On our way from San Antonio to Austin, we made several stops. The first, and perhaps the most interesting, at Gruene, a well preserved little town that characterizes itself as "gently resisting change since 1872." This is certainly a town that has managed to retain the old Texas small-town feel.
Gruene has been designated a Historic Town by the State of Texas. The name of the town is pronounced like the color "Green."
Gruene has been designated a Historic Town by the State of Texas. The name of the town is pronounced like the color "Green."Henry D. Gruene, the town's founder, originally bought land for a cotton farm in 1872 with his father and brothers. He built his first home in 1872 and modified it over the years. It still stands proudly with its Victoria galleries today as the Gruene Mansion Inn. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a designated Texas Historic Landmark. Here it is today!
Town Map
The jewel in Gruene's crown has got to be the Gruene Hall, the oldest Dance Hall in Texas. It is small in scale, but mighty in its reputation for hosting the greatest country music acts around including Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Dixie Chicks, Jerry Jeff Walker and many others.
John Travolta as Michael, the "bad angel," filmed at Gruene Hall
Inside the Hall
The bar area
Special parking for the king
The Grist Mill restaurant in Gruene
Fishing, tubing, and other water recreation activities are available on the Guadalupe River, just down the hill from the Gruene Hall: http://www.gruenerivercompany.com/index.html
From Gruene, we made our way to San Marcos, the largest outlet shopping destination in Texas, and the third largest in the world. It's kind of like a strip mall on steroids there, quite spread out. Each store has it's own entrance. There is lots of parking of course and the site is so big that they have mini buses to move the shoppers around.Sadly, heavy rain storms were moving in and conditions became so inclement that we decided to cut our visit short and move on. Peggy did find a couple of items at Banana Republic, so she was pleased about that.
From San Marcos, we left I-35 and made our way via the back roads to Driftwood where we were looking forward to lunch at that mecca of Texas Hill Country barbeque, the Salt Lick.
http://www.saltlickbbq.com/
We arrived in the midst of a teeming downpour, and the parking lot was running rivers of waters. We danced around as best we could in a futile effort to stay dry and entered the shrine to German influenced, beautifully barbequed ribs, brisket and sausage with sides of potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans, pickles and onions.
BBQ Pit
BBQ Pit
The main dining room evokes the feeling of an old ranch mess hall
High anticipation: ready to savor the flavor
Clever merchandising: Must-have tee shirts and other stuff
The "real deal."Our meals are pictured here, just before we tied in. Peggy opted for the "seniors plate," which include a generous serving of all the dishes mentioned above. Kevin chose the "family plate," a never-ending delivery of all of the items, until you holler "I quit."
We finished up with a delicious peach cobbler a la mode, but here were also other cobblers on offer, as well as very attractive pecan pies
The pit master was busy keeping up with orders, as customer continued to arrive to eat-in and to take-out too.
Our window-side table
We finished up with a delicious peach cobbler a la mode, but here were also other cobblers on offer, as well as very attractive pecan pies
The pit master was busy keeping up with orders, as customer continued to arrive to eat-in and to take-out too.
Our window-side table
The Black & White soup ( Black bean soup with sherry and white cheddar soup with peppers)
Blue crab 
