Sat at the bar for a drink and ordered a burger before museum tour. Impressive collection of horns, animals, artifacts, guns, extinct and exotic creatures. Loved all the history of the Texas Rangers and Bonnie and Clyde exhibit
In 1881, at the age of 17, Albert Friedrich decided to open his own saloon in San Antonio, Texas. At the time, he was a bartender and bellhop at a hotel on Main Plaza, across the street from what has become known as the Buckhorn Saloon and Museum and Texas Ranger Museum, one of the most popular tourist attractions on the city's River Walk. Located at 318 East Houston Street, the complex includes two museums, a saloon, a cafe and a gift shop, all of which are open 365 days a year from 10 to 5. Visitors can purchase tickets to browse through both museums, $22.99 for anyone 12 years old and up, $16.99 for children aged 3 to 11. And you can take a lunch break at the cafe. The Buckhorn Museum features one of the most exotic animal collections in the world. No exaggeration. It includes more than 500 animal species, including an eight-legged lamb, a two-headed calf, a record-setting 1,056-pound Marlin caught in Peru, a Texas Longhorn with horns that measure more than eight feet across, a 78-point buck, a moose with a 5-foot, seven-inch rack, a Hall of Horns, a Hall of Feathers and a Hall of Fins. In addition, the saloon features many of its original furnishings, including the back bar that was hand-crafted of marble and cherry wood. Also a 62-horn chair that was built for Teddy Roosevelt. If that isn't enough, the saloon is said to be where Teddy Roosevelt recruited his Rough Riders and where Pancho Villa planned the Mexican Revolution. In 2006, the Former Texas Rangers Association partnered with the Buckhorn Saloon to open the 7,000-square-foot Texas Ranger Museum. This exhibit highlights two centuries of Texas law artifacts, including historic revolvers, sawed-off shotguns, automatic handguns, photographs, badges and biographies of such notable Texas Rangers as Ray Martinez, Joaquin Jackson, John B. Armstrong and Frank Hamer. Be sure to stop at the Old West themed gift shop that stocks cowboy hats, T-shirts, Bowie knives and other sundries. Then stop for a bite to eat. My wife and I had bowls of Lone Star Chili with fresh ground beef, a special blend of herbs and spices and a splash of Lone Star Beer served with shredded cheese and onions. My wife had a plate of slow roasted pulled pork BBQ with coleslaw and baked beans and the house's crafted BBQ sauce. I favored a basket of breaded and fried popcorn shrimp with fries. We washed it all down with Root Beer Floats, St. Anthony's draft root beer served in a chilled soda mug with two scoops of vanilla ice cream. P.T. Barnum would have loved this place.