Thursday, June 08, 2006

Day 2

This morning started off pretty well, actually the entire day was a good one. We left around 10 and headed out to do some sight seeing. I was introduced to the Congress Avenue bridge and the few thousand bats that live under it. It was an interesting experience as it's one of the largest bat colonies in the area and is comprised of Mexican Free Tailed bats. You could hear them screeching at one another and the smell of guano was present, but not overwhelming. A short drive away was a statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Very inspiring piece of artwork.

We headed out to Driftwood, Texas. Just 10 miles from nowhere, it's a small town that is home to the Salt Lick. It's a working ranch that specializes in doing some of the best BBQ I've ever tasted. You seat yourself an the menu is pretty straighforward: no fench fries, no onion rings, no burgers. Just your choice of any or all of the best pork ribs, brisket, and sausage drenched in a homemade sauce that bears more a resemblance to brown gravy than bbq sauce, but the similarity ends there. Where other places try to overwhelm the taste of the meat and sauce with copious amounts of smoke, the Salt Lick lets the meat take the forefront and their homebrew of a sauce is the perfect backup. Combine that with potato salad, cole slaw, pinto beans, and a plate full of raw onion and homemade dill pickles and you've got one of the better meals I've had in awhile. And yes, there was white bread for soaking up every last drop of that wonderful sauce.

Next up was a stop in San Marcos and a driving tour of the former Southwest Texas State University, now titled Texas State University, San Marcos. A beautiful campus and definitely time well spent. This was followed by a short stop at a local outlet mall and San Antonio was in our sights. This was yet another test of my GPS, and it did the trick, thankfully. Unfortunatley it doesn't show you the front entrance which we had a little trouble finding. We parked, and got checked in.

The Watermark Hotel is a nice place. We're overlooking the River Walk and after a little shopping we popped into Johnny Rockets for a burger. Tomorrow is the Zoo and Mi Tierra for lunch. Dinner is still up in the air, but will be someplace close by more than likely.

-D

3 comments:

edieraye said...

My mom, niece, and I (what a motley crew!) took a roadtrip to San Antonio a year and a half ago. It was so much fun! I took some crazy pictures. We stayed on the riverwalk and I even got Mom a balcony overlooking the water.

Austin and I did Sea World not too long ago. That was fun!

Ensign Eddie said...

I don't think avgeek is interested in the sites and sounds of the place.

He just wants to eat.

:-) :-) :-)

AVGeek said...

And how! Food is what it's all about. Amy and I did Sea World a few years ago. Hot but fun.

Just got back from Mi Tierra. All I can say is thank God for the GPS. It's a little twitchy still, but it got us to the Zoo, to Mi Tierra, and back to the hotel will little trouble.

Mi Tierra was good. We took in the Mexican Market Place, loaded up at the bakery, and then headed back.

More tonight.
-D