The South Dakota Cowgirl

Life on the Ranch Through My Lens

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San Antonio Texas

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I had a lot of photos from San Antonio to sort through and it took me a long time to figure out how I wanted to share the experience. I decided that slide-shows of each of the things/places we went might be easiest. I’ll do my best to recap before you look through them. As always, click on one photo to scroll through them all in a larger size. Enjoy!

Our first visit Friday, was to visit the historic Alamo. I had been when I was about 11, and don’t remember being that impressed but this time was different. I enjoyed taking photos, looking around at the grounds, and really remembering my Texas History, which is taught 3 times to Texas kids while growing up. There is a nearly 140 year old live oak at the Alamo that was exceptionally spectacular, and of course, anyone that knows me realizes that I love, love, love, love, love cacti, and there were plenty on the grounds to photograph. My sister was with us as well and was nice enough to snap a photo of Zach and I when we completed our tour.

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Then we were off to the Spanish Governor’s Palace, Circa 1722. I had a whole paragraph written on this, but it got deleted and I don’t want to rewrite it. Sorry!

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We spent plenty of time on the River Walk, which is just cool. I didn’t take as many photos as I would have liked, because frankly I wasn’t into packing the camera bag, and my purse around. But my new Epiphanie Bag is going to solve that problem. We ate, and ate some more, and I enjoyed my fair share of the best beer ever- and of course it’s courtesy of the Shiner Brewery in Shiner, Texas. If you love beer and you’ve never had a Shiner Bock, you’re missing out. I promise. If you’re friends with me on Facebook, I probably made you dizzy with all my check-ins! Needless to say we had a GREAT time!

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Saturday we headed to New Braunfels, Tx to hang out with my kid brother, my sister-in-law and my niece and new nephew. After a lovely morning at the Jumpy Place (where we made an attempt to wear my almost 3 year old niece, Tatum, out), we headed to Gruene, Tx (in Texas, it’s just simply pronounced Green- if you’re German and you read this, please forgive us!) to have lunch at one of my all-time favorite places to eat- The Gristmill. It’s right on the Guadalupe River, in an old Cotton Gin and the place has so much character it’s just not even funny. Dining on the Guadalupe doesn’t get better, y’all! It screams Texas Hill Country, rustic, and everything else I love about where I grew up. Not only is Gruene home of The Gristmill, it’s also the home to Gruene Hall, Texas’ oldest Dance Hall. They had a band playing that afternoon and Tatum, was all about dancing with Aunt Jenn. I have to say, all that dancing with that adorable child is BAD for the baby fever occasionally creeps up on me. There must have been an old car show going on somewhere around there because the parking lot was full of classic cars. I took photos of two of my favorites.

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Sunday morning arrived and we checked out of our hotel, and drove to Wimberly, Texas where we were going to visit my brother and his wife at their lovely home, and then we were scheduled to head to Driftwood, Texas to eat some of the world’s best bar-b-que at The Salt Lick. When we arrived, we were greeted by my brother and Tatum walking down the road- they’d just come from feeding the neighbor’s horses. We jumped on the trampoline and went to the river, as they live on the Blanco, and then headed to have some amazing BBQ. They’ve added a wine cellar since I was there last time, so Zach took me to my first wine tasting. It was splendid! He even participated and he’s not a wine drinker. It must be true love! I came back with two bottles! I wanted to come back with about 5, but I was afraid I’d run out of room in my suitcase. After all there was a slight packing debacle (more on that later)! Suffice it to say, I’m not allowed to pack unsupervised anymore. Zach jests, I think.

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There’s more photos to come, but this is all the photos I have that I took! I hope you enjoyed seeing my trip to Texas as much as I enjoyed sharing it!

Happy Trails!

XO, TSDC

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About ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Jenn Zeller is the creative mind and boss lady behind The South Dakota Cowgirl. She is an aspiring horsewoman, photographer, brilliant social media strategist and lover of all things western.

After a brief career in the investment world to support her horse habit (and satisfy her mother, who told her she had to have a “real” job after graduating college), she finally took the leap and stepped away from a regular income; trading the business suit once and for all for cowgirl boots, a hat, and jeans. She has not looked back.

When Jenn first moved to The DX Ranch on the South Dakota plains, she never imagined she’d find herself behind a camera lens capturing an authentic perspective of ranching, and sharing it with others. Jenn has always been called to artistry, and uses music, writing, images, home improvement, and her first true love of horses to express her ranching passion.

Horses are the constant thread and much of her work centers around using her unique style of writing to share her horsemanship journey with others in publications such as CavvySavvy, the AQHA Ranching Blog, the West River Eagle, the family ranch website, and her own website.

Using photography to illustrate her stories has created other opportunities -- Jenn’s brand “The South Dakota Cowgirl” has grown to the level of social media “Influencer”. This notoriety has led to work with Duluth Trading Company, Budweiser, Wyoming Tourism, Vice, Circle Z Ranch and Art of the Cowgirl, to name a few. She also serves as a brand ambassador for Woodchuck USA, Arenus Equine Health, Triple Crown Feed and Just Strong fitness apparel. Her photography has been featured by Instagram, Apple, TIME Magazine, The Huffington Post, and Oprah Magazine. Jenn’s work has been published internationally, has been seen in several books and has graced the covers of several magazines.

Jenn became a social media influencer by accident when she started to explore Instagram as a way to share her life on the ranch with folks that don’t get to experience it. It’s grown into an incredible platform that she uses to empower women, create an environment for self improvement and share life on the ranch.

When she’s not working, she loves to drink coffee, play with her naughty border collie named Copper, start ranch colts, and run about the country chasing cans. Her mother still thinks she doesn’t have a “real” job.

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Comments

  1. Sara says

    I’m excited for this post! I’m planning a family vacation this
    July for the San Antonio area. Having never been to Texas its
    great to have ideas of things to see and places to eat!

    Reply

    • ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ says

      There are lots of places to go in San Antonio- there’s also Sea Word (which I’ve been to), Fiesta Texas, and several other Spanish Missions to visit if you’re of the mind. The Riverwalk hosts a mall, an Imax theater and countless shops. There are so many amazing food choices to make, you’ll have trouble deciding! Good luck! Enjoy!

      Reply

  4. Suzie Salmon says

    Great pics (and your niece and nephew are adorable)! I have never been to Texas, but have always wanted to go. These photos just reminded me I need to speed up my plans on getting there (Tourism Texas should pay you :))
    Thanks!
    Suzie

    Reply

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