Willie Nelson croons, “My heroes have always been cowboys.” In another song, he warns, “Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.”

This diacotomy of feeling cast confusion on the whole cowboy issue. Is it some type of conflicted cowboy syndrome or a love/hate relationship with the cowboy ideal?

Willie Nelson’s newest song,” Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond Of Each Other)” added yet another legend to the cowboy mythos that was the subject of the movie Brokeback Mountain.

None of this matters because the cowboy mystique, however you define it, is alive and well in Texas! It exists in me, and in anyone who has ever seen the vast reaches of the Southwest and wished they could visit the open range as it was 150 years ago. I long to ride a wild mustang, hair flying behind me, face to the wind; just me, my horse and an incredible sunset. Fade to black…

Did you ever dream of being a cowboy or cowgirl? Have you ever dressed up for Go Western or Go Texan Day as a cowhand? Maybe you attended a rodeo in worn jeans, cowboy shirt with pearl snap buttons, heeled boots, a hankerchief around your neck, and a straw cowboy hat on your head. Feed your inner cowboy or cowgirl, and go see Ride Around the World : A Cowboy Adventure on the giant screen (IMAX).

Ride Around the World follows the development of horse-and-cattle culture from its earliest stages by transporting viewers to little known corners of the world where remote and exotic cowboy cultures live and work as they did centuries ago. In the process, through the immersive experience of the giant screen, it allows viewers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ride with these authentic cowboys and cowgirls.

The IMAX Theatre is located in the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum at 1800 N. Congress Avenue at the corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Austin, Texas. Call (512) 936-IMAX or visit www.TheStoryofTexas.com for showtimes. If you do not live in Texas, check with the IMAX in your location and experience Ride Around the World : A Cowboy Adventure soon.

Tags: Ride Around the World, cowboy adventure, Willie Nelson, IMAX, feed your inner cowboy

Cave Bacon
Cave Without a Name
Boerne, Texas

The Cave Without a Name is located north of Boerne. This cave is family-owned and is one of the most beautiful in Texas.

Enter The Cave Without a Name through the man-made entrance housed in a wooden building and walk down several flights of stairs (126 steps) to start the tour.

Eventually you will view six remarkable rooms, each one unique. This living cavern is filled with soda straws, cave draperies, flowstones, rimstone dams, helictites, pop-corn, pools, grapes, draperies, cave bacon, stalactites and stalagmites. Sometimes musical events are held in the Queen’s Throne Room to take advantage of the wonderful natural acoustics of the cavern.

The tour takes approximately 60 minutes and tours depart throughout the day. The year-round temperature is 66 degrees so the Texas heat is no problem! Pictures and video recorders are welcome.

Directions: Head north from San Antonio on IH-10. On the outskirts of Boerne, take Hwy 87 (Main Street), continue until you reach FM 474, turn right (east) and journey for a short distance to Kreutzberg Road and turn right. Follow the signs to The Cave Without a Name.

Post updated 7/6/07.

Tags: The Cave Without a Name, Boerne, Texas, soda straws, flowstones, rimstone dams, cave bacon, grapes, cave music

There are thousands of caves in Texas. Over the next few days, I will highlight the large commercial or show caves of Texas.

The show caves are easy to find and do not require an insurance waiver, hard hat, climbing gear, breathing apparatus and squirming on your belly to view.

If you are interested in the crawl on your belly through bat guano caves, leave me a comment and I will point you toward the killer caves of Texas.

Cascade Caverns, named for a beautiful waterfall that plunges 90+ feet into the main cave, are about 1/3 mile in length and lie 180 feet below the surface. Temperature in the caverns is a cool 68 degrees, making Cascade Caverns a perfect place to explore during hot summer days.

Cascade Caverns are active, with pure water rushing over dripstone formations and dripping from stalactites onto the cavern floor to form stalagmites or gather into underground pools. Cascade Caverns have fascinated generations of visitors since its opening in 1932. Cascade Caverns were designated as a historical site in 1964.

Over 100 million years ago, the caverns were an ocean bed, so look closely and you will see shells and fossils of marine life in the rock. Artifacts found inside and around the entrance to the caverns show that they were home to man and beast for thousands of years before modern man.

The pathways of Cascade Caverns are well lit, easily navigated, and will lead you through room after room of cave breathtaking beauty until you reach the 90+ feet waterfall. The tour is 45 minutes to one hour in length, but the cool temperature will make the walking a breeze. The caverns are located 14 miles NW of San Antonio. From San Antonio take IH-10 west toward Boerne, exit 543 on Cascade Caverns Road. Cascade Caverns are open daily, but call for more information (830-755-8080).

From the Cascade Caverns website:

Stroll through the rain forest and delight at the many soda straw formations that abound. Be careful what you touch because this cave is still an active cave! Millions of glistening drops of water decorate the ceiling, waiting for an unwitting guest to walk underneath and be surprised by a cave kiss. The rain forest area is also the home to the one of many forms of wild life in the cave. The Cascade Cavern Salamanders, of which a book was written, are an endangered variety of the albino Salamander native to cave environments.

From the Texas Historical Society website:

Cascade Cavern [sic] presents an interesting mix of geological, archeological, and historical features. It exhibits a combination of the joint and the dip and strike types of caverns, and is the home of a number of unusual animals, including cliff and leopard frogs, Mexican brown bats, and Cascade Cavern salamanders. Archeological evidence uncovered near the cave indicates the presence of two Indian sites. It is probable that the Indians used the cave for shelter, and soot found on the sides of a natural chimney suggests that they had fires.

Tags: Cascade Caverns, cave kiss, show cave, active cave system, historical site, fossils and artifacts, near Boerne