...but of course.

Suburban Deluxe

A Grand Day Out

I know I've said it before, but one of the best things about living in Houston is leaving it... there are so many interesting places just a few hours away; it's one of my favourite things to have a semi-early start on a Saturday or a Sunday and go driving out to somewhere new (or old!).

A few tell-tale clues will reveal that this trip actually took place in mid-October last year, but due to aforementioned laptop issues I didn't get to post the pictures until now.

Old Courthouse - Blanco. We went in and looked at historic photos which lined the hallways on the ground floor - fascinating!

The current Blanco Municipal Court. I guess while you wait to be judged you sit in the porch swing and compose your mind.

I have to confess that I have developed a real taste for proper Barbecue, since living here - and this sort of place, somewhat rough-and-ready, one-off places in small towns, tend to have the very best. As witnessed below (that's for Dave AND me - I'm not quite such a piggy as to be able to eat all that alone!):

Above and below - Wildlife Garden and seed farm.

Courtyard of an antique store in Fredericksburg (our actual destination, but it took us most of the day to get there, as we stopped off so much!)

The eight-sided church in central Fredericksburg. It was in a park in the main part of town, which was holding a mesquite festival the weekend we were there - lovely handmade furniture, Christmas decorations, and similar.

Bluebonnet season

Springtime in Texas is far more beautiful than the harshness of the summer might indicate. The best of it is really to be seen in the hill country, as far as I have heard, though unfortunately I've not been able to see that for myself... however I was fortunate enough to be at a conference in San Antonio the weekend before last, and we (my colleague Melanie and I) detoured a little north on the way home to see if we could find any bluebonnets. And we did.

Step back in time

One of the things I like the most in Texas is to get out of Houston and drive around in the countryside. You can find such interesting and pretty places, within a couple of hours of the big city, so even a day trip can be great. I know I've blogged on some of these small towns before, but I never get tired of exploring them, so expect more from time to time!

Recently we made a great discovery - the newly renovated Sengelmann Hall, in Schulenburg (Schulenburg features in my Off the Map post, back in 2008 - you can actually see the unrenovated Sengelmann Hall in the first Schulenburg photo in that entry).

Apparently, the guy who bought it has spent many many dollars on it, and the result is a charming blend of old and new:

A big open eating area, with a low stage and what looks like the original backdrop,

walls scraped back to their original colours, and the shop next door turned into the kitchen (the open doorway in the far wall leads into the kitchen),

a Biergarten out the back - with fully-grown trees brought in to grow and shade it...



...and a perfectly reproduced copy of the original, elaborate bar, serving (among other things) a menu of 'Pre-Prohibition Cocktails' (Dave tried the Corpse Reviver #2; I had a Floridita and later a Moscow Mule).



The food is great, German and Czech inspired, and made from local ingredients where possible... and they have regular live music, both downstairs in the dining room and upstairs in the dance hall. Read more about Sengelmann Hall on their website; don't forget to check out the menu, and of course the photos of before and after!

I hereby issue a standing invitation: anyone who comes to visit us will be taken to Sengelmann Hall (time and inclination permitting) and regaled with some of the best food and drink Texas has to offer. Come one, come all!

* Just a reminder that you can click on any of my blog photos to see a larger version of the picture - I know some of the details can be lost in the smaller versions.

September Sunset

After many many weeks of heat and humidity, it's finally starting to cool down... it happened about this time last year too; I remember that after we got power back after Hurricane Ike, we only ran the air-conditioning for maybe a week longer, and then started opening windows again. It's getting cooler in the mornings now - we've had a couple of breakfasts out on the patio - and also in the evenings; it's actually pleasant to sit outside at restaurants and in parks and gardens.

The little video below shows a classic Texas sunset - also classic Houston, as the storm clouds were massing up darkly behind us (much darker than the clip shows; the camera has adjusted the light levels up) while the sky ahead was rosy and warm.

Off the map

On our way back from Austin, we decided not to take the direct route (which, let's face it, should only be taken in circumstances of dire need), but instead to explore some back roads and discover some of the smaller towns between Austin and Houston. (I'll note here that they're only truly 'off the map' when the map looks something like this:


View Larger Map )

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 ;)

Capital, Capitol... capital!!

For the most mundane of reasons - Dave needed an official copy of his driving record from the DMV, and he needed it sooner than it could arrive by post - we spent last weekend in Austin. Our business being dealt with astonishingly quickly (I think we waited in line for a total of around three minutes; might this be a record?) we pranced off to the city to see what we could see.


After checking in at our hotel (rather more plush than our usual standards, but we got a great deal online and we heartily recommend the chain), we decided to go downtown to the Paramount Theater to see The Long, Hot Summer (1958), starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Orson Welles, amongst others. The lights were already down when we went in, so we didn't get to see the gorgeous interior til after the film had finished - obviously I couldn't take any photos myself, but I encourage you to click on the link provided above which will lead you to some great panoramas.

The next morning saw us about bright and early, starting the day at Bremond Block, a beautiful neighbourhood of lovely old stately homes.






Already it was starting to heat up, but it wasn't unpleasant, and it was so great (and novel, after Houston!) to be in a city where it was possible to walk to places, we left the car parked at Bremond Block and made our way to the Capitol.


The gardens out the front looked impossibly green and cool as we approached the building; as we drew closer it really did look amazingly impressive.


And on the inside at least as much...




There are, of course, Lone Stars everywhere inside the building, from the doorknobs to the lights... (in fact if you look carefully at the light globes, they even spell something out)... the star up inside the cupola is eight feet across, apparently, and there's one in the hand of Lady Liberty, standing on the cupola's dome (I guess they're trying to cash in on the popularity of this blog).




And of course there are some corresponding ones below it:




We caught the first tour of the Capitol, and so were still able to fit in a visit to the Texas State History Museum before lunch. It had many interesting exhibitions, but there was a LOT of reading and less 'interaction' than promised, so we were quite glad to sit down in the museum's cafe and have a break.

After lunch we walked up into the northern part of the city, past the university and some street markets, and found the Neill-Cochran House.


Built in 1855 as a residence for a family, but never quite finished, the house has been beautifully preserved and restored, and has lovely interiors. There were just four of us on the tour - including another Aussie, a guy who's been living in San Antonio for the last 30 years but whose accent still gave him away - so we had lots of time for questions, and to look at everything in detail.


After being on our feet for most of the day, and walking quite a distance in the hot sun, we thought we'd take advantage of Austin's very progressive public transport system and catch a free ride back down the city centre, but after waiting for some time we found that the one we wanted, at least, didn't run on the weekend. We grappled with the automated info-line for at least ten minutes of our half-hour wait, and it was all becoming a bit farcical (not to mention hot and humid!) when a bus finally arrived... it wasn't free, as the Dillo would have been, but at $1 for 24 hours of unlimited travel we didn't feel ourselves badly done by.

Energy flagging, and having done more than we'd expected to fit in when we started the day, what better way to finish it than in the famous Driskill Hotel's 1886 Cafe and Bakery,


sipping iced coffee and eating apple cobbler?