Texas Small Town Weekend

This past weekend started out as any other weekend without any concrete plans, but as usual we ended up doing many things. On Saturday Ricky had a few things to do in San Antonio so I decided to make the drive down there with him, and check out the city a little more while he was getting his stuff done. I'll be honest I'm still not a huge fan of San Antonio vs. Austin- sorry I'm just not. However, I did find a few cools shops and areas that I explored. On our way back we decided to stop at a small town called Gurene, TX. This is apparently a really happening tourist spot that I we never really heard about. I've past their billboards consistently as we have traveled to the coast, but I never really gave the place much thought. Well on our way back we were getting hungry so we decided to stop at one of their famous restaurants on the Guadalupe River. We have lived here for over four years now, and we don't have many "discovery" moments anymore. But this town was a pleasant surprise to us both. We had a great lunch, an awesome time walking around the shops, and were able to grab a drink while taking in a show at the music hall.

This the outside of the restaurant where we ate. They had a gorgeous garden at this huge restaurant that was situated right next to the river. Considering we are going through a horrible drought right now in central TX, this garden must be a huge labor of Love. To be honest the whole little town was in great shape plant wise.

I realize that I don't take pictures of people very often. I think a lot of it stems back to my young adult life when my mother hammered my friends and I often with posing for pictures. I absolutely hated it! In turn I think I hate asking people now to pose with me, lol. I'm slowly starting to recover now ; ) This is Ricky and I in front of the entrance to Gristmill.

View of the Guadalupe River from our table

While we weren't familiar with Gurene before this little day adventure; we have heard about their music hall in the past. I'll give you the town history that I read on the back of the menu, lol. If I get something wrong I apologize now; I'm writing this from memory. The town of Gurene was started by one of the many German immigrants that moved to TX in the late 1800's. It was a single family with the last name Gurene ( ha ha, go figure) that bought land and decided to farm it with cotton. The cotton crop industry boomed over the years, and the small town grew with over 30 families living in the area. Unfortunately that did not last; they then got hit with a double whammy. The Great Depression occurred along with an outbreak of some kind of bug that destroyed thousands of crops of cotton. Everything in the town was shut down and abandoned. With the exception of one place, Gurene Hall. This dance hall has never been closed since it was opened in the 1800's, and they play plenty of down home country music all the time. We  grabbed a drink and caught a show last Saturday. The history in this place is awesome :)

The bar at Gurene Hall. This place isn't air conditioned so I don't think we will be coming back until the fall ; )

On Sunday we headed out with our friends Matt and Michelle to the "Blue Hole" swimming hole in Wimberly, TX. We have talked about it for a while, and decided last minute to take the plunge and go out there. It was wonderful : ) It's a small natural swimming hole in a small little winery town. I highly recommend it if you find yourself in the area.

The swimming hole. The water was crystal clear and a nice cool temperature.

The big lawn where you can lay out in the sun and picnic

We just so happened to stop by this place on the way back home. I'm sorry I have no pictures of our food, but by the time it made it our table we were starving and it disappeared rather quickly. I'll be honest, when I first moved to Austin I hated Texas BBQ. I didn't really care for the whole smoked meat with no sauce thing. I know I am in the extreme minority here ; ) But I usually pass on coming out to this restaurant when friends want to head out there. It's one of the best BBQ places in the area, and you can't really beat the ambiance. Well I can tell you this time the food was awesome, and you won't hear me pasings it up anymore! 

By the time we got home from our Wimberly outing we were exhausted. We ended up passing out for a few hours on the couch, and missing a great concert out by Lake  : ( 

But it was totally worth it, lol

Have a great week- Luv Di