Bandera: Bluebonnets, Beer, and Barbeque

We have spent the weekend in the town of Bandera in the Texas Hill Country.  People from states with real hills and mountains probably laugh a little when they get here.  But relative to the populated areas of the state, this is very hilly country.  It's also a major tourist draw, so we decided to find out why.

We don't have any photos to post.  That's a little perplexing but nothing jumped out at us.  And I've been putting off this post because I wasn't sure how to explain things.  So what is this place?  Well, it's a lifestyle destination, I suppose.  Based on cowboys, ranches, and western life.   It's not make believe, but then again it is a little bit.  Like any tourist area, the locals know what people want to see and do.

It's busiest in the spring, when wildflowers cover the roadsides and meadows for miles.  Mostly bluebonnets.  At that time, it's just like leaf peeping in the fall in New England.  The inns and bed and breakfasts are jammed, and so are the roads.

Beyond that is the cowboy thing.  And country music in bars and honky-tonks.  Bandera has two well known ones, Arky Blue's Silver Dollar, and the Eleventh Street Bar.  They are legendary, and authentic as a place can be while still being a tourist draw.  On nice days, motorcycle tourers are parked outside all the bars, eateries, and on main streets of all the small towns.   By far, most of the visitors are from Texas.

The towns are small.  Bandera is 950 people but feels a bit bigger.  There is plenty of space between towns, so there are lots of people living out in the country.   On ranches.  But not the Texas ranch of tens of thousands of acres you might  think of.  No, these are lifestyle ranches.  Ten, twenty, fifty acres.  Country living.  There is a big Wine Trail, especially on the north end near Fredericksburg.  We visited a couple wineries and bought some good vino.

Every town has a little restaurant that has a newspaper clipping declaring it to have the best BBQ in Texas.  Or the country.  Or anywhere.  Terry and I tried a couple, but we just might not be the right stuff.  We didn't care for it; must be an acquired taste.  It's a lot tougher than Chicago style BBQ.  Today we stopped in at the old fashioned soda fountain in the Bandera General Store.  I had a chocolate shake (Blue Bell ice cream of course!  YUM!), and asked the lady to make sure to make it with vanilla ice cream.  She was going to use chocolate.  This is a regional thing that varies around the country, I've noticed.  I plan to personally research this in all 50 states. :)  Anyway it was delicious made my way and I talked the proprietor into tasting it.  She had to admit it was pretty good.  By the time we left, I think I had her talked into adding it to the menu as a specialty and promoting it.  She wanted to name it after me but I hope I prevailed with my idea that a Blondie would be a more catchy name than a Don.

Maybe I shouldn't have messed with tradition.

Good weather continues, around 70 and sunny, and low 30's at night.  Monday we are heading to Lockhart State Park south of Austin.  It's not known for much except for having a golf course.  So I'm going to knock the rust off my golf game for a few days. Thursday we are running into Austin for a big RV show.  I believe we will head for home after that.