6: Days
3,205: Miles
63 hours and 3 minutes: Driving time
51 MPH: Average speed
105.577: Gallons of gas
2: Magazines (european car and Gourmet)
1: Book (Speaking Out by Larry Speakes)
4: Chocolate chip cookies on Midwest Airlines
Repeating past year’s tactics my employer announced two weeks beforehand the company was closing Christmas Eve to New Years and we were required to take vacation time for the non-holiday days. Not content to sit around I decided to escape to warmth and ‘fill in more of the map’. Texas won over Arizona and Southern California for the cheapest airfare.
Wednesday, December 26th, 2007
Not interested in Kennedy, but you can’t go to Dallas without seeing Dealey Plaza. It was eerie to see the buildings, streets and grassy knoll made well-known by the recurrent film.
West End is a fantastic area full of walkable streets backed by old buildings given new life as restaurants and shops.
In this district is the venerable Sonny Bryan’s Smokehouse. The Chopped Brisket showed why this local chain has been a fixture since 1910.
Ambling tourists have replaced steers in Fort Worth’s Stockyards National Historic District.
Thursday, December 27th, 2007
The first of numerous town squares started in Denton where Jupiter House was a detour for a steamer. I’ve visited hundreds of town squares with their central courthouses boxed in by storefronts and never tire of these reflections of past days.
Near the Oklahoma border Denison is the birthplace of one of our countries great Presidents- Dwight David Eisenhower.
Detroit
Clarksville
Let us review- friends don’t let friends eat at chains. But food boy has three approved chains:
1) Sonic America’s Drive-In
2) Cold Stone Creamery
3) Fatburger
There are 893 Sonics in Texas. Mt. Pleasant was the first one on this trip. Temptation at every corner!
Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana is famous for their fruit cakes. Fruit cakes much denounced reputation could be resuscitated with Collin Street’s dense creations having equally dense and complex flavors.
Friday, December 28th, 2007
The oldest town in Texas Nacogdoches has a winning combination of inviting town square, brick streets and well-worn aura for old time nostalgia.
Rusk
Rolling into Houston at nightfall the first destination was Goode Company Bar-B-Que for a Brisket Sandwich.
Saturday, December 29th, 2007
After driving past Johnson Space Center and checking out the playful Kameth Boardwalk (left) it was on to the island of Galveston (right).
You can guess by the name of this bakery what Caldwell’s claim to culinary fame is. The Strawberry Kolache’s soft pillow dough was a delight magnified by the luscious center filling.
Speaking of culinary fame…..Round Top has a population of 77 and is in the middle of nowhere. That makes Royers Round Top Café all the much more distinctive.
Knowing their reputation I wasn’t surprised to step inside, find it packed with a 30 minute wait. So I got my meal to go and was taken care of by Bud Royer himself.
A junction of Highway 71 is typical of most- gas stations and fast food. You might give that Weikel’s Bakery sign a passing glance.
But this picture will show the popularity of this bakery attached to a Shell.
I think everyone in Luling was eating at City Market. What a tremendous sensation of community to see the tables strewn with butcher paper holding brisket, sausage and ribs.
Step into the glassed off back room and see the source of this barbecue joint’s magnetic draw.
Barbecue in Texas is more predominant than hot dog stands in Chicago. Lockhart has a number of world famous ones.
Clearly, Kreuz Market outgrew their original 1900 digs.
But the pits are still about slow smoking beef.
I got the Shoulder Clod. That exterior crust was stupendous.
Black’s Barbecue is the oldest in the state.
Slice of brisket, nice perceptible permeation of seasoning.
San Marcos
Comfort is one of those towns that tugs at the bottom of your heart. Amber lights highlighted centuries old architecture while light poured out of bistro windows.
Germanic in design Fredericksburg’s varieties of facades are outlined in strings of lights. An architectural assortment of canopies shelter wide sidewalks.
Outside of town Fredericksburg Herb Farm is a spa and store which uses its own gardens for its restaurant.
Considering my intake of red meat and bakery for the day I went with this Herb Farm Dinner Salad made with mixed spring greens, chives and basil.
Sunday, December 30th, 2007
Marble Falls
Great looking breakfast spot. Monument Café in Georgetown.
I’ve never thought much of Krispy Kreme and the Round Top Glazed from Round Top Donuts in Round Top proved why. Pillowy, fluffy puffs of dough dissolve in the mouth leaving behind the glazed sugary sweetness.
There is something about grocery stores. Whether it is a wooden floored relic in the middle of nowhere, a modern institution or a gourmet market I explore them here and abroad. H-E-B plus! left me excited. It has departments you usually see, just amped up. But is also has a tortillaria, café, 360 degree demonstration kitchen, sushi, coffee bar, bookstore, electronics, housewares and on and on.
Check out this greatly named town:
Housed in the original Waco factory the Dr Pepper museum traces the history of this drink, the soft drink industry and the methods and equipment to bottle the drinks.
Can you guess where I couldn’t pass up going in Texas?
This is the town:
After driving 15 miles of dusty, narrow farm roads this is the closest I got to the ranch, about a mile from it:
Monday, December 31st, 2007
Jackpot. This breakfast spot met my criteria. Jean’s Feed Barn is one of a handful of buildings in Cross Plains to interrupt the low terrain. The full parking lot of pick-up trucks signaled its worthiness.
Soon realized I was the only one in the joint not wearing
• A cowboy hat
• Cowboy boots
• Camouflage
Even though I don’t drink soda I was excited to tour the Dublin Dr Pepper. This plant has the distinctions of being Dr Pepper’s oldest bottler and they use Imperial Pure Cane Sugar rather than the cheaper ubiquitous high fructose corn syrup. But alas, it was closed. All I could do was cross the street to a gas station and buy a bottle to snap this shot:
Take away the paved roads and Hico is a step back into the old west.
With two restaurants in Meridian my formula worked to pick Papa Doc’s.
Their Grilled Catfish used lemon and pepper which accentuated AND complemented the natural sweetness of the fish. Enough to put this on my Best Things I Put In My Mouth 2007 list.
Hillsboro
Unique Sonic.
Great town square in Waxahachie.
Dinner time in Bowie, not much open so I defaulted to Sonic (twist my arm) and an item I’ve had before so know it is stellar. Santa Fe Grilled Chicken Salad.
This was the last Sonic of the trip bringing the grand total to 73 visited in 16 states with 82 menu items enjoyed. (They have 168,894 drink combinations alone.)
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008
On my 5AM run noticed some girls coming out of Whataburger and from their barely there cocktail dresses realized they were just going home. Yikes.
This day was a mad race to cover more territory before having to get to the airport by 9AM.
2007 in Review
563 Restaurants
206 Bakeries/Ice Cream Shops/Drink places
7 Trips
6 Countries
18 States
64 Movies
2 Adorable, super smart nieces
Thanks for reading this. Get out their and see this marvelous country!