Prairie Chapel Ranch

Engelbrecht and his heirs raised turkeys and hogs. The original Engelbrecht ranch house is about from the main house on Rainey Road and is now called the "Governor's House" and is used to accommodate overflow guests. The Bushes stayed in the house during construction of the new house. In 1999, a year before he was elected president, shortly after earning a $14.3 million profit from the sale of the Texas Rangers, then-Texas governor Bush bought the land for an estimated $1.3 million from the Engelbrecht family. Assisting Bush in arrangements for the purchase was the then Texas secretary of state Elton Bomer. Bush removed five large hog barns on Mill Road leading into the compound in order to construct a new house, guest house, and garage. On May 10, 2008, the ranch played host to the wedding of Jenna Bush to Henry Hager, a son of former lieutenant governor of Virginia, John H. Hager. The ceremony was relatively simple and was attended by some two hundred friends and family members. ==House and grounds==

House David Heymann, then an associate professor of architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, designed the four-bedroom, honey-colored native limestone single-level home with painted white galvanized tin roof manufactured and installed on the site. Heymann said the house was built from the less sought after portion of the local "Lueders limestone". The middle portion of each block of stone has a cream color, while the edges are multicolored. "We bought all this throwaway stone. It's fabulous. It's got great color and it is relatively inexpensive," Heymann said. Laura Bush said they decided to keep a single level ranch design because "We wanted our older parents to feel comfortable here... We also want to grow old here ourselves." Overnight visitors stay in the main house, its associated guest house, the original Englebrecht farmhouse, or in a five-bedroom three-bath mobile home. Bush added an man-made pond that he stocked with 600 largemouth bass and 30,000 bait fish. There are also bluegill and red ear sunfish. The pond has a maximum depth of . In May 2006, when asked to name the best moment in his administration, Bush jokingly said: "I would say the best moment was when I caught a largemouth bass on my lake." At the urging of his daughters, Bush also built a swimming pool over the objections of Heymann who thought it would interrupt the stark views. Bush referred to it as "the whining pool"—whine long enough and you get it. It offers a respite from the hot Texas summers, and is heated by the same geothermal system as the house is during the winter. ==Activities==

A prized souvenir from the ranch is a gray Under Armour athletic shirt emblazoned with a Texas star encircled by the words ''The President's 100-Degree Club.'' In order to qualify a visitor must run , or bike for 10, when the thermometer hits triple digits. For security concerns, Presidents cannot drive on public roads, but Bush could drive himself, dignitaries, legislators, press and others around the ranch in his truck. In 2013, President Bush donated his personal 2013 Ford F-150 King Ranch edition to be auctioned for charity. Bush made clear his preference for spending some time away from his official residence at the White House in Washington, DC. In 2001, he said, "I think it is so important for a president to spend some time away from Washington, in the heartland of America." Visits from foreign dignitaries Visitors to the ranch have included: • Russian President Vladimir Putin, November 2001 • British Prime Minister Tony Blair, April 2002 • Saudi King Abdullah, April 2002, April 2005 • Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, August 2002 • Chinese President Jiāng Zémín, October 2002 • Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, February 2003 • Australian Prime Minister John Howard, May 2003 • Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichirō, May 2003 • Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, July 2003 • Mexican President Vicente Fox, March 2004, March 2005 • Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, April 2004 • Spanish King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía, November 2004 • Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, March 2005 • Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, April 2005 • Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, August 2005 • German Chancellor Angela Merkel, November 2007 • Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, February 2008 Putin's visit to the ranch On November 16, 2001, Vladimir Putin visited President Bush on his Prairie ranch where discussions were held as well as relationships amended. With the two holding a press conference at Crawford High School they spoke about how Russia is now an ally and that they should quit holding on to the dead weight of the Cold War and further their friendship with each other. They then spoke about Afghanistan and the arms control that they would like to see in the coming years. They agreed to deep cuts in long-range nuclear warheads. But they did not reach a deal on how to pave the way for testing and deployment of a U.S. missile defense shield. President Bush quickly turned serious. He returned to a theme that had echoed throughout the summit: That U.S.-Russian ties had entered a new phase and arms control was no longer the driving force. "We've found many areas in which we can cooperate and we've found some areas where we disagree. But nevertheless, our disagreements will not divide us, as nations that need to combine to make the world more peaceful and prosperous," he said. ==Security considerations==

The Federal Aviation Administration had a full-time no fly zone, designated "Prohibited Area 49" (P-49), around the ranch during the Bush Presidency. When President Bush was in residence at the ranch, a Temporary Flight Restriction was issued, expanding the radius to , with lesser restrictions extending to , containing some exceptions for Waco Regional Airport nearby. The size of the restricted area P-49 was reduced in June 2010 to a radius up to an altitude of 2,000 feet, which is still in effect. Bush normally flew in and out of TSTC Waco Airport (the former Connally Air Force Base that is now owned by Texas State Technical College) on Air Force One, and was shuttled on Marine One to the ranch. ==Gallery==

File:BUSHCR.jpg|George W. Bush with Colin Powell and Richard Armitage File:Bush-murbark-crawford.jpg|President Bush escorting Hosni Mubarak from an HMX-1 helicopter after his arrival at the ranch in 2004 File:Bush-ranch-walk.jpg|The President with Dick Cheney, Robert Gates, Condoleezza Rice and Peter Pace in 2006 at the ranch ==See also==