Ribs & Rhythm Tour, 2013 ~

Labor Day weekend we headed west.  And so began our 2nd annual Ribs & Rhythm tour.  We met at Buc-ees, and it was a sweet homecoming.



Oh, how I love Buc-ees.  The land of fudge and jerky and all good things.  The one in Luling has dozens and dozens of bathrooms guarded by a Longhorn with a head of marbles.   Buc-ees: they are my people.  And my people shall be your people....go!!

Luling City Market. Can't beat it.  So far, the best in Texas.  I wrote about them last year so won't repeat, but it's heaven.  Lovely bones.  The end.



And then on to Fredericksburg, one of the meccas of Hill Country and a lot of fun to boot.  A few of our adventures, no particular order:

OK, who knew Circle E Candles had a showroom in Fredericksburg??  They are the best candles ever...they smell divine.   I chose Creme Brulee.

"Let's go to Luckenbach, Texas

With Waylon and Willie and the boys
This successful life we're livin'
Got us feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys"

Let me tell you about Luckenbach.  It's hot.  It's primitive.  And the visitors come from far and wide.  That's a small stage but there is a bigger dancehall.  God bless Waylon Jennings.

 After Luckenbach we headed for Alamo Springs Cafe, which has the #3 hamburger in the state of Texas.  In all it's glory:

Yes, that's it.  Charles was the only one of us who had THE prize winning burger, but everything we ate was delicious.  The drive to Alamo Springs was crazy...we saw dozens and dozens of deer.  Here, there, everywhere - they were jumping fences and crossing roads and Don loved it!


Huge homemade onion rings.  





Alamo Springs made us happy, happy, happy! (note, the fridge is red)




One day we set off for the LBJ Ranch.  Democrats! What the heck, we were in the neighborhood, we figured we might as well see the Texas White House.  It's a National Historical Park and you can drive through for free, just had to stop and get a pass.




The cattle are beautiful.  They're living the good life.






You can only imagine how many world leaders made the trip to the Ranch. I snapped a shot of a photo of these two.  Body language tells all, doesn't it?  There is LBJ in casual clothes, leaning forward, trying to make his point while Nixon, shirt and tie, sits back, listening.  Noncommittal.  Body language. 




We toured the first floor of the Ranch, it was only $3 per person.  The tours are limited to 12 people each so we got to ask lots of questions.  You feel a real connection to history.  

When we were in the kitchen, the Ranger told us that on the day JFK was killed, he and Jackie were expected at the Ranch later that afternoon.  He had requested pecan pie, and the cooks had baked 18 of them in preparation for the group.  I could just imagine those pies sitting on the counter, waiting for the group that would not arrive.  A somber day.  

Fredericksburg is just charming.  It's small but there's lots of fun around.  We hit these:

• WWII Pacific Rim war reenactment (the brothers-in-law)
• Shopping (the sisters)
• Rustling Rob's
• Cranky Frank's 
• Enchanted Rock State Park

And Clear River Ice Cream & Bakery.  This place is darling!!

Decorated in red retro malt shop style.  Elvis is alive and well there. 




So many kinds of ice cream, all homemade.  



Frozen hot chocolate...enough said.  



You can even have lunch/dinner there too.  No wonder Elvis sticks around.  




After we stayed in Fredericksburg for a couple of days, we moved on to San Marcos.  Had to check in to see the Drugstore Cowboys (a band) at John T. Floores and eat some tamales.  

Before long, it was time to hit the road and go home.  



Adios, Hill Country.   Until next time...

Ribs & Rhythm Tour, 2012 ~

Baby's just a little bit tired of the city
Billboards and BS got her down
Seem like you need a little Hill Country
A little back roads driving, little bit of the old top down

("Carry On" by Pat Green)

How long have we talked about a trip to Hill Country?  Driving through little country towns, eating barbecue on brown paper, listening to Texas music and dancing in dance halls that are steeped in tradition?  

Well, forever, that's how long. So. We did it.  Our self-proclaimed "Ribs & Rhythm Tour" 2012.  It was awesome!!

Our plan (oh, did we have one) was to meet our traveling buddies (Lou Ellen & Charles, my sister and BIL) down the road.  First stop, Buc-ees in Luling.  OMGosh, I could do an entire post on that!  Don and I had never been before...there are NO words!!  Monster-sized, clean, cheerful, funny, country style, babies, nice people, and food, food and more food.  Just go.  Go!  

OK, I got carried away for a minute, but on to the Ribs part of the tour. City Market in Luling, Texas.  HEAVEN ON EARTH!! We got there about 4 pm and it's the perfect time...there's usually a long long line for lunch and if you go after 5:30, you have to take out.   There's an ATM inside this little hole in the wall, but that's b/c they only take cash.  First you go in, then stand in line and wait your turn to go into the smoke room. 

The smoke room...it's about 125 degrees inside and it smells crazy good.  These authentic BBQ places only smoke on the pit, no gas.  I love this, people.   When you go, arrive hungry. Here's some of the wood stacked high.   

When it's your turn, you place your order and they take it RIGHT off the pit and onto the scale and pile in on plain brown butcher paper.  You pay right there, gather up your precious meat and head out of the room and to your table.  Sides and drinks are for sale by the tables.  We were so focused on it all that we ate half the BBQ before I remembered to take a picture.  

City Market only smokes brisket, ribs and sausage.  Let me tell you this...they are the BEST RIBS EVER!!  Period.  Damn straight. :-)  The brisket was wonderful too but I think it may dry out if you get the end pieces.  I got some good ones. The smoke ring on the brisket is one of their claims to fame.

Behold:

I'm not kidding...the sausage was just amazing!!  It's beef sausage and the juices pop when you take a bite.  Fantastic seasoning.  Wear old clothes.  City Market doesn't glob up their meat with sauce (it's on the table) but the juiciness of the meat and the heavenly smell of smoke will get into your clothes. And hair.  And heart, for that matter.

On to another famous Ribs place.  Kreuz Market in Lockhart, Texas.  There's two famous BBQ places in Lockhart.  One is Kruez, the other is Smitty's.  We chose Kruez.  It was so good, but next time we're going to Smitty's.  ;)

Kreuz works the same way as City Market in Luling.  Smoke room, brown paper, etc. They don't have any sauce though, they use only a dry rub on their meat.  And they'll laugh you out of the place if you ask for a fork. So delicious. 

Oh there is so much to tell about this little trip, but on to the Rhythm part.  

We had heard so much about Gruene, Texas (Gruene is pronounced "Green") and couldn't wait to go.  Gruene is right outside of New Braunfels.  It's charming.  Lots of little shops, restaurants, music and the oldest dance hall in Texas, Gruene Hall.

Gruene Hall is an open air dance hall.  Read: no AC.  It's fun but crowded. Their stage has seen everyone from George Strait to the Dixie Chicks to Garth Brooks.  It is Texas.  The whole complex sits right on the Guadalupe River.  

Another dance hall that we went to was John T Floore Country Store in Helotes, Texas.  LOVE that place!  Floore's is famous too.  Willie Nelson got his start here and he still shows up every now and then.  There's an outdoor stage and area where you can pack in a lot of people and an indoor stage too.

It would have been cool to be there on a Randy Rogers night or Reckless Kelly.  Or even Johnny Lee..."Lookin' for love in all the wrong places, lookin' for love in too many faces, searching your eyes, lookin for traces, of what I'm dreamin' of..."

And if you don't know that song, you need more help than I can give you.  Stop everything.  Go watch "Urban Cowboy" immediately.  Classic.  

Anyway, we went to John T Floore on Family Dance Night. SO much fun!!   And since this was an indoor dance, it was air conditioned, so score on that. I loved it. Fascinating to watch, fun to dance.  They had a cover band who played good country music.  And, you haven't lived until you watch a 10 yr old girl drag her 7 year old brother around the dance floor.  Darling.

We had some good food here as well.  I had homemade hot tamales...the rest of the group ordered burgers and what I think was bacon-wrapped jalapeno cream cheese and chicken on a stick. 

My favorite sister and brother in law.  

 Don and me.  Don's rockin' the CAT Diesel Power and to that I say, yesss!!!

God Bless Cowgirls.  

Cowboys.  

Ribs.  

Rhythm.  

Texas.

Amen!!!