This morning (okay, well, closer to afternoon) after we got some work done we met up with Shirley & Bob (Kevin's mom and her husband) for some lunch and then headed out to explore a little Texas Hill Country.
We'd read about the Garrison Brothers Distillery in Hye, TX and thought we might stop there and take the tour and taste some bourbon before going into Fredericksburg. The last tour was at 4pm and we pulled in right on time. There were ten or so ladies already there waiting for the tour as well.
They've got a nice little office there with benches and chairs and a tree swing and a cooler with water and beer and wine with a sign to help yourself while you wait. Pretty nice!
After about 20 minutes a guy in a truck drove up and appeared to be looking around for someone. One of the ladies asked him if he knew anything about when the tour might start and he said he didn't know if it was even going to happen because the owner's two dogs had just been killed in a car accident and they were all up at the house right now. He said he was heading up there to check and he left, but after about 10 more minutes we decided we'd move on. The tour probably wouldn't happen, and even if it did, we didn't really want to be part of this other group that felt…well…a little insensitive about what had just happened. They were having fun and mostly seemed a bit annoyed that they couldn't go on the tour. I was bummed we didn't get to go on the tour too, but I felt worse about the owner losing his dogs. 🙁
As we pulled out to the main road there was a building on the right with a post office and a liquor store (the town of Hye has a population of about 104). We figured they'd carry the bourbon in that store so I ran in and yep, they did. We bought a bottle to take home and taste, figuring we'd probably like it from what we'd already read about it.
Since we didn't get the tour/tasting experience we were hoping for, we decided to stop and taste some Texas wine at Messina Hof winery. Pretty good, pretty good. I didn't know Texas had wine, but I read somewhere that this area is the second most visited wine region in the country. Hm. I find that hard to believe.
We were kinda quick through Fredericksburg (it was a little late and most places were closed) so we just wandered a bit and enjoyed some of the architecture.
We stopped at the airport — Shirley and Bob wanted to show us the Hangar Hotel. It's a hotel built in what looks like an old hangar but was actually constructed from the ground up to look like a WWII hangar from the 1940's.
They've got a cool diner (it was closed) right there facing the runway. A bit more than a $100 hamburger trip, but could be a fun destination sometime.
Shirley and Bob took us to dinner back in Boerne (pronounced like "Bernie") at Rudy's Country Store and Bar-B-Q. Love the vibe of this place. You get in line and order from the counter…first your sides (we got creamed corn, cole slaw, and beans) and the move forward to the meats section of the counter (brisket, baby back ribs, and sausage). They put it all in a big tray, give you four sheets of waxed white butcher paper (takes the place of plates), and off you go to big picnic tables outside. It was fun and the food was good.
Rudy's when we went in:
Rudy's when we left:
Weather was beautiful all day. Now we're back at the Airstream sipping a little glass of the new bourbon (well, a big glass but just a little bit of bourbon in the bottom of it). It's good. Different. It smells like it's going to be strong and burn a little, but it's actually quite smooth and kind of evaporates in your mouth before there's much to swallow. Good stuff.
Fun day with two of my favorite people! And that would be true even if I hadn’t given birth to one of them!