Food
Honeybee Cafe
I can’t tell you how many cups of bad gas station coffee I’ve had passing through Sonora, and I never knew Honeybee Cafe was here. It sits in the old mercantile building on Main Street and serves a cozy breakfast or lunch with coffee ground fresh for every pot. Victoria, the Queen Bee, is doing more than selling coffee, she’s growing community in a downtown where everybody knows everybody. Grab a cup of explorer juice before a long day of tripping.
River Harvest
I’ve never had more locals insist I eat somewhere than River Harvest. Owners Kara and Sergio started out catering until folks begged them to open a restaurant. She bakes and he smokes the meats, and much of the produce comes from a farm in Junction that irrigates from the river. The brisket Philly cheesesteak, with shredded brisket, peppers, onions, cheese and special sauce, is one of the best sandwiches I’ve had on the road. Save room for the bourbon pecan pie.
Culture
Sonora Ice House Ranch Museum
Housed in the town’s old ice house, this museum is the stop for cowboy and cattleman history. Sonora was a wild town with five saloons on a one-block Main Street, and the museum tells the story of Will Carver, a member of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch who died in a Sonora gunfight. You’ll see the gun that killed him. Sutton County later became a wool and mohair mecca, with vintage shearing machines and a bank vault whose time clocks kept robbers waiting until morning.
Outdoors
Caverns of Sonora
Many consider the Caverns of Sonora the most beautiful cave in the world. A rancher’s dog chased a raccoon into a hole here in 1905 and revealed a hidden 3D maze of passages. The early rooms are dormant, but deeper in the cave is still growing, covered in rare helictites that twist sideways because of water pressure, plus stalactites that glow in the dark. It’s warm and humid down there, and about two more miles of passages remain unexplored, left pristine on purpose.
Eaton Hill Nature Center & Preserve
Right beside the 1891 Sutton County Courthouse, you’ll find something I’ve never seen anywhere else: the entrance to a nature preserve in the middle of town. Eaton Hill sits where the Edwards Plateau meets West Texas, so it’s a little bit Hill Country and a little bit Chihuahuan Desert. Cactus lovers rejoice. Trippers who make it to the top are treated to a nature center telling the story of the animals that called West Texas home long before we did.
The JL Bar Ranch, Resort & Spa
The JL Bar puts the ritzy in ranch, a destination getaway with its own airstrip, and its activities are open to day guests. With coach Keith, I tried long-range rifle for the first time and worked my way out to a hit at 1,500 yards, just shy of a mile. Then I swapped bullets for bridles for a sunset horseback ride across the desert. Chef Angel Olivera finished the day with a bourbon and brown sugar glazed strip, smoked bacon mac and cheese and grilled asparagus.
