Carl's Blog

Let’s start by saying I’m glad I brought a light jacket because it was cold this morning around 7 AM when I went for a short walk for some Pokemon Go and to feel like I was trying to be healthy on my break. I think it was in the upper 40s as the sun rose and my fingers felt it. All a good reason to charge off to a big breakfast.

My eatery of choice was, Granny D’s. Just 5 or so miles up / down the road from my lodgings. It is a quaint little dinner that is open only for breakfast and dinner most days of the week. Since this is Tuesday, they were open for breakfast. Walking into the dinner I notice 2 different handwritten notes on the doors. One was extremely helpful, this door is broken walk around to the other side and use that one and the second note related to the current egg crises, we will sadly be having to add a surge charge to the cost of all menu items that include eggs. I can completely understand, last time I check egg prices had come down to $6 a dozen but that is still double the normal cost before the whole bird flu supply chain issues.

I chose to have the Big Damn Biscuit and a cup of coffee. I hear you ask, what is the Big Damn Biscuit meal? Well here is a picture of it.

From the menu it was listed as a big biscuit, covered with 2 chicken strips, sausage gravy and an egg. I’m not sure what you thought when you saw the picture, but I was like… wow! I’m glad I’m seriously hungry from my extra, chilly walk this morning. With coffee, tip and the egg surge charge my bill came to just under $20. Before you go all crazy and blame the egg surge charge, which was only $1, the coffee was like $2.99 and the meal itself was $10.95. With bill paid and tummy full, I headed back to prepare for my trip to Wimberly.

The Return to Wimberly

Look I used a subtitle. Not sure I like it or not, but I’m going to go with it for the rest of this post. 😇

One thing I was concerned about was the number of stores that would be closed. I remembered from last year, that if you wanted to shop all the shops you need to be there on Thursday’s thru Saturday’s. For some reason, Monday’s and Tuesday’s don’t get the same type of love. And yes, I know, it is probably based on economic issues like costs versus profits, blah, blah, blah. I just want the world to work on my terms. Just kidding, well mostly.

To be honest, the shops I wanted to visit were open so I’ve no reason to be whining. It seems the popcorn shop has changed names.

The ordering is still the same, and you can have samples of before you purchase. I went with 2 savory and 1 sweet option, cheddar, jalapeno and sea salt caramel which I purchased in the medium size and not the small size like the others. Sorry no pictures of the popcorn, they are mine and mine alone, I will not even share an image of the bags. 😂

The second shop I wanted to visit was the, Kiss the Cook. If you had a cooking item you needed, I’m pretty sure you could find it here in this store. They have high quality knives, like ones that will stay sharp for years, good, heavy metal pots and pans, and a variety of baking molds if you wanted to bake a cake that came out of the oven with a personality. While all of those items were tempting, I already have too many similar things in my cabinets that I don’t use as often as I originally intended when they were first purchased. I did purchase a new hot sauce, an adult beverage mixer, and a mix to make scones. I did take a few pictures in the store of some items I found amusing. I hope you enjoy them too.

I wandered into a variety of other stores actively looking to buy things. I checked out a plant shop that sold a variety of cactus and other succulents. They even had Venus fly traps and a variety of carnivorous plants which almost had me but I don’t know how to take care of them and didn’t want to take the time to learn, so on to the next store a candle shop.

I bought a candle from this shop last year, and I didn’t enjoy it; however, my candle addiction is now under control but I still have dozens of used and half used glass candle jars on and in my cabinets. The sales girl had a great suggestions, and it seems to have been a plan from the beginning. When you have used up the candle heat it up so you can get the last of the wax out, clean it real well and turn it into a whisky glass. Absolutely genius idea!! I may or may not be doing that when I get home. Oh, I did purchase some incense which takes up a lot less room and is easier to clean up after it has burned to ash.

I think its time for me to mention all the boots. I think I talked about them last year, maybe I even took pictures, on the off chance I didn’t here are some pictures.

At some point in Wimberly’s history they decided to have artist create cowboy boots to place along the sidewalks and in front of the stores. Which fits perfectly with Wimberly’s artistic vibe, by which I mean there plenty of artist stores selling paintings, stain glass, jewelry and other items crafted by a local talent. Don’t get me wrong, there are still shops selling items made in China, but you can just skip past those stores.

So it is now lunch time and I’m trying to decide what to eat and where to go next. It is too early to head back to the room, but I’ve exhausted all the shops and lost the urge to buy things, well mostly, I do plan on hitting the candy shop as I head back to my truck. I bought a chocolate bar and some hard candy. The chocolate is almost gone, just enough for 1 more bit tomorrow. Oh, lunch…. it was a chicken salad wrap made with BBQ chicken. It was pretty tasty.

With lunch done and the candy shop raided it was time to move to the next destination…

Blanco, Texas and the Buggy Barn Museum

Yeah, you read that subtitle correctly, I said The Buggy Barn Museum in Blanco, Texas. I know what you are thinking, that is a strange niche historical category to want to visit, but I guess I’ve read this far let’s just keep going maybe I will learn something.

But seriously, The Buggy Barn Museum was not my reason for visiting Blanco, Texas. I did end up going to The Buggy Barn Museum and I will share my experience in a moment, but my visit to the museum was a chance encounter with the owner while he was also visiting the Milam & Greene Distillery next door.

If you’ve read a few of my posts, you’ve seen the Old Fashions, and Manhattans in other posts. I like a good bourbon and Milam & Greene makes some of the best. While not everything is distilled at their location, it is aged in the barrel warehouses on property. Their rye whiskey is my favorite. Ok, I need to move on to the Buggy museum or I’m going to open up one of the whiskey bottles sitting on the floor of my room.

So The Buggy Barn Museum….

It looks like an old western town, and in fact the owner rents the property for movie and TV studios to film. Here is a quick blurb from their website:

“We have had numerous music videos filmed here including: “Gringo” by Shatta Wale, “Ride or Die”-Read Dead Redemption 2 by JT Music, an Arthur Brown music video, and a lady from Sweden film some of her music video with us.”

This site houses the 2nd largest collection of historical horse drawn buggys in the United States and the 3rd largest in the world, according to the guide on site. I knew I should have written her name down, but make sure you find her when you are take the tour. She has personally research the history of many of the buggys and can trace some of them back to the person how built them. A variety of them have also been rented to Hollywood Studios for movies, such as True Grit and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. The barn holding the buggys is packed full.

Here is the first example of tailgating, and it had it’s own bathroom.

That’s enough about buggys. I do suggest stopping by if you are in Blanco, Texas. Reward yourself with a flight of whiskys from Milam & Greene. 😇

Until tomorrow’s finally full day adventure… Goodnight, or Good morning or even Good day depending on when you read this post.