Plan a Hill Country road trip with kids

If your summer bucket list includes “Family time,” “Road trip,” and “Learn something new,” a visit to Johnson City will check all the boxes! To help you plan the perfect Hill Country getaway, we’ve rounded up kid-friendly spots around Johnson City, whether you’re traveling U.S. 281 or U.S. 290.

NOTE: Check websites or call ahead to confirm current availability, hours and policies; some attractions require advance reservations.

A day trip to Johnson City, TX

Start at the Science Mill

The Science Mill (Johnson City)

Science & Art Park at the Science Mill

Giant Bubbles Station

Aquaponics Greenhouse

Banana Piano

Jurassic Flight 4D Experience

Located in downtown Johnson City, Texas, this historic mill-turned-science center has 50+ imaginative, interactive exhibits to try, so you’ll want at least two hours (or easily more) to explore. Be sure to check out the Science & Art Park, newly expanded in 2020, for visitor favorites like the Colossal Robotic Hand, Fossil Dig and Giant Bubbles Station. Inside the museum, build your own race car, code robot critters, discover an aquaponic greenhouse and much more. And if “Fly like a pterosaur” is on your summer bucket list, we’ve got that covered, too: check out Jurassic Flight 4D, our new full-body, dino-focused virtual reality experience; reserve free tickets at the admission desk—limited spots available daily, so arrive early! 

For a speedy and contact-free entry, buy general admission tickets online. Visit our What’s New & FAQs pages to learn how we’re keeping hands-on science safe. Traveling with a group? We offer special discounts and activity packages for Group Visits!

Stroll the town square

A short walk from the Science Mill, historic downtown Johnson City has quirky shops and a vibrant art scene (most galleries open Fri-Sun). Shop unique local vendors at Market Days, the 4th weekend of the month, March-Nov.

Natural wonders & wild things

Hike, fish, swim and play at Pedernales River Nature Park and nearby Johnson City Park, a two-minute drive from the Science Mill. Or, reserve passes at Pedernales Falls State Park, where you can bird watch, bike, tube, kayak and camp. Pick up a Junior Ranger Journal for outdoor science ideas.

Turn your trip into a safari at the Exotic Resort Zoo, just north of downtown. Greet gazelles, camels, yaks and more on guided tours and at the petting zoo.

Travel through Texas history

Follow presidential footsteps through the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, including the park Visitor Center, LBJ’s Boyhood Home and the Settlement Trail (and his grandparents’ 1860s log cabin), all within walking distance of the Science Mill. Head 14 miles west to the LBJ Ranch for a self-guided driving tour and see the early one-room schoolhouse, reconstructed birthplace, the grounds of the Texas White House and more. Download the LBJ Park app for self-guided tours and print out a LBJ Junior Ranger booklet.

The adjacent Lyndon B. Johnson State Park & Historic Site is home to the  Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm, where you can hear stories from the past as park rangers in 1890s garb spin yarn, blacksmith and demonstrate other farm chores.

Local flavor

What’s a day trip without tasty treats? At the Science Mill, enjoy farm-to-table food from Lady Bird Lane Cafe or pack a picnic; there are plenty of outdoor tables and shaded spots for blankets in the creekside pecan grove.

Family dining near downtown includes Proof & Cooper (outdoor playscape and patio), Pecan Street Brewing (kid- and pet-friendly biergarten) and Johnson City Coffee Co. (shaded patio). Indulge at Fat Boy Burgers (garden dining) or pick up snacks at Whittington’s Jerky and General Store. Further west on Hwy 290, on the way to the LBJ Ranch, order ahead at Hye Market (in a post office used since 1886!) and find just-picked peaches mid-May to August at Burg’s Corner, Vogel Orchard or Gold Orchards.

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Family road trip on U.S. 290

Heading west from Johnson City on U.S. 290, or east toward Austin? Consider these add-ons to your Hill Country itinerary!  

Marktplatz Park (Fredericksburg)

National Museum of the Pacific War (Fredericksburg)

Wildseed Farms (Fredericksburg)

Enchanted Rock State Natural Area (Fredricksburg)

Old Tunnel State Park Bat Cave (Fredericksburg)

Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center & Preserve (Dripping Springs)

Dreamland (Dripping Springs)

Almost Grown Play Cafe & Ice Cream Shop (Dripping Springs)

Fredericksburg (30-35 min. from the Science Mill)

Explore the city’s German heritage at the Pioneer Museum, Vereins Kirche Museum and Marktplatz park. Other historical attractions range from the National Museum of the Pacific War (reservations recommended) to a driving tour of one-room schoolhouses. For wildflower photo-ops, follow Willow City Loop in the spring or head to Wildseed Farms, where commercial flower fields are open for family strolls (food available). Travel further north to hike the granite batholith at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area or south to watch a mesmerizing bat emergence at Old Tunnel State Park Bat Cave (both require reservations).

Dripping Springs (25-35 min. from the Science Mill)

Take a guided tour through a breathtaking grotto at Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center & Preserve (reservations required; visit website for upcoming family programs). Then it’s play time! Dreamland combines outdoor art with mini golf, pickleball and more (food available). At Almost Grown Play Café & Ice Cream Shop, ages six and under can explore the indoor play village, while the rest of the family enjoys a snack (reservations required). Stop by local favorite Rolling in Thyme and Dough to dine in the garden or grab food to go from Crepe Crazy. 

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Family road trip on U.S. 281

If you’re traveling on U.S. 281 between San Antonio and Johnson City (or points beyond), consider stops in Blanco or Canyon Lake. 

Buggy Barn Museum (Blanco)

Blanco State Park (Blanco)

Old 300 BBQ (Blanco)

Heritage Museum of the Texas Hill Country (Canyon Lake)

Canyon Lake Gorges (Canyon Lake)

Guadalupe River State Park (Spring Branch)

Natural Bridge Caverns (near New Braunfels)

Blanco (15-20 min. from the Science Mill)

Welcome to cowboy country! Discover local history at Blanco Pioneer Museum (Sundays only) and the Buggy Barn Museum—a one-of-a-kind collection of horse-drawn vehicles. In nearby Blanco State Park, rent kayaks and tubes for a day on the water (reservations required). The historic downtown has dining options near picnic-ready Bindseil City Park, including Old 300 BBQ (outdoor patio), Blanco River Pizza Co. and Redbud Cafe (+ pottery studio).

Canyon Lake (45-50 min. from the Science Mill)

Follow real dinosaur tracks at the Heritage Museum of the Texas Hill Country, which also has fossil exhibits and model dinosaurs. The three-hour guided Canyon Lake Gorge Tour is physically demanding, but offers an up-close look at fossils, dinosaur footprints and waterfalls (ages 7+; reservations required). For more natural attractions near U.S. 281, visit Guadalupe River State Park near Spring Branch (reservations recommended) or Natural Bridge Caverns west of New Braunfels.

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With so much to do, you may want to upgrade your Hill Country getaway from a day trip to a long weekend. Johnson City has a helpful resource to find local inns, rentals and campgrounds. 

Now, hit the road! Drop us a digital postcard on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and tag us to show off your favorite stops.

How did pterosaurs fly?

At the Science Mill, we love dinosaurs—we’re guessing you do, too! But in this blog, we want to show some love to pterosaurs: prehistoric flying reptiles that lived among dinosaurs, but were NOT dinosaurs. 

In case you missed Part 1, pterosaurs ranged in size from sparrows to Cessna airplanes and had wild adaptations, including big heads, crazy crests and special membrane wings supported by super-long 4th fingers. What’s not to love?!

If dinosaurs ruled the Earth, pterosaurs definitely ruled the skies. But how they flew is a mystery paleontologists are still piecing together. You can try flying as a pterosaur in Jurassic Flight 4D, the Science Mill’s new 4D virtual reality experience! To celebrate its opening, join us Saturday, May 29 for Jurassic Experience, a day of dino-themed activities and special screenings of Flying Monsters, which features some of the paleontologists in this blog.

(artist: Chase Stone)

How did pterosaurs fly?

This is one of the big debates about pterosaurs: were all of them really able to fly—even the giraffe-sized species? This is where mathematics and computer models come in.

One computer simulation, developed by paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee and his team at Texas Tech University, suggests that an animal the size of a fighter jet would need a runway. “It probably had to find a sloping area like a riverbank,” explains Dr. Chatterjee, “then run quickly on four feet, then two, to pick up enough power to get into the air.” Once in the air, it was a graceful if frightening sight. “This animal probably flew like an albatross or a frigate bird in that it could soar and glide very well.”

Paleontologist Michael B. Habib and others have a different theory, based on computer simulations of pterosaurs’ launch power—no runway needed. “Flying animals do not flap their way into the air,” notes Dr. Habib. Instead, takeoff starts with a powerful jump, and four-limbed pterosaurs had double the power. “The legs would have pushed first, followed by the arms, for a perfect one-two push-off.” Some have compared the move to pole-vaulting. 

(credit: Julia Molnar, via Scientific American)

But what about those enormous heads? If pterosaurs flew with their wings angled forward, as calculations by Dr. Colin Palmer and his team suggest, their big heads would be balanced. New fossils offer additional clues. CT scans of a pterosaur vertebrae recently revealed a strength-building secret: a “tube within a tube” structure supported by spokes, similar to a bicycle wheel. Paleontologist Cariad Williams and her team calculate that for a pterosaur with a 4-foot neck, adding just 50 spokes to its vertebrae would allow it to lift 90% more weight—roughly equal to picking up prey that weighed 24 pounds. 

Are there pterosaurs living today?

No—pterosaurs went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period. While birds evolved from dinosaurs, pterosaurs have no living descendants. They do, however, have mechanical relatives! 

Experimental designs for Pterodrone (images: Brian Roberts)

Dr. Chatterjee and Rick Lind, an aeronautical engineer, teamed up to create a drone inspired by pterosaurs’ unique flying adaptations. Named “Pterodrone,” the drone’s design includes membrane-inspired morphing wings and an adjustable crest in the front. The features make the drone a more versatile flier in tight spaces. In the future, they hope to add the pterosaurs’ ability to walk and possibly sail.

TRY IT AT HOME OR SCHOOL

Animal Design Challenge

Research on pterosaurs helped Dr. Chatterjee and Dr. Lind design a new drone. Their work used biomimicry: an approach to technological innovation that draws ideas from nature. To experiment with biomimicry, try this Animal Design Challenge alone, with a partner or with a group!

 Supplies

• Slips of paper, index cards or Post-its (enough for each participant to get two)

• Pencils or pens for writing

• Colored pencils, crayons or markers for drawing

Dr. Chatterjee with a skeleton reconstruction of the pterosaur that inspired the Pterodrone’s design. (credit: AP Photo/Artie Ummer)

1. On half the cards, write an animal—one per card. (Prehistoric animals are fair game!)

2. On the other half of the cards, write a short everyday problem—one per card. (EX: Keep construction workers safe; chop up vegetables; carry a heavy bag)

3. Mix up the animal cards and have each person take one; mix up the problem cards and have each person take one of those, too.

4. Brainstorm! How could your animal inspire a solution to your problem? Maybe something about their body? How they move, or where they live? Jot down your ideas.

5. Design! Pick one of your ideas and sketch out a prototype for a new product or system. Try to show how it would work.

6. If you’re working solo, pick another animal card and see if you can add on to your prototype; or pick another problem card, too, and start again!

7. If you’re working with a partner or group, share your ideas. After seeing everyone’s animals, problems and prototypes, what new combinations do you see for biomimicry inspiration?

8. Keep observing and brainstorming! Study plants and animals outside, a pet at home—who knows where your next big idea might come from?

CAREER CONNECTION
“An aircraft based on pterosaur concepts may be able to fly to a rooftop then walk under an overhang to mount a sensor in a dark corner.” — paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee and aeronautical engineers Rick Lind and Brian Roberts, on their inspiration for Pterdrone

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Is a pterosaur a dinosaur?

Do you have a favorite dinosaur? Celebrate it on May 18—International Dinosaur Day! (In fact, dinos are so big, they get two holidays: June 1 is International Dinosaur Day, too.)

Do you also have a favorite pterosaur? If you’re thinking, “What’s a pterosaur?” or “Isn’t that a dinosaur?”, read on! This is Part 1 of a two-part feature on pterosaurs, some of the weirdest, coolest creatures to ever fly. At the end of this post, you’ll find a DIY activity to make your own pterosaur!

Flocks of pterosaurs will (virtually) take to the sky this summer in Jurassic Flight 4D, the Science Mill’s new 4D virtual reality experience that lets you fly as a pterosaur through a world of dinosaurs. Join us Saturday, May 29 for Jurassic Experience, a day of dino-themed activities and the exhibit’s grand opening.

(artists: Julius Csotonyi and Alexandra Lefort, via National Park Service/ Big Bend National Park)

What’s a pterosaur?

Pterosaurs (the “p” is silent) were flying reptiles that lived 228 to 65 million years ago. They were the world’s first flying vertebrates, reaching new heights millions of years before modern birds and bats. Pterosaurs didn’t just leap or glide between heights, the way some reptiles do today. They were true fliers who could create lift by flapping their wings—what scientists call “powered flight.” (But there’s debate about how they flew; more on that in Part 2!)

“Pterosaur” isn’t one kind of animal: it’s actually a whole bunch of related species. The general name we use comes from Pterosauria, the scientific order that groups together these flying reptiles. For comparison, another order is Primates, which groups together apes, lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys and humans. 

Are pterosaurs a kind of dinosaur?

Nope, pterosaurs are NOT dinosaurs. They are cousins, who share a common ancestor but evolved into distinct groups. That might seem confusing: pterosaurs lived at the same time as dinosaurs and, well, don’t they look like dinosaurs?!

Scientific classifications go more than skin deep; they’re based in a careful study of anatomy that helps scientists better understand and organize both living and extinct creatures. Part of what separates dinosaurs from pterosaurs are their hip and arm bones. All dinosaurs have a hole in their hip socket and a crest on their upper arm bone; all pterosaurs do not. This video with paleontologist Danny Barta helps explain.

What did pterosaurs look like?

Pterosaur species came in every size, “from that of a sparrow to a Cessna plane with a wingspan of 35 feet,” describes Sankar Chatterjee, a paleontologist at Texas Tech University. Kepodactylus, the pterosaur you’ll fly as in Jurassic Flight 4D, had a wingspan around 8 feet.

How Kepodactylus may have looked in life. (artist: Franz Anthony, via Pteros)

Small, big-eyed Anurognathus may have chased down insects at dusk. (artist: Laurence Viollet)

Pterodaustro could have used its curved jaws, filled with hundreds of needle-like teeth, to strain tiny critters from the water—like modern-day flamingos. (artist: N. Tamura)

Toothless Pteranodon likely soared over the prehistoric seas, gulping down fish like a pelican. (artist: James Gurney)

Some sharp-toothed pterosaurs may have snapped up baby dinos. (artist: Mark Witton)

Pterosaurs share some very strange anatomical features. “They evolved some of the most extreme adaptations of any animal,” says paleontologist Michael B. Habib.

(source: MacMillan Learning)

• Looooong “wing fingers”: Unlike birds or bats, pterosaur wings ran along the sides of their bodies and were held up by a super-long fourth digit—the equivalent of our ring fingers. (Pterodactylus, one of the most famous pterosaurs, is actually named for this feature: ptero = wing and dactyl = finger.)

• Shape-shifting wings: Sandwiched inside their wing membranes were layers of blood vessels, muscles and actinofibrils—chord-like fibers that made the membrane rigid yet flexible. One theory is that the muscles and fibers may have allowed pterosaurs to change the shape of their wings in flight.

• Feathery fur?: Pterosaurs’ bodies were covered in pycnofibers—scientists aren’t sure if this fuzz was more like fur, feathers (think: baby chick) or hair. The covering probably helped pterosaurs control their body temperature.

How would you measure up against Quetzalcoatlus? (artist: Mark Whitton)

• Crazy crests: Many pterosaur species had crests on their heads. Some crests were fleshy, some bony and others had a membrane “sail.” Crests might have helped regulate heat or balanced out long jaws. Most likely, they served to attract a mate. Scientists think some crests were brightly colored for extra flair!

• Long necks + BIG heads: Pterosaurs had oddly proportioned bodies with big heads. Some species’ skulls and necks were well over half their body length. Mega-sized Quetzalcoatlus, found in Texas, had a head and neck that made up 75% of its length, with jaws twice the length of a T.rex’s!

How did an animal the size of a giraffe, with an enormous head, manage to fly? ...Or did it? Find out in Part 2!

TRY IT AT HOME OR SCHOOL

Fold an origami pterosaur
Make a paper pterosaur that shows off some of their extreme adaptations: big heads with long jaws, crests and, of course, those amazing wings. You’ll need a square piece of paper to get started. Click the links below to download instructions.

12-step pterosaur (designed by Nick Robinson)

25-step pterosaur (designed by Fernando Gilgado Gomez)

CAREER CONNECTION:
“The cool thing about origami is that it is a very mathematical art...You can do things with pure art, you can do things with pure math, but if you put them together, you get far more satisfying results than either one alone.” - Robert Lang, physicist and origami artist 

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Learn how Robert Lang used artistry and computer programming to design a life-size origami Pteranodon for the Redpath Museum in Montreal!