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Group: alt.2eggs.sausage.beans.tomatoes.2toast.largetea.cheerslove · Group Profile
Author: MolesworthMolesworth Date: Sep 22, 2007 19:56
> From: Curtis
> Subject: Trip Report
> Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2007 17:33:42 -0500
> Newsgroups: neworleans.general
> Message-ID: newsclstr03.news.prodigy.net>
>
> I left home around 7:00 AM on Tuesday and headed south on I-35 for
> barbecue in south Texas.
>
> I stopped off in West, Texas about 70 miles south for a really good
> breakfast. There were about 15 diesel trucks in the parking lot which is
> always a good sign. I ate there a couple of years ago so I knew it would
> be good. Kind of pricey though. $6 for one egg, hash browns, sausage,
> biscuits, and a thimblefull of gravy. I mean one egg? Come on. Breakfast
> menus make a big deal out of how many eggs you order but at the grocery
> store eggs cost about ten cents each. What's up with that? There was a
> lot of hash browns though and the flies didn't eat much.
>
> Feeling refreshed, I input the address for Gonzales Food Market into the
> GPS and set out again. I stopped off at the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco
> but they didn't open until 10:00 and I didn't want to wait around. I've
> got a picture of the place but it's pretty boring.
>
> My GPS routed me onto Texas 183 a few miles north of Austin and I drove
> through the barbecue meccas of Luling and Lockhart. I resisted the
> temptation to stop and eat knowing my goal of trying barbecued lamb ribs
> was but a short drive further south.
>
> I made it to Gonzales Food Market one block from their scenic county
> courthouse a short time later and ordered the lamb rib plate with pinto
> beans and potato salad. $6.50.
>
> http://curtis-a.com/IMG_1586gonzales.jpg
>
> The ribs were really good. Not enough of them though. The sides sucked.
> They had a small grocery store inside that had the uncooked lamb ribs
> for $1.50/lb. I've never seen them anywhere else.
>
> Insufficiently sated, I headed back up the road to Luling City Market
> and had a sausage sandwich which was pretty darned good and also cheap
> at $1.80 per sausage link. You order brisket or sausage or whatever at
> the pit and they wrap it up in butcher's paper. They ask you if you want
> bread then you are pretty much left to forage for yourself for napkins
> and plastic cutlery which I eventually found.
>
> Having dined sufficiently, plenty of daylight remaining, and a
> reservation for the night in nearby San Marcos already made, I headed
> for the Tanger/Prime Outlet mall in San Marcos.
>
> I've seen outlet malls before but this was outrageous. It was around 1
> square mile of outlet store after outlet store. Everything from Neiman
> Marcus to Coleman. It was ridiculous.
>
> I went to the Timberland outlet store because I had a "friends and
> family" coupon. They already had a deal going where the 2nd pair was 50%%
> off he listed price. They had the all-leather upper, Gore-Tex lined
> hiking boots marked down from $99 to $59. With my 30%% off coupon I got
> two pair for $68 after taxes. Such a deal.
>
> The next day I drove along with the morning rush hour traffic into San
> Antonio. I hadn't given my GPS much exercise in an unfamiliar downtown
> environment but I entered the address for the Mi Tierra restaurant and
> it worked flawlessly. The breakfast there was awesome. They had three
> kinds of hot sauce in little bowls and there was my choice of flour or
> corn tortillas and the little Senoritas in starched uniforms were very
> friendly. Just the thing to start out the day.
>
> I then drove the few blocks to the Alamo and parked at at reasonably
> close parking spot on the street and fed the meter enough for an hour
> and a half. I figured that would be plenty.
>
> I actually got to the Alamo early. They weren't open yet. Horrors!! I
> wanted to get a picture of the front without any people and there they
> were gathered waiting for it to open (and the parking meter was running)
> . "Well" says I, once it opens the crowd will surely thin out...
>
> ... and the crowd thinned out:
>
> http://curtis-a.com/IMG_1588Alamo1.jpg
>
> http://curtis-a.com/IMG_1594Alamo3.jpg
>
> There are a lot of exhibits inside. Flintlocks, Bowie knives, cannon
> balls. The letters are the most poignant. There is a letter from a Mier
> Expedition captive to his mother. He drew a black bean and was executed
> in a decimation style execution 30 minutes later. One in ten were
> executed.
>
> If you've ever wondered what the backside of the Alamo looks like, here
> it is:
>
> http://curtis-a.com/IMG_1591Alamo2.jpg
> http://curtis-a.com/IMG_1593Alamo4.jpg
>
> By this time I was getting anxious about the parking meter. I wanted to
> get at least a couple of pictures on the Riverwalk. It was two blocks
> away:
>
> I walked the short distance and went down the stairs to the river.
>
> A couple of high dynamic range pics:
>
> http://curtis-a.com/IMG_1598_599_600_tonemappedwalk.jpg
> http://curtis-a.com/IMG_1603_4_5_tonemappedwalk2.jpg
>
> The return trip from there was fairly uneventful.
>
> I had plenty of time to get home so I stopped off that morning at
> Cascade Caverns near Boerne. Maybe I should have taken a clue from the
> fact that I was the only visitor waiting for a tour. I was assured there
> would be another tour in half an hour so I stuck around. Sure enough, I
> wound up being the only person on the 45 minute tour which was guided by
> a very knowledgeable local married woman with a weak flashlight. Pretty
> damp.
>
> http://curtis-a.com/IMG_1610Cascade.jpg
>
> Undaunted, I made my way from there to the legendary Cooper's Barbecue
> in Llano.
>
> I swerved to miss hitting a kangaroo on the way and took a picture at
> this geologic site:
> http://curtis-a.com/IMG_1615ayers.jpg
>
> The last stop was at Cooper's in Llano:
>
> http://curtis-a.com/IMG_1617coopers.jpg
>
> ... and they all lived happily ever after.
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