I really wish we had more time to just stay here so we kinda took our time getting up and out....and instead of going the right way, we turned the wrong way which added about an hour of wandering our way back all on gravel roads. But we finally got to see that mountain goat.
We decided to take 385 to Marathon which led us back through the park. The good part was that we went right by the Fossil Park that we had missed the day before.
The 385 drive was really nice and a bit less active (no oil activity) than the I-10 drive coming in. We got to drive through Langtry, home of the Judge Roy Bean Museum, but I really wanted to make it to the Val Verde Winery before it closed for the day.
The checkpoints were all being enforced and added time onto our journey.
Amistad National Reserve at the Rio Grande River
Val Verde Winery (Link) is in Del Rio and it is the oldest bonded winery in Texas founded by an Italian family who have ran it for 3 generations. This is a Texas Century Farm.
The wine is good and it was really cool that the vinter, Michael Quaglia, heard us talking and stopped to answer questions and visit with us for awhile.
His grand father, with other Italian men and their families immigrated to Mexico from Milan but later wound up in Del Rio farming and growing grapes and started the vineyard around 1883. I’d never heard of the Italian presence in Del Rio but you can see it (types of trees and houses). There was an Italian community that settle here. We asked him about Grappa and he snickered and said their winery doesn't make it but there was a still on the property so he's pretty sure they did at one time.
They had to move it out of sight due to their license.
They had to move it out of sight due to their license.
We finished our day with the rest of the drive through Bracketville and Hondo to San Antonio. Dinner at Acenar, dancing on the River Walk, and a nightcap with music at the Gunter (Sheraton) (which has been remodeled) to combine the old with new.
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