When I said it was a whirlwind weekend in Texas, I wasn't kidding! As soon as I hit the airport in Austin, I found a SuperShuttle that could deliver me downtown in the amount of time it would take Karen to finish her morning's work. When she picked me up, our jaws started flapping, and didn't stop until she left Mom and Dad's house in Brenham 9 hours later.
Our first stop was Chuy's - home of the best-ever chili rellenos and frozen margaritas. Sometimes when I need a "fix", I go here just to read the menus. It's a little self-torture, but sometimes I just see that real Tex-Mex still exists - even if I can't have it!
Next we headed to South Congress to visit some of the funky shops and restaurants that have replaced the tatoo shops and boarded up buildings that littered the street during the late 80's. Tops on my list was Uncommon Objects - I'd read about it several times recently in magazine articles spotlighting Austin. It was not a disappointment! First of all, it was chock-full from floor to ceiling with interesting stuff. Vintage clothing and cowboy boots shared space with old flashcards, store signs and lots of fezzes. We must be losing a lot of Shriners these days, because there were quite a few to choose from. I should have bought one, but instead bought the hat you see here:
It is so cool (depending on your viewpoint - I had conflicting opinions from a few people), and is covered with little white flowers. I wore it all the way to Brenham, and had a few raised eyebrows along the way. I also found a great little whisk broom (no I don't know what I am going to do with it), a great greeting card and a metal red S. After our Uncommon Goods outing, we strolled back up Congress to Guero's where we sat under the front canopy, drank tea and had chips and salsa and watched the rain fall. And on Austin streets where you can see just about anything, I snapped a picture of this:
Now - it's a bit grainy, because I was shooting from a distance, but yes those are chaps on that cowboy, and when he got closer I could see that he was wearing spurs. This wasn't out on a ranch in the country, this was on a major artery in downtown Austin. Never ever a dull moment in Austin which is one of the things that makes it such a great city!
We finished up downtown, picked up Karen's friend and then shared some stories over one more margarita before heading for Brenham. We stopped for pictures in the bluebonnets along the way, and finished up day 1 with tired jaws and grateful hearts for the time we were able to spend together!
Lara arrived Friday morning and our first order of business was the BlueBell tour. If you love ice cream (and if you don't, I don't want to know about it), you have to know that this is the best ice cream - ever - worldwide. 2007 is the 100th anniversary of the "little creamery", and if you're in south central Texas, make a point of stopping in for a tour. It's $3 a person, and you get ice cream at the end! Go here for more information or to order your own ice cream, if like me you live where BlueBell isn't available - yet. BlueBell also has a great country store full of great gifts - for you or for someone else. And no, I wasn't paid to say that!
Although there's nothing wrong with ice cream for breakfast, we were so hungry after our tour. Lara saved the day with a trip to her cousin Nathan's convenience store/barbecue shop and we were treated to the best barbecue I've had in a while. He served up a smorgasboard of German sausage, beef ribs, chicken, pork and beef - along with red potato mashed potatoes, green beans and sauce, and then finished it up with fudge-pecan pie topped with - BlueBell Homemade Vanilla (that's BBHV to you). It was PHENOMENAL!
Fully stuffed and ready to shop, we headed to our next destination - Round Top/Warrenton for the antiques extravaganza. 5000 vendors just waiting for us. More pictures and stories from Round Top to come.
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