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Feb. 6th, 2008 05:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolariJanuary 19th
The final roadtrip with Emily (We put well over 2000 miles on the truck) was going to be a nice trip trhough the Czech country, and to have dinner at the Spectacular Royer's Round Top Cafe. Unfortunately, it was marred by high winds, cold weather, and a lot of drizzle - not to mention a freak winter thunderstorm.
We made a bee line for Flatonia - our trips always suffered from running out of light at the end of the trips, so we got up early and straight up flew to Flatonia. In Flatonia, Emily got to see an old railroad complex in the area, still used by the Milk Producers of America, I think, as well as a Railroad park. There's a gigantic railroad diamond east of town that's also a park with a viewing pavillion. We got out of the truck into the near freezing temps and rain to watch a train drive by. The pavilion was done by rail fans, obviously, since the layout of the track and even the radio ferquencies of the walkie talkies was on display.
I got to run around town and see some very nice looking Victorian houses. I'm really surprised a thee number of old and restrored grand houses in Southeast Texas. Given Texas' history of being rough and tumble frontier, you wouldn't expect something that delicate out here.
Also worth mentioning is that the Trucker's Heaven, Grumpy's Restaurant has sold out - it's a McDonald's now. Pah.
From the town of Flatonia, we made our way to Praha. Praha is not so much a town anymore as it's a two building and one of the most BEAUTIFUL churchs I've ever seen, with the possible exception of Serbin. Even Emily was impressed with the opulence of the place. Serbin's and Praha's churches are once of several "painted churchs" in the area, where the place is kept pristine, with vibrant colors and art on the walls that isn't garish, or eye-peeling, but just Really Damned Good (which is ironic as this is a church we're talking about here). We took a good number of pictures inside, some of which I'm hoping to share when I get home. (NOTE TO SELF, GRAB PICS IF YOU'RE NOT DONE WITH THIS BY LUNCH).
From Praha, we went into Schulenberg, and did our Normal Every Roadtrip thing - I got the houses and the history, Emily got the railroads. There were two little items of interest in the town (well, three).
1) The major roads are sunken under the railroad tracks, and the track bridges in Victoria, Schulenberg and Columbus are...well...eye popingly bright and vibrant and day-glo. Hurts your eyes to look at the too long.
2) There's a store on North Main Street that has two cats who live int he window display. One who is very laid back and unheavily cool, and the other who did everything he possibly could to stick himself between us and the other cat, hoping to steal the limelight (who knew they knew we were taking pics?) Gotta admit, damn, that cat looked GOOD.
We made a quick stop in Weimar for snacks and Cokes, and stumbled across a treasure trove of Dublin Dr. Pepper. I've long since soured on the things - I'm just born in the wrong era, and Coke and Dr. Pepper don't taste right to me without the incredibly fattening High Frucose Corn Syrup. We freaked the little girl behind the counter out asking is we could buy a whole case (for Dean) including the plastic cases they came in - they gave us 12 for a buck each instead of a $1.25, so we considered ourselves lucky even if we couldn't get the tray.
Emily had some small culture shock while there, though. She's not used to the idea of small-town convenience stores that not only sell sodas, snacks, maps and gas, but also sell food and have sit down tables where you can eat. Small towns like Wiemar don't have much in the way of restaurants (usually a few nice sit down places, and one or two fast food places (more'n'likely a Dairy Queen (which you need in Texas to qualify as a city))), so the convenience stores fill the gap. This one sold tacos and soup. We didn't get any though - we were saving up for Round Top.
We made it into Columbus, which has one hundred and seventeen Highway 71s, and depending on which map you look at, they're all the right ones. Columbus has one of the odder County Courthouse areas I've seen. On one side, you have the Coourthouse Oak, which died a good number of years ago. It wasn't chopped down, but was pruned way down and cut to thr point that it looks like a model of the heart and its aortas. On the other side is a gigantic parapet looking water tower, and while the other three sides all are modern, one side has an ancient restored operahouse still sitting on it. The square is also incredibly claustrophobic, the roads are narrow and canopied pretty low. Along with the houses and railroad sites, just east of Columbus is the 2nd largest living oak tree in the World (I believe, might just be in North America).
From Columbus, we made our way north, making a side trip to Frelsburg. Nothing more than a spot on the road where Farm to Market 109 makes a right turn. It's a funny little town, though. There's a all purpose general store there, selling snacks and sodas, maps....and fishing rods, fire arms, dusty old portable TVs, portable radios, fans, and a ton of stuff that prolly hasn'tbeen manufactured since the 80s, and has never been out of the box. It's a neat old place, the kind where you walk onthe floorboards and they creak under you from the age. Next door is "The Girl's Store" but we were too busy to check it out. It looked all red and velvety through the doorway from where we were, a real contrast to the dusty wooden firearms part we were in.
It was around this time that we noticed something - we had a LOT of time on our hands. We were rushing around Texas trying to see everything, that once our trip was half over...it was barely afternoon. Which actually was good. All this trip, the temperature never got above 37, it was cold and rainy, so we weren't all the inclined to get the heck out of the truck.
Through New Ulm, and Industry (where we made a sidetrip to Johann Friedrich Ernst's house, the first German immigrant to get a plot here, leading to the huge German influence of the German Adelsverein in Central Texas), through Shelby (with a quick shot of the Harmonie Park Choirhouse), we suddenly and inexplicably found ourselves at Round Top - REALLY REALLY REALLY early. Of all the little towns we passed through, there was very little of them left, and little to see. Surprised me that we got to Round Top so so so early.
After a quick look around the town square, we decided that 37 was much too cold in the rain to be hanging around looking at the sites (some old restored dog-run houses, the old courthouse, the general store) and went into the Royer's Round Top cafe.
Man I love this place. It's expensive as all get-out (with the cinnamon pie monstrosity I brought to the moviegasm, it was a grand total of $75), but it's totlally worth it. Where else can you get a plate of Alfredo poasta topped with strips of angus steak, pork tenderloin with peach and pepper glaze, and bacon wrapped stuffed quail with a side of mashed potato casserole? That's REALLY good? In the middle of Rural Texas? Oh, man, it's totally some good stuff. If you ever want to try it, just aim for Round Top - once you're there, you can't miss it. Cause it's kinda the only thing there.
We decided after dinner, to not really hang around - it was very cold, very rainy, and stating to get dark. So we aimed for La Grange for one last stop at Weikel's bakery, going through Warrenton and pullin over to see two sights - one we expected, one we didn't.
The first was the St. Martin's Church, the world's smallest (active worship) church. 12x16 feet, only room for about 12 people (if they're friendly). The story behind it is that there was once a very LARGE church here, serving a mostly black community. When LaGrange needed a new church, they demolished the black community one and built a new one in LaGrange. However, there was a lot of lumber left over, so as a "favor" they rebuilt the black church with the left over lumber. Sad really, but the victory comes from having the LaGrange chapel torn down int he 60s, while the warrenton one remains. :)
The other was an antique car museum that wasn't there the last time I made the Round Top/LaGrange run. It was late and closed, but looked rather inviting with it's Muffler Man and antique gas pumps. Sadly it was closed up.
We got into LaGrange just as the sun was setting, no sightseeing here - straight for Weikel's and baked goods to take home and to the moviegasm (I provided the tasty kolaches from here).
With not much left to go on, we headed through Smithville, Togo, Rosanky, Delhi (where we went through a freak winter thunderstorm of all things...not much in the way of lightning and thunder, but lots of rain), McMahan (OFFICIALLY it's McMahan, the locals prefer the name "Whizzerville" (seriously)), Lockhart, and finally home.
And so went the last roadtrip with Emily. I miss her, terribly.
The final roadtrip with Emily (We put well over 2000 miles on the truck) was going to be a nice trip trhough the Czech country, and to have dinner at the Spectacular Royer's Round Top Cafe. Unfortunately, it was marred by high winds, cold weather, and a lot of drizzle - not to mention a freak winter thunderstorm.
We made a bee line for Flatonia - our trips always suffered from running out of light at the end of the trips, so we got up early and straight up flew to Flatonia. In Flatonia, Emily got to see an old railroad complex in the area, still used by the Milk Producers of America, I think, as well as a Railroad park. There's a gigantic railroad diamond east of town that's also a park with a viewing pavillion. We got out of the truck into the near freezing temps and rain to watch a train drive by. The pavilion was done by rail fans, obviously, since the layout of the track and even the radio ferquencies of the walkie talkies was on display.
I got to run around town and see some very nice looking Victorian houses. I'm really surprised a thee number of old and restrored grand houses in Southeast Texas. Given Texas' history of being rough and tumble frontier, you wouldn't expect something that delicate out here.
Also worth mentioning is that the Trucker's Heaven, Grumpy's Restaurant has sold out - it's a McDonald's now. Pah.
From the town of Flatonia, we made our way to Praha. Praha is not so much a town anymore as it's a two building and one of the most BEAUTIFUL churchs I've ever seen, with the possible exception of Serbin. Even Emily was impressed with the opulence of the place. Serbin's and Praha's churches are once of several "painted churchs" in the area, where the place is kept pristine, with vibrant colors and art on the walls that isn't garish, or eye-peeling, but just Really Damned Good (which is ironic as this is a church we're talking about here). We took a good number of pictures inside, some of which I'm hoping to share when I get home. (NOTE TO SELF, GRAB PICS IF YOU'RE NOT DONE WITH THIS BY LUNCH).
From Praha, we went into Schulenberg, and did our Normal Every Roadtrip thing - I got the houses and the history, Emily got the railroads. There were two little items of interest in the town (well, three).
1) The major roads are sunken under the railroad tracks, and the track bridges in Victoria, Schulenberg and Columbus are...well...eye popingly bright and vibrant and day-glo. Hurts your eyes to look at the too long.
2) There's a store on North Main Street that has two cats who live int he window display. One who is very laid back and unheavily cool, and the other who did everything he possibly could to stick himself between us and the other cat, hoping to steal the limelight (who knew they knew we were taking pics?) Gotta admit, damn, that cat looked GOOD.
We made a quick stop in Weimar for snacks and Cokes, and stumbled across a treasure trove of Dublin Dr. Pepper. I've long since soured on the things - I'm just born in the wrong era, and Coke and Dr. Pepper don't taste right to me without the incredibly fattening High Frucose Corn Syrup. We freaked the little girl behind the counter out asking is we could buy a whole case (for Dean) including the plastic cases they came in - they gave us 12 for a buck each instead of a $1.25, so we considered ourselves lucky even if we couldn't get the tray.
Emily had some small culture shock while there, though. She's not used to the idea of small-town convenience stores that not only sell sodas, snacks, maps and gas, but also sell food and have sit down tables where you can eat. Small towns like Wiemar don't have much in the way of restaurants (usually a few nice sit down places, and one or two fast food places (more'n'likely a Dairy Queen (which you need in Texas to qualify as a city))), so the convenience stores fill the gap. This one sold tacos and soup. We didn't get any though - we were saving up for Round Top.
We made it into Columbus, which has one hundred and seventeen Highway 71s, and depending on which map you look at, they're all the right ones. Columbus has one of the odder County Courthouse areas I've seen. On one side, you have the Coourthouse Oak, which died a good number of years ago. It wasn't chopped down, but was pruned way down and cut to thr point that it looks like a model of the heart and its aortas. On the other side is a gigantic parapet looking water tower, and while the other three sides all are modern, one side has an ancient restored operahouse still sitting on it. The square is also incredibly claustrophobic, the roads are narrow and canopied pretty low. Along with the houses and railroad sites, just east of Columbus is the 2nd largest living oak tree in the World (I believe, might just be in North America).
From Columbus, we made our way north, making a side trip to Frelsburg. Nothing more than a spot on the road where Farm to Market 109 makes a right turn. It's a funny little town, though. There's a all purpose general store there, selling snacks and sodas, maps....and fishing rods, fire arms, dusty old portable TVs, portable radios, fans, and a ton of stuff that prolly hasn'tbeen manufactured since the 80s, and has never been out of the box. It's a neat old place, the kind where you walk onthe floorboards and they creak under you from the age. Next door is "The Girl's Store" but we were too busy to check it out. It looked all red and velvety through the doorway from where we were, a real contrast to the dusty wooden firearms part we were in.
It was around this time that we noticed something - we had a LOT of time on our hands. We were rushing around Texas trying to see everything, that once our trip was half over...it was barely afternoon. Which actually was good. All this trip, the temperature never got above 37, it was cold and rainy, so we weren't all the inclined to get the heck out of the truck.
Through New Ulm, and Industry (where we made a sidetrip to Johann Friedrich Ernst's house, the first German immigrant to get a plot here, leading to the huge German influence of the German Adelsverein in Central Texas), through Shelby (with a quick shot of the Harmonie Park Choirhouse), we suddenly and inexplicably found ourselves at Round Top - REALLY REALLY REALLY early. Of all the little towns we passed through, there was very little of them left, and little to see. Surprised me that we got to Round Top so so so early.
After a quick look around the town square, we decided that 37 was much too cold in the rain to be hanging around looking at the sites (some old restored dog-run houses, the old courthouse, the general store) and went into the Royer's Round Top cafe.
Man I love this place. It's expensive as all get-out (with the cinnamon pie monstrosity I brought to the moviegasm, it was a grand total of $75), but it's totlally worth it. Where else can you get a plate of Alfredo poasta topped with strips of angus steak, pork tenderloin with peach and pepper glaze, and bacon wrapped stuffed quail with a side of mashed potato casserole? That's REALLY good? In the middle of Rural Texas? Oh, man, it's totally some good stuff. If you ever want to try it, just aim for Round Top - once you're there, you can't miss it. Cause it's kinda the only thing there.
We decided after dinner, to not really hang around - it was very cold, very rainy, and stating to get dark. So we aimed for La Grange for one last stop at Weikel's bakery, going through Warrenton and pullin over to see two sights - one we expected, one we didn't.
The first was the St. Martin's Church, the world's smallest (active worship) church. 12x16 feet, only room for about 12 people (if they're friendly). The story behind it is that there was once a very LARGE church here, serving a mostly black community. When LaGrange needed a new church, they demolished the black community one and built a new one in LaGrange. However, there was a lot of lumber left over, so as a "favor" they rebuilt the black church with the left over lumber. Sad really, but the victory comes from having the LaGrange chapel torn down int he 60s, while the warrenton one remains. :)
The other was an antique car museum that wasn't there the last time I made the Round Top/LaGrange run. It was late and closed, but looked rather inviting with it's Muffler Man and antique gas pumps. Sadly it was closed up.
We got into LaGrange just as the sun was setting, no sightseeing here - straight for Weikel's and baked goods to take home and to the moviegasm (I provided the tasty kolaches from here).
With not much left to go on, we headed through Smithville, Togo, Rosanky, Delhi (where we went through a freak winter thunderstorm of all things...not much in the way of lightning and thunder, but lots of rain), McMahan (OFFICIALLY it's McMahan, the locals prefer the name "Whizzerville" (seriously)), Lockhart, and finally home.
And so went the last roadtrip with Emily. I miss her, terribly.
