Day 1: Mammoths and Bluebonnets

Just before we left for our trip, EJ had a unit all about Texas in school. She can tell you the state bird (mockingbird), butterfly (monarch), hat (10 gallon, of course), tree (pecan), and flower- the Bluebonnet.  We were so excited that we got to see lots of these beauties and some more of other famous Texas wildflowers on this trip.

We kept seeing so many as we were on the freeway, but never in a place where we could safely stop. On the way to the Mammoth site, we saw this little patch and EJ was so excited to get out and take some pictures.  It was funny that when we got to the site, we saw a huge bunch, right by the parking lot (the picture at the top of the post is from that bunch) but we'll never forget our first Bluebonnets :) 

I read about the mammoth site in Waco in one of my kid magazines. It sounded really neat, and it was along the route of our short (5 hr) drive to San Antonio, so we decided to check it out.  It was really cool. I wouldn't recommend going without the tour since there really aren't any interpretive signs or anything, but it is well worth a visit.

To get to the site, you walk along a paved trail for about 1/4 mile. The guide told us about animals that lived in TX with the mammoths- giant sloths and giant bears, and even a giant armadillo that was as big as a VW bug! 

Bear LOVED this big mural of an adult male mammoth- they were BIG!

The site itself is in a building and the bones are exposed as they were found, so the kids could really get an idea of what a paleo dig is all about. There are two groups of mammoths who both died in flash floods, 15,000 years apart so the kids also learned about dirt layers and how they age bones.  Since they died in a flood instead of being eaten or something, the bones are still in roughly a recognizable body form. 

If you look on the pic above, you can see his huge tusks at the top, his front leg (bent) in the upper-right, his ribs in the middle, and his pelvis and back legs at the bottom.

Here is another mammoth- you can see her skull in the right side with a broken tusk. Her ribs and backbone are to the left of the skull in the top of the photo and her leg is in the middle-ish bottom.

Here is Daddy and Birdy in front of a mural depicting the flash flood that killed the herd. Drama!

After the mammoths, we went off to find a Rudy's. It's a reigional BBQ chain that we've heard is really good. We were not disappointed. I think it is the best BBQ we've had in TX so far!  The picture above is especially for Uncle Jeff (thus EJ's "Neener Neener" face)- check out the brisket, smoked sausage, smoked turkey, buttered and boiled red potatoes and, to top it off, a real cane sugar Dr. Pepper.  *Sigh* it was all divine.  Now I want some good BBQ...

We FINALLY got to our hotel and got to go swimming. I think the kids were looking forward to swimming more than any other part of our trip! Too bad this was destined to be Birdy's only trip to the pool. The next day she had a rash that we thought came from the pool, so we nixed any more swimming trips :( (turns out the rash was strep, so it is probably doubly-good she didn't go again!).