Big Bend Trip Day 2- Fort Davis National Historic Site
We spent the second day of our Big Bend trip in Fort Davis.
We started the day with some breakfast from Lupita’s Place. We ordered some breakfast burritos and pancakes and bacon.
After breakfast, we headed over to Fort Davis National Historic Davis. Fort Davis has a lot to see and it starts as soon as you get out of your vehicle. We stopped to check out the exhibit signs and look at the Apache wickiup before before going to the visitor’s center.
Once in the visitor’s center, we paid our admission and the boys picked up a junior ranger booklet.
We looked around the museum in the visitor’s center first and then watched a video before going out to explore the rest of the Fort.
The fort has a lot of buildings to explore as well as ruins. However, Fort Davis is the highest town in Texas so the weather is cooler and windier. It was so windy that we walked as quickly as we could to get inside a building. We walked towards the ruins but we didn’t get very close. We just kind of stopped for a few quick pictures and kept walking so we could go inside.
The buildings that we were able to explore included the barracks, officer’s quarters, a store, the kitchen, and the hospital. Each of the buildings had plenty to see.
I think the store was one of the most interesting buildings. We were able to see what soldiers had to eat and there was even a comparison with what soldiers eat today. This building also had an interactive game to play called The Road to Fort Davis. There were two wagons and each person took turns spinning a wheel to see how many spaces they move. Whoever made it to Fort Davis first was the winner. There were of course obstacles along the way as well.
The kitchen was another of the more interesting buildings. There was actually someone inside in period clothing. She had just finished baking something in the oven and she took the time to tell us about everything in the kitchen.
The furthest building was the hospital. It was at the back of the fort and there was a little bit of a slope to get up to it. Some of the rooms here were actually in ruins and others had stuff to look at. There was another interactive exhibit in the here as well. It was the wheel of misfortune. First you spin to see what sickness you have and then you spin another wheel to guess the treatment. This was the last building we explored before leaving the Fort.
After exploring the hospital, we headed quickly back to the car to avoid the wind and moved on tour our next stop- McDonald Observatory.
Have you ever been to Fort Davis?
Check out more of our Big Bend trip:
