Gruene, TX

We met some dear friends from Chicago and their local family, in Gruene, TX (pronounced "Green") for a little gentle sight-seeing while visiting.  You could describe Gruene as a suburb of New Braunfels. It's a tiny town with a rich history, originally cotton farming, and then great music, and now tourism on top of the great music.  We met on the corner at Gruene Antiques, then wandered in and out of the various shops. 

Buck Pottery gets honorable mention for quality goods above and beyond the typical touristy kitsch.

Not counting our great companions, first prize today went to Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas.

Behind the white clapboard Western "false front" there is a saloon, and behind the saloon is the very large music/dance hall. Here you see the back side of the saloon, with a walk up bar for the dancers and music enthusiasts.

The hall is just a perfect slice of authentic living history.  It hosts live music every day, some smaller local talent and some infamous, like Willie Nelson and Shawn Colvin, who were both here this week.  Check out the long tables and the stage with the painted backdrop. I sure wish we had discovered it earlier. We definitely would have come for both the music and the dancing.  We'll just have to come back next time we're in Texas.

On our way home we drove quickly through New Braunfels, another fun town.  As luck would have it, we happened upon Naegelin's, the ideal German/Texas bakery. Despite not needing anything, I picked up some Springerle cookies, a pumpernickel loaf, a cinnamon breakfast bread and two cream puffs for dessert. Total indulgence. 

As George Strait says about Texas cooking, "We're gonna need some brand new jeans."

That almost does it for Texas, but I am actually going to squeeze in one more, about our stay in Cut and Shoot. Can't resist now that I can do these fast, fast, fast.

Llano,Texas: Cooper's BBQ and Enchanted Rock

A comment from readers Carol and Kevin a couple of weeks ago inspired us to visit Enchanted Rock State Park before we left the Austin area.  On our way we stopped in Llano at yet another famous BBQ - Coopers. We thought we were probably too early for lunch at 10:45, but they were open and there was already a full house - mostly hunters and their boys having an early lunch after being up since dawn we figured.  So we joined the crowd.

Like Kruez Market and many other Texas BBQs I guess, you line up by the smokers and ask for the meat you want. They load you up and you go inside for drinks and sides and to pay.  Cooper's ovens were outside. 

They had a large selection of meats including the standard brisket and sausage, plus pork, beef and goat ribs, prime rib, half chickens, pork loin, and their famous "Big" pork chops (right in front there). Here at Coopers they offer to "dip" your meat in their signature sauce - a thin vinegary, salty-sweet broth. We went for the dip. Oh boy. They let you have utensils here, plus there were plenty of paper towels on the tables. We needed 'em.

The dining room has a lot of character, and is all family style with paper towels, loaves of white bread, pickled okra, and other fixings on the tables and on nearby counters. Free onions and more dip. Generous drinks. Great cobblers of various sorts.  The best pinto beans I've ever had - also free. Well, I should say included in the price, because it was pricey. 

The place had a really fun feel. The whole thing was a meat love-fest. People were happy and talkative about what they were eating. We were too. We both got huge pieces of juicy, delicious meat (chicken and prime rib) and never thought we'd be able to eat even half of it, but let me tell you, it slid right down and before we knew it, it was gone.

With full bellies, a little something in foil for Kona, beans and blackberry cobbler packed in a sack to go, we headed south to Enchanted Rock State Park.  We thought we'd just hike around a little and see what there was to see. After paying the admission fee (Texas has almost no parks without a fee) we struck out on a minimally marked trail in the general direction of what we assumed was the Enchanted Rock summit.

It was a relatively gently climb, so we just kept going up. Even though we were probably not on THE Summit Trail, the summit is pretty hard to miss.  Enchanted Rock is a large singular outcropping of pink granite called a pluton.  There are some interesting boulders scattered along trail.

It got a little slippery for Kona in some places, so we zig-zagged up the incline. She was, as always, a trooper. She just keeps saying to herself that there might be a swim up ahead somewhere.

Once at the top there's a nice view of the surrounding hill country.  We rested up a bit with a few other folks that had made it to the top, then headed back down in zig-sag fashion again.

On the way we passed more interesting boulders...

,...and followed some mysterious (not to geologists) fissures and tracks along the faces of the Rock.

We had to do some serious scrabbling because we lost the (poorly marked I must say again) trail. It kept looking better than it was once we got right into it. We were pretty amazed that Kona could manage it all. 

Once back down into the scrub I got a couple of good butterfly shots. This first little one is a Clouded Sulpher...

and this about 3" one is a Gulf Fritillary.

By the way, I think the butterfly I couldn't identify a few posts ago was also a Gulf Fritillary. 

I'm going to try to squeeze in one more Texas post before we get to Louisiana. This new 4G Mifi Hotspot is great.

RV Repairs, Lockhart and Wimberley, TX

We've been planning an RV repair day for awhile and the day finally came, but it turned out to be a  surprising one. There were three things we needed to get done: replace one small window pane that is fogged up, check out what seems to be a hydraulic fluid leak in one of the slides, and figure out why the propane water heater doesn't seem to heat up.  So we drove to Kyle, TX and dropped off the RV for the day at Explorer RV, and did a little local exploring ourselves.

First we did a bit of shopping for a few little things and found all we needed at a nearby H-E-B, the Texas super grocery store. Easy peasy.

Then we headed for Lockhart, "The BBQ Capitol of Texas" for some lunch. Of the four BBQ places in Lockhart, we chose Kreuz Market based on a very thorough, fun and scientific review I found online.

Kreuz is a German style BBQ with a small menu and very basic delivery.  As you can see on the menu board below; "No BBQ Sauce - No Forks - No Kidding." This is not your sweet sticky gloppy stuff. Just pure smoked meat. The review I read had identified the brisket as the best of all, so that's what we tried. 

To order, you enter right into the smoke house - a dark, warm, smokey, cavernous building where six huge wood fired ovens are smoking the meats.

The folks behind the counter and working the smokers take your order, carve off what you want, weigh it, and plop it on butcher paper. You pay and move on to the dining room.

Drinks and sides are purchased at the counter in the dining room, a basic family style place.

Two servings of brisket, four slices of white bread, two cole slaws, one side of German potatoes and two huge drinks cost us about $12.00.  What a deal!  The brisket was indeed great - juicy, with the predicted salty-smokey crust. The sides were just okay. 

We took a little spin around the town square and got a picture of the court house.  The downtown area was lively and functional - not touristy or trendy. 

About a thirty minute drive away is the town of Wimberley, recommended by my cousin's wife as a cute town to walk around. When we were almost in Wimberley, we crossed a river and were so struck with it's clarity that we had to track it down. So we found River Rd. on Google Maps (our constant companion on these adventures) and drove along the Blanco River as far as we could. There was absolutely no access to it, not even a pull over to take pictures, but the road did follow along river with private property on both sides. We got a good enough view to take a few drive by shootings.

Once in town, we parked by Cypress Creek, which feeds into the Blanco and is just as beautiful, but more heavily wooded with... you guessed it... cypress trees. I didn't realize we were already in cypress country. 

Walking through the little artsy town of Wimberley was kind of interesting, but not as much as walking along the creek.  The stores were mostly women's lacy clothing, home decor, Texas stuff of all sorts, and a little art.  You know, when you have no room for things in your home, it kind of changes your approach to shopping, but it gave us something to do. Some of the art on the street was cool. This is kind of a wheel chair crossed with something else, but what??? A race car? 

And this is a rusty Texas armadillo.

Rick took a little rest in the park while Kona and I explored the creek some more.  The needles were falling off the cypress trees and covering the creek so completely in places that it looked like a road rather than water. 

Kona did find a place to swim where we could see through the needles into the water. It was pretty deep and crystal clear. We could see big fish swimming down there. I think she was a little spooked by all the needles and didn't stay in too long. 

Behind the town, in the deep shade of the creek banks there were old stone walls providing private swimming and boating access to the deep, clear green water.  Geese, ducks and turtles were swimming around, but no people. We were the only ones there.  Oh, and the mosquitos.

At about 4:00 we finally got a call from Explorer RV to tell us our rig was done.  So what was the surprising upshot of the repairs?  No window repair, as they hadn't yet received the replacement pane. (We actually already knew that.) No hydraulic fluid leak. It seems that during construction there must have been a spill or a leak that the manufacturers sopped up with a pile of sawdust that was still there. The sawdust was saturated and slowly leaking fluid down through the basement ceiling. But there was no current leakage.  Now wouldn't you think the manufacturer would have cleaned up that pile of sawdust???? And finally, the propane water heater seemed to be working fine. Another mystery. So our bill was just for one hours worth of labor to diagnose the non-problems.  Could have been a lot worse.

Tomorrow I think we're driving west to Enchanted Rock State Park, and then I'll be going to the Alamo Drafthouse (an Austin original) in the evening with a friend to see Life of Pi in 3D!  OMG!

More Austin: Zilker Park

We've taken a few adventures into Austin proper, braving the high speed roller coasters that are the highways around the western suburbs. Austin is on the eastern edge of the Texas hill country and the folks around here casually traverse those geographical contours at 65 mph, zipping in and out of strip malls, Walmarts, gas stations and roadside restaurants. Meanwhile we're just trying to find these local places and turn into them safely without causing a traffic jam.  Boy, do I sound old.

I've mentioned before that there are lots of butterflies in Texas, but the dang (that's a Texas swear word)  things don't hold still long enough to take any good pictures, unless they find their favorite nectar flowers. Then they settle in to feast.  I discovered that there is a butterfly garden in Zilker Park, downtown, so we headed there to spot some butterflies close up.  

The butterfly garden is modest, but does have enough native plantings to attract a variety of butterflies, some of which were willing to pose for us.  This Red Admiral* was sitting on a butterfly feeder.

*Let me just make a disclaimer at this point and say that I am new at identifying butterflies, so I 

hope that readers who are experts will feel free to comment if they spot a misnomer. 

This Question Mark is considering solar options.

I don't know what this one is. It's one of the milkweed types, but the markings don't exactly fit any of the pictures I have of Monarchs, Queens, Soldiers or Viceroys.

I think this one might be a Queen.

The whole Garden is kind of sleepy right now, as it is fall, and dry too. But we wandered through the Japanese Garden...

the Rose Garden...

and the Prehistoric Garden...

and spotted more small wildlife near the water features.

This gorgeous wildlife motif gate to the Botanical Garden is unfortunately locked so doesn't seem to be used, or seen by many.

After the gardens we headed to Barton Springs Pool which is also in Zilker Park.  This is an incredible place. I can just imagine how packed it must be in the summer. Although this was a warm day by northerner's standards, it was not a big swimming day for Austiners.

It was too cold for Rick and me to swim, but Kona had no trouble plunging into the clear 68 degree water further downstream.

Come back soon for our BBQ adventure to Lockhart and a stroll through Wimberly.

Still in Austin

Finally!  Our internet connectivity has been so bad I've been unable to post for awhile. Sorry for the delay. We are now using a Millenicom 4G MiFi Hotspot gizmo that seems to be working really well.  We had been using a WiFi Ranger that pooped out on us awhile ago, a Datastorm Satellite that is close to useless, and an older Millenicom air card that was serviceable. However, once we ordered the MiFi, Millenicom cancelled our old air card, so we were between services until the new gizmo arrived in our delayed mail system. But now we are hot!

Before I get on with Austin, let me reveal that the ducks or geese in Kerrville, TX, that I quizzed readers about a few weeks ago are called Egyptian Ducks, or Geese. They seem to be called both, depending on the source.  Here they are again:

Since my last post we have gotten to know the highways of Austin's western suburbs pretty well, and have seen some of the sights in the city.  There's a lot of driving to be done around here.





My friend Carol took us to SoCo, that's South Congress, an area that has evolved from funky to trendy in the last 5-10 years. Austin has a motto "Keep Austin Weird" and I'd say that as SoCo grows and changes, it still manages to resist mainstream normal.  This picture is looking north on Congress to downtown, and in the middle you can see the capitol, now surrounded by Austin's new skyscraper growth.

Carol, her dog Molly, Rick, Kona and I started our tour of SoCo by just walking the street and taking in the food trucks and store fronts. Kona did her usual harvesting affection routine with the passer's by, who obliged enthusiastically.

Austin has a thriving food truck business/culture. I love the cupcake Airstreams, through I haven't tried their cupcakes yet. 

 There were numerous street musicians:

The Mighty Cone and Amy's Ice Creams are two very popular spots.

I popped into Tesoros, a great Mexican imports store, and did a little Xmas shopping.

But the peak of the street for me was Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds.

Lucy in Disguise is an ENORMOUS store with everything you could ever want in the way of costumes and out of the ordinary clothing and accessories. 

It is a veritable cornucopia of wigs, sunglasses, crowns, boas...

costume jewelry, hats, size 13 women's shoes, masks....

Yes, and even pasties (just in case you've misplaced your own)...

and holiday paraphernalia.

I am not a costume person really, but I LOVED this place.  If I lived here I might start having costume parties.

As the sun went down we stopped for dinner at Home Slice Pizza http://www.homeslicepizza.com, another SoCo favorite, for a couple of slices of New York (really!) style pizza.  

The evening was the perfect temperature for sitting outside and it gave the dogs more opportunities to cash in on needy dog lovers walking by. 

Carol's been a great hostess here in Austin, welcoming us into her community of friends and family, and teaching me how to play dominoes. 

We also had a wonderful post-Thanksgiving visit with my aunt, uncle, cousin and his family who live nearby.  Although I missed posting on Thanksgiving, it's never to late to say how grateful I am for this  exciting life I'm living, the beauty of our country, abundant good health, brave and patient companions, long-time friendships and a loving family.  

This coming week we'll be getting ready to travel east for a quick and dirty haul to South Carolina. I'll keep you posted.