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Texas Longhorn - Ranch Experience

Texas Longhorn - Ranch Experience

After touring Austin with the Texas State Capitol and the Texas State Musuem you will have a ranch experience.  Spend the night on a real ranch complete with horseback riding, wagon rides, campfires, and more.  Then take in some nature elements before visiting San Antonio with Mission San Jose and the Alamo.

  • Program Highlights

    Almost all ACTS Education Program tours doing The Texas Longhorn Program will include:

    Texas State Capitol
    Bullock Texas State History Museum
    LBJ Library
    Texas Ranch Experience
    Mission San Jose
    The Alamo
    Meadows Center - glass bottom boat tour
    Inner Space Caverns
     

  • Climate

    Texas's climate varies widely.  Due to the huge expanse of Texas's landmass, several regions with distinctly different climates can be found: The Northern Plains, Trans-Pecos Region, Texas Hill Country, Piney Woods, and South Texas. Basically, the eastern half of Texas is humid and subtropical, the western half is semi-arid.  

  • Geography

    Texas is the second largest U.S.state, behind Alaska.  Texas geography is divided into the Gulf Coastal Plains, Interior Lowlands, Great Plains, and Basin and Range Province.  The Gulf Coastal Plains with thick piney woods, wraps around the Gulf of Mexico on the southeast section of the state. The Interior Lowlands consists of rolling to hilly forested land.  The Great Plains with its prairies in central Texas runs through the Texas Panhandle to the hill country near Austin. " The Basin and Range Province is West Texas.  This region includes sandy hills, plateaus, desert valleys, wooded mountain slopes and desert grasslands.

     

    The interior limit of the Gulf Coastal Plains in Texas is the line of the Balcones Escarpment. This escarpment is a line of southward and eastward-facing hills. The resemblance of the hills to balconies when viewed from the plain below accounts for the Spanish name for this area: balcones. 

     

    Austin is located in south central Texas, where the Colorado River crosses the Balcones Escarpment, separating the Texas Hill Country from the prairies to the east. 

     

    San Antonio was built on forested land and it also sits on the Balcones Escarpment with the San Antonio River running through it. 
     

  • Essentials

    • Standing in the center of the Texas Capitol Rotunda and looking up at the top of the dome. It is taller than the Capitol dome in Washington, D.C.
    • Experiencing the special effects at the Texas Spirit Theater and seeing the moon rock at Bullock Texas State History Museum.
    • Sitting outside around a campfire with your friends at a ranch under the big Texas night sky.
    • Remembering the Alamo as you see the place where men made the ultimate sacrifices for freedom.
    • Walking along the Paseo del Rio in San Antonio enjoying the amazing river and the history, wonder, beauty and pride that have made San Antonio what it is today.

  • Get Prepared

    WATCH
    A short video from the History Channel covering the basic facts on the Battle of the Alamo.

    READ
    The preamble to the Constitution of Texas. 
    We, the people of the republic of Texas,
    acknowledging with gratitude the grace and beneficence of God, in permitting us to make a choice of our form of government, do, in accordance with the provisions of the joint resolution for annexing Texas to the United States, approved March first, one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, ordain and establish this constitution.
     
    LISTEN
    "Texas, Our Texas," is the the state song of Texas that was adopted by the state legislature in 1929 after a submission contest.
    Many people think that the state song is "Deep in the Heart of Texas."

  • Senses

    EAT
    Chili (beans and meat), BBQ, Tex-Mex, Nachos--named around 1943 after original chef Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya.
     
    DRINK
    A lot of water.  It can be warm and humid during your tour.  
    A Dr. Pepper is always a good choice!

  • In A Word:

    Austin - Capitol
    San Antonio - Alamo

  • Surprises:

    • Texas is the only state to have the flags of six different nations fly over it: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, The Confederate States of America, and the United States of America.
    • The Texas state capitol building is the largest  capitol of all state capitols in the nation.
    • The state dish of Texas is chili.

  • Cities/Destinations Included

    • Austin
    • Ranch Experience
    • San Antonio
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