Life on King Ranch

Last Saturday we rounded up our tenderfoots to head out to one of the country's largest ranches - King Ranch. The 5:45 a.m. wake up call came early and they grumbled a little, but we enticed them with a warm breakfast cooked by ranch hands as part of the annual Ranch Hands Breakfast. That helped a little.

With their earplugs and ITouches, we (our kids plus one friend) headed out for the little more than an hour road trip. We watched the sun rise over the plains as we headed for Kingsville, a small blip of a town.

"Look, there's real cowboys," my husband told the kids. I could feel the roll of the eyes behind me.

Branding aprons.

The King Ranch is really amazing. The vastness of the place. The quietness. The wildlife and the history. The fabled ranch began in the late 1800s when boat captain Richard King along with a partner bought a 15,500-acre Mexican land grant named Rincon de Santa Gertrudis. Over the century, the family added acreage to make it 825,000 acres and diversified its business from cattle to citrus in Florida, along with many other endeavors.

Three men and one calf. We saw many calfs win.

It takes a town to put on this breakfast. Everyone from official ranch employees to town volunteers help with the shindig. And it's not only food they dish out, but history and education. Demonstrations of branding, calf roping, weaving, and cowboy entertainment kept the morning lively.

Our son had a great time looking at the longhorns, cheering the calf roping competitors, and watching the branding of King Ranch aprons. Our daughter and her friend, well they liked it. But a trip to the mall would have trumped King Ranch.

Coffee anyone?

Afterwards, we toured the museum which is loaded with buggies, old cars and photographs. We tried to tour the ranch, but the next available tour group was 2.5 hours later. We knew we couldn't keep three kids amused for that long before the tour. We'll save that for another time.

As we ended our time on the ranch we marveled at how it's stayed together over more than a century. It's weathered the Civil War, the Depression, droughts, floods, hurricanes, and the ebbs and flows of time.

Wondering when we can get back.

The Wondering Texan

Just a thumb-size portion on the ranch.

City kids love horses.