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We first stopped in La Grange, which established what was to be a pattern for the day -
a small town based around a wide town square and town hall, with shops almost all closed (as it was a Sunday), and virtually no people or vehicles in sight. To our surprise, however, almost the only place open was a gourmet kitchenware shop! and we just had to go in...
Next stop - Schulenburg.
Maybe one other car passed us while we slowly cruised the main street... and I think we saw two pedestrians. There's a railway line just out of shot on the left but needless to say nothing came past there either.
Schulenburg advertises itself for its 'painted churches', but we didn't see any...
I don't know that we'd have stopped in Weimar (pronounce it how it looks, not the Cherman way) if we hadn't been hungry and looking for some lunch.
Weimar welcomed us alright... to Bob's Cook Shack, a delightful establishment serving all manner of fried food, and containing half the town's population, including the local ambulance officers, who were hoping aloud that 'we won't get some emergency right as we're served'.
The place looked like it had been there for at least the last fifty years, with formica tables and gingham curtains under its pressed metal ceilings, but when we had a chat with the owners they said they'd only opened a few months earlier. If they keep serving chicken fried steak and yummy potato salad - and remain the only place open on Sunday - I think they're destined to do well.
The last place we visited was also the most interesting...
Columbus is an absolutely fascinating small town, centred once again on a square with town hall,
but rather different to other places I've seen here. On the far side of the square is a confederate tower, now a museum,
which is unlike anything else I've ever seen in this part of the country... in addition to a gorgeous theatre, built by the eccentric businessmen who had a home next door and had the theatre constructed so that he was able to see the stage from his bedroom, there are many other historic buildings, as well as some fascinating looking shops, and a B&B I'd like to stay in some day: Magnolia Oaks Guest House (and The Little Red House, next door). I think it's safe to say we'll be back.
Oh, and because you've been good, I just have to share this gem, which we saw while driving:
It's an inspired combination just anyway, but it's the 'drive thru' that pushes it into the realms of pure genius ;)
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8 comments:
So great to see some pictures of the area around you. The scenery reminds me of driving through outback NSW and of Endora....the town in which 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape'is set - especially the watertower.
So much to comment on .....
1. The map - always good of course. ; ) And even though I don't live there, so many places that are (in)famous - Laredo, Corpus Christi, Waco, Galveston, San Antonio - there's a whole program of American music right there, for a start!
2. The first photo of Schulenburg could easily be a western NSW town, like Trundle (west of Dubbo) - wide street, no-one out in the hot sun, even the angle parking slopes the way it would in Australia (can't figure that out!), no cars on the "wrong" side of the road to spoil the illusion, only a distant flag to show it's Texas! But the wonderful painted shopfront in the second photo is not Trundle!!
3. "Bob's Cook Shack, a delightful establishment serving all manner of fried food, and containing half the town's population," I'm sure glad you put that extra comma in there, or we'd be wondering what was in the food, and whether that was connected to the lack of people on the streets. After all, "Psycho" was set in a remote town, possibly in Texas!!!
4. "Double shot liquor and guns" certainly covers a few bases! I wouldn't advise going in there and casually asking "Can I have a shot?" But if you got the shots in the right order at least it would be painless! : )
Thanks for the photos. Mad Dad
the water towers always remind of Gilbert Grape! they seem so quintessentially American... Dave says it's because the land round here is so flat; they need the water up high so they can get some pressure, apparently...
and yes - the similarities with western NSW had not escaped me either... I've been to Trundle! on Melbourne Cup Day, no less, so the entire population was in the pub ;)
anyone else remember that X Files episode where, one by one, the population of a small town was going into the local foodstuff? I think it was some sort of chicken product... their slogan (as far as I remember) was 'Good People, Good Food' :lol:
What an interesting trip. I specially liked the Magnolia Oaks B&B. What do you think it means? Are there such things as Magnolia Oaks or does it mean there are magnolias and oaks there - alternatively, could it be related to Lakes of Pine Forest?
PS I certainly remember that X Files episode - it was pretty gross if it's the one I'm thinking of.
I can't believe you didn't mention the most interesting fact about that tower/museum in Columbus! According to the little AM radio broadcast they had going right there in the square by it, the walls are nearly three feet thick, and at one point they attempted (unsuccessfully, naturally) to demolish the thing with dynamite! It apparently laughed at them, and so they figured they'd better start learning to live with it and converted it into the museum you see now. :D
i wanna live in america
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Oh my. That sign. I don't know how many dinner parties I'll be telling that one at....
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