Fodor's Expert Review The Buckhorn Saloon & Museum and the Texas Ranger Museum

These are two museums for the price of one, and both add up to a 40,000-square-foot Texas history lesson and fun for the whole family. In 1881 the Buckhorn Saloon opened as a Texan watering hole, and future president Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders are said to have been among its patrons, as were writer O. Henry and Mexican Revolution leader Francisco "Pancho" Villa. Primary customers after it opened were hunters and trappers, eager for a cold brew and to trade furs and horns. Saloon owner Albert Friedrich collected the horns, some of which his father made into horn chairs. Today the museum features a huge collection of taxidermy and animal displays, including, of course, tons of antlers. Famous artifacts (and they number in the thousands) include one of Gene Autry's saddles.

In 2006, the Former Texas Rangers Association teamed up with the Buckhorn Saloon & Museum to open the Texas Ranger Museum, with exhibits that recount the stories of law enforcement in the Lone Star State from Stephen Austin on as well as displays of artifacts covering more than 100 years of Texas Ranger history. The café/saloon, with its original marble and cherry wood back-bar, serves brewed draft beer and a full menu of mostly American fare.