Texarkana Trip 2026 - Day 8 (San Antonio - Arlington, TX)

Day 8 - We only had 2 stops on our agenda before needing to be in the Dallas area for the Cubs/Rangers baseball game. When we first talked about this vacation to Texas, I looked up the Cubs schedule (doesn't everyone go to the MLB app when planning their vacation, LOL) and saw that the Cubs would be in Arlington, TX to play the Texas Rangers at the same time we would be in Texas! Yes!!! While we knew we would attend a game, we didn't know which game until Day 7 of our vacation. We wanted to make sure we did everything that we wanted to while in Texas, so we held off buying tickets and reserving our hotel room - which we did (both things) on Day 7. 

While I LOVE breakfast food, I don't often eat breakfast anymore. Today, we noticed that their waffles were Texas shaped! Yep, I needed to make one of those and I enjoyed a few bites too. 😋

We packed up and headed out of San Antonio and drove north to Stonewall, TX to visit the Lyndon B. Johnson Ranch / National Historical Park. 

The former President and First Lady (LBJ & Claudia "Ladybird" Johnson) are both buried at the Johnson Family Cemetery, on the Johnson Ranch. It is a very peaceful setting for a cemetery.

We walked around the school, cemetery and the Reconstructed Birthplace house (reading a lot of information about the former president as we walked around the house) before hitting the road toward Dallas. This biography on LBJ is well done and shares a lot of information about his life.

The church in the picture can be seen in the upper right corner.

From Stonewall, we drove East towards Interstate 35, making a stop in Round Rock for gas, lunch & dessert!

I saw a picture of a super size donut while researching this trip. We knew it would be a splurge, we knew it wouldn't be fully eaten . . . but we knew we would have fun trying it!

This picture is full of DELICIOUS!!

Since we hadn't eaten lunch yet, we put the donut away and looked forward to trying it later.

Because we were tight on time, we drove through McDonalds so we could eat on the road. I had a deal on the app that included a "Basket of Fries" - um, yes please! Ha! We wouldn't expect anything less in Texas . . . they do everything big!

Leaving Round Rock, we headed north to Arlington. The Cubs/Rangers game had a start time of 7:05 and we needed to check in to our hotel, change and walk to the ballpark (hopefully with time to spare to walk around the park a bit before the game). If all went as planned, we would have plenty of time.

It did not go as planned . . .

Due to major construction, we were in bumper to bumper traffic throughout our drive. We saw our window of time getting smaller and smaller. Amid the stress of the traffic, we enjoyed the beautiful roadside flowers. I was able to snap a few pictures as we sat in traffic. So radiant! I loved seeing the hillside full of red & yellow spots!

We finally made it to our hotel!! Us and a ton of other Cub fans - Sweet! Once checked in, we went up to the room to freshen up and get ready for the game. BUT FIRST . . . the donut must be sampled! Boy Oh Boy, it was delicious!!!

Ready for the game, we left the hotel to walk to Globe Life Field, a mile away. As we were leaving the parking lot, a trolley pulled up to take a group to the ballpark. We found out that we could get passes at the front desk and that there would be another trolley coming in 30 minutes. We decided to walk and headed out. It was a pleasant walk with lots to see along the way (notice the pictures we took on our way back to the hotel).

We made it! With time to spare

The Rangers moved into their new stadium (with retractable roof) in 2020. This stadium seemed HUGE but when comparing to Wrigley, the seating capacity is actually higher at Wrigley. Go figure. 

We found our seats - up really high, nose bleed section. Just to our right, we could see the broadcast booths. We looked (and found) our radio and TV guys!

Enjoying my game day peanuts (thanks Micah!).

Mariachi de los Rangers - I caught a snippit of "Deep in the Heart of Texas". They were fun to listen to.

I took this picture to show how many Cub fans were at the game! It was insane!

Cubs Win, Cubs Win, Cubs Win (said in my best Harry Carey voice)! Fly the W!!! Here's a recap of the game. It was a fun one!

For the moment, we are top of the Central!

On our walk back to the hotel, we took our time and enjoyed the quiet of the night - taking in the sights around us. This is the old field (Globe Life Park, now called Choctaw Stadium) for the Rangers (before 2020). It is directly across the street from the new park. 

National Medal of Honor Museum

We arrived back at our hotel around 11:30 - we were exhausted, but so thankful for the fun game, a hotel (with free parking) within walking distance of the stadium, great weather, safe travel to Dallas AND we had a donut waiting for us as a midnight snack!!

Favorites for Day 8:

Matt: Cubs Game

Becki: Cubs Game

*Side note about the Cubs game. This win was our 2nd 10 game winning streak in the early season. Unfortunately, the game after this win started a rough patch which included a 10 game losing streak - boo! During an interview a few weeks later, Jed Hoyer (Cubs President) would say that he felt that the May 8th game in Texas was our best game of the season! How fun that we were there to witness it.