May Road Trip

Springtime in Texas is a rare kind of beauty

and it always makes us feel great, so here we go again!

 This year we headed to Brenham, which is home to 

Blue Bell Ice Cream, and the little Creamery.

We did not tour the factory this time, because we've done that

 a few times already and as good as that free sample is at the end, 

we found a lot of other stuff to do!

The square is typical small town Texas, with shops and cafes 

aplenty, and you can be sure most of them also serve Blue Bell!

After exploring a while, we stopped in at Smitty's for lunch.

You might think Smitty's a dude, but you'd be mistaken.

Smitty is a nickname for Callie Schmidt!

After lunch we strolled some more and found this little 

downtown park which provides not only great beauty, 

but also a little history of the town all the way back to 

the Reconstruction era after the War of Northern Aggression!

Boo on those Carpetbaggers!

It wasn't mealtime when we spotted this place, 

but we had to include a picture of TRUMP  cafe!

Linda does the best research before we travel, and this trip she learned

 about Kenney, Tx - this little town between Brenham and Bellville

(which are two other little towns).  Kenney used to be three buildings 

facing a railroad track, but now it's just the Kenney Store.

I suppose the store used to be a feed store for the local farmers, 

but nowadays the Store is a restaurant and bar featuring live music 

a few nights a week.  Above: daytime view.  Below: evening view.

I don't know where all the people come from, 

but the Kenney Store becomes a swinging joint! Drinks are cold, 

food is good and everybody has a great time!  But if you go, 

you better like some old country music.  

That band was so old, even I couldn't play with them!

The music and beer was good enough,
so we decided to stay for dinner.

For starters 

we tried a new item, Corn Nuggets,

which were great with hot sauce

or the standard dipping sauce.

Then Linda had fish tacos, 

with cole slaw filling
while I got the Ribeye steak bites.

That means little chunks of steak, 

battered and deep fried and 

served with gravy and fries.

Mmm Mmm good! 

Next morning we moved south, to a tiny town called Round Top.
On our way into town we swerved off the road to check out this
magnificent music hall, in the middle of Nowhere!

And you know us!  We snooped around until we found a nice lady
who explained this was the Round Top Music Festival Institute,
an invitation only music conservatory for young musicians
and then she gave us a tour of the premises. Whatta Place!

I stole this picture of the auditorium during a concert,

just to show how grand the hall is!

A couple of pictures of the chapel which was
actually moved in from somewhere else!

From the Institute, we drove on into Round Top 

Which is cute, but tiny!

Nothing going on now, but for two weeks each year
(spring and fall)....

They host the gigantic Round Top Antiques Fair
when the population hits between 200,000-300,000 people.
I kid you not!  We met Helen and Sean McLaren,
of  McLaren's Antiques - a sweet British couple
who kindly let us shop in their huge barn while they worked to get ready
for next fall!  They moved here from England just to be a part of this fair,
where all their income is made in those two weeks each year!

Otherwise the population of Round Top is 90. seriously.

From there, we headed on down to La Grange for lunch,
did some shopping along the way, and then on to Bastrop for the night.

At one point we passed this tree that had been struck by lightning(?)

and the remaining stump carved into a leaping pony!

That's making the most of a sad situation.

Then, on to Bastrop.  

This little town is about half an hour east of Austin, 

and it's truly Smalltown Texas!

They have a nice historic downtown, where we met

(1) a guy who makes and sells his own jewelry

(2) a fella whom I thought I knew, who thought he knew me and 

(3) a sweet little lady shopkeeper who told us about the wild chickens.

All this great stuff could only happen in a small town!

The lady told us of a corner, just up the street, where people

drop off their chickens that they don't want (?) anymore.  

So we drove up that way and sure enough:

Then the fella that knew me chatted a while and recommended
Baxter's on Main for dinner, because Wednesday night is Steak Night!

"Steak Night" means you get to set on their patio and
enjoy a 10 oz ribeye with a baked potato and salad bar for $ 10.95!
Believe me, they draw a crowd.

Next morning we started for home, with a breakfast stop in Salado.
The only place that serves a cooked breakfast now is a Mexican cafe
behind the old Stagecoach Inn, called the Salado Patio!
Based on the parking lot full of pickups, we pulled in. My hope was
to talk to a local boy about when the Stagecoach was going to reopen
and sure enough, I found plenty:

This wild crowd knew all about everything that's going on.
And for good reason: one guy was a city councilman, one was
a retired city councilman, one was the Superintendent of schools,
and one was the Judge you stand in front of if you break the law.
So I fit right in.
Y'all be careful when you're in Salado!