of the barn.

Our next stop was the actual ranch tour.  Here Carolyn and Vickie take some photos of the school that LBJ attended when he was young.

The Junction School.  The next area we passed was the Johnson Family Cemetery.  It was beginning to sprinkle and everyone in our car had been there so we didn't stop.  It is like many other Texas family cemeteries.  Nothing overly ornate or out of place or pretentious.

The tour continues out around the ranch.  It is a working ranch and the cattle are loose within the areas where you drive so you must take care as they definitely have the right of way.

I think they were as interested in watching us as we were in looking at them.  The calves were running around playing with each other.

The next stop was the show barn where the cattle were prepped for shows.  This big boy was in one of the pens.  The ranch hand explained that they are breeding to downsize the cattle so they would be more the size they were in past history.  He also explained that the horns are weighted when they are young so that they grow down and pose less of a danger.

l to r:  Darlene, Sue, Vickie, Diana (behind) and Martha were out front chatting while they waited for the rest of the group to come out of the show barn.

The LBJ has it's own airstrip.  The President used to fly in to Austin and then fly out to the Ranch in this small Airforce 1.  Although the Ranch was called the Texas White House and the President loved to come here and relax, he didn't spend nearly as much time away from Washington as later presidents have done.

This is the Texas White House.  The rest of the park is completely free to visitors but a small $2 per person is charged to tour the inside of the house.  It is a nice house but again, it is not really pretentious--definitely a family home.  

Next stop lunch......