Goin' Gruene!

Gruene, TX, that is! Seeing a few signs of green and spring!

 Redbuds are starting to pop

Meanwhile in SD, Lulu is getting snow and sleet

good form,  David

3-1-14:  Date day today included a run over to the Rim in San Antonio.  Our one and only trip over there this year.  We needed to browse around the sporting goods stores and the yarn store.  Lovely day for a little day day trip.  And a stop at the driving range in Leon Springs.

this is why we call this road "Sheep Creek Rd"

always fun to see the new babies

Took the scenic route home.  We call this road "Sheep Creek" Rd.  Kerrville, Ingram had a Goat Creek Rd, but this one is a little more rural and has "loose livestock" signs all over.  The above pix explain it.

walk slim

3-2-14:  Woke up to the 70's this morning. Set out on my walk and it had fallen to 53 before I could get out the door. A chilly 53.  Once I started on the back road it began pouring down so I cut the walk way short. By the time I got home it had fallen to 43 degrees. 10 degrees in 10 minutes! I decided today was a good day to beging the video Jackie B told me about and 15 minutes of Jerri's strength exercises.  I only made it a little over 1 mile, but it's a great workout. I'm sure it won't take too long to build up to the 4 miles.  pant, pant.  Hope I stick with it.

at Jacob's Well near Wimberly, TX

3-5-14: David planned a fun date day to Gruene, TX today.  Jerri had told us about the historic town and Gristmill for lunch.  David surprised me by stopping at Jacob's well first.  Well, he said he'd told me, but it was news to me when we pulled up there.  I was thinking we were looking around for Gruene & suddenly we were at this great nature area!   I guess that's one good thing about being old: lots of surprises.

My fella on the walkway adjacent to Jacob's Well, the longest underwater cave in TX

me on the walkway

the cave drops about 30 ft initially then descends at an angle about 130 ft 

Jacob's Well is an artesian spring that serves as headwaters for Cypress Creek

thousands of gallons of water a day flows thru Wimberly, TX to the Blue Hole and Blanco Rivers

Jacob's Well also recharges the Edwards Aquifer 

the creek below the spring

on a trail above the creek

crystal clear water

lots of boulders

looking back toward the well

Jacob's Well has been a popular swimming hole for generations of Texans but is now closed to swimming due to the instability of the rock along the banks

upstream looking toward the well

Would love to go back to this place sometime prepared to hike. And then the town of Wimberly looks great! Cute, cute little oldtown shopping area along the creek -- which is river-size.  Reminds me of a little mountain town. On to Gruene, TX.

a little of the Gruene, TX history

Henry D. Gruene's mansion

Ernst Gruene bought much of the Gruene property back when he was living in New Braunfels. His son, Henry D founded many of the businesses here.  

the old cotton gin site is now the gristmill restaraunt

the Gruene water tower

The Gristmill -- great food

we ate with the wild hogs - the fireplace felt great today!

After a yummy lunch at the Gristmill, we walked around and got a few shots of the dance hall and other sites in Gruene.  It was a chilly, drizzly day, so we didn't spend too much time out and about in the town.

the bar part of Gruene Hall -- my pic below is of this room today

Gruene Hall is well known far and wide

the windows of the dance hall were closed up today

Gruene Hall has been in business since it was built in the 1870's

Henry D. was responsible for many of buildings in Gruene, including the dance hall, which he had built in the 1870's.  Whether the town was thriving or nearly gone, as in the Great Depression, Gruene Hall never closed down. Today it's still home to many a night of honky tonk.

inside the dance hall

the saloon was open for business

 hasn't had a lot of changes over the years

the old wooden tables, dance floor, and stage

I'm sure many a familiar band has played from this stage

view from the stage area

dance hall floor

old power lines on the way home

We really enjoyed the drive home also.  Went back through Sisterdale and Comfort.  Lots of beautiful countryside and rolling hills.

Beep beep

the view along Hwy 473

love the hill country

a dried up pond in the foreground

this old bldg in Sisterdale, TX still has an old car in the carport

looks pretty cool

across from the general store in Sisterdale was a fire a fell started on a salvage car

David snapping a cool old German school bldg in Sisterdale

on private property so we couldn't go beyond the fence

old German farmhouse on 473 near Comfort, TX

these brahmas on 473 were most interested in the photographer

Great date day as always!  We are blessed.

Stan took a selfie of our table at cards

Western Town card game at JCRV

Made it back in time for a card game.  Never get tired of Panties!

Here we go expecting about a mile to 1 1/2 mile hike

3-7-14:  Jerri and George took us to Pedernales Falls State Park for a hike today. What a gorgeous, unique place! So glad David and I got to experience this with our good friends.

After walking 5 minutes or less, this is the view that came upon us

And, yes, we wanted to climb down onto the rocks

the Falls

one of the pools amongst the falls

George and Jerri head on down the steps

plant growing in the middle of a rock

view of Pedernales River from the rocks

just a hole in the rocks with a little water in it

pocket of water among the rocks

clear river water

looking upstream toward the falls

the river cuts through the rock and the canyon continues to grow

took me awhile to navigate downhill and on the rocks, but coming back up was much easier

the falls

relatively low flow today

the large deep blue pool at the foot of the falls

looking downstream

looking toward an exposed stream

water was coming out from under this tree.  You could find water here by digging about a foot deep in the sandy beach to the right of the tree

this is what the other side of the tree/spring looked like

a sight to behold

David taking a look

George and Jerri

David is the dot on the right.
During heavy rain the river is prone to flash flooding. Even when the sun is shining in the park, heavy rain upstream can create dangerous conditions in as little as 5 minutes.

as this pic from the sign shows

Tho the trail was super short, we easily spent more than an hour out there on the rocks. Beautiful day!

Oh, just another cowboy on the highway in the hill country

After leaving the state park, we headed back through Wimberly and over to Driftwood to eat lunch at Salt Lick BBQ. Fun place and it was the first time for David and me.  Mustard BBQ sauce was a first for us, too.

selfie while waiting for a table

saw these cute poodle tennis shoes while waiting in line. Want.

after eating we got a good look at the pit

back home

Good day with good friends.

part of the new goat herd on the backroad at JCRV

some of the prickly plants are blooming

pretty.... in a dry, barren sort of way

the turkeys love to puff out when Rocky walks by

Leanne Kess jazzed up the hand cream we learned to make

getting the look from Jerri while snapping a pic of her booboo

Our time in the hill country is really winding down.  We've enjoyed some great new experiences this year.  David is the king of finding new places to go and new roads to travel.  Looking forward to more adventures with my man!

Much Love to All,

Ernst, Antoinette, and Henry D.