Gretchen has attended overnight camp for a few years now, skipping 2020 when camp was canceled due to a global pandemic, but this was the first time that she attended a brand NEW camp located over 4.5 hours away from home. She gladly took the charter bus on the way there, but come time for camp pickup, we wanted to go and get her in person.
So we turned it into a Texas state adventure with our friends the Northcuts, and we got more than we expected out of a VRBO rental house.
We stayed at the Uno Mas Ranch in Bandera, TX in a great cabin large enough for 9 people to stay comfortably. There was a pool table, an outdoor kitchen and a whole lot of taxidermy hanging on the walls (and standing on the furniture, and serving as decoration). There was also several varieties of big game animals on the property. That little detail was not included in the VRBO description.
I assumed that the curly-horned deer-goats that we passed on our way in were just a bizarre breed from the part of Texas that I have never visited. It turned out that they were ibex, which are native to any continent that doesn't contain the word "America".
Then there were these larger-than-normal deer that came to the watering hole in front of our cabin each night around dinnertime. We observed, watched their herd behavior, but didn't think a whole lot of them, except that they were fun to watch.
And then we were visited by a herd of wildebeests. They are definitely not usually found in Texas. Now this stay had more of the feel of an African safari. We were brought back to Texas by this truly awesome longhorn. This fella was the alpha for sure. Nobody messes with the longhorn. Not the wildebeests, not the humans. This was the lesson in animal behavior that none of us expected.
Then came time to pickup our first born! Camp OTX was incredible! Brand new, clean and spacious bunks, water slides and archery and gymnastics and crafts! It was so great to see this long-legged beauty come sprinting toward us after a week away!
She had a blast. Gretchen made new friends, tried new activities and has already decided that she wants to return for a 2-week stay next summer. Now we get to enjoy another night of ranch life with our family and friends watching the animals and swimming in the largest pool in Bandera County. Daddy perfected the oven-made s'mores (due to a burn notice, we were not able to have an outdoor campfire) and we enjoyed a beautiful evening with our little stair-step kids surrounded by wild animal noises.
As it turns out, this is a very common type of ranch in Texas. They bring in wild game to tourists that want to hunt and during hunting season these cabins are used for resting between hunts. We did not know this going in, and were excited and surprised by the animals, however the idea of killing them for fun makes me sad.
We stayed at the Uno Mas Ranch in Bandera, TX in a great cabin large enough for 9 people to stay comfortably. There was a pool table, an outdoor kitchen and a whole lot of taxidermy hanging on the walls (and standing on the furniture, and serving as decoration). There was also several varieties of big game animals on the property. That little detail was not included in the VRBO description. 
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