All My Ex's Live In Texas

...Well one of them does anyway.  Seriously.  But thinking about George Strait has got me thinking that I still haven't seen cowboys walking down the street.  Guess that's just not going to happen - even in Austin. Mom and I both slept in since we partied so late last night.  Lunch was our breakfast at The Salt Lick in Driftwood which I had heard about from Man Vs. Food.  Adam didn't do an eating competition here, but he raved about their open pit barbecue and yummy burnt ends.  I enjoyed their bread.

After lunch we explored more of Texas Hill Country and did a wine tasting at Driftwood Vineyards.  I wanted to go there because their website professed "spectacular views of Hill Country."  Unfortunately we were caught in a nasty thunderstorm when we arrived.  We sat in the car for about ten minutes trying to wait it out but gave up and eventually braved the weather to go inside and try some wine.  Nothing spectacular but it was a really pretty property and we had fun.  The storm cleared while we were inside so I snapped a few pictures when we were done tasting.  Very pretty place.

The concierge at our hotel suggested trying the Mandola winery in Driftwood so we went there next.  We found out they are in the process of becoming Duchman Family Winery.  Where the last winery had a beautiful property this one had a beautiful building.  The interior was decorated to make you feel like you were at an Italian vineyard.  I also think these wines were better in quality.  We enjoyed them so much we each ordered a glass of our favorite and snacked on their free cheeses.

After this it was time to take a breather at the hotel. Then we got ready to have dinner at Güero's Taco Bar in downtown Austin.  I was able to order my plain cheese quesadilla for just $1.99 so that made me happy.  Neither Mom nor I were totally happy with our margaritas - they weren't bad... they just weren't great.  We walked across the street after dinner to take a couple pics of the Continental Club that we didn't get last night.

Then Mom and I hopped in a cab and went to The Broken Spoke for line dancing.  I didn't catch the name of the band playing but they were pretty good.  Unfortunately everyone was two-stepping instead of line dancing.  I was hoping to get out on the dance floor a bit.  But I did get to try my first Lone Star longneck - not that it's anything to write home about.  And after all this we called it a night.

Thinking about longnecks got me thinking about "Longneck Bottle" and because I heard him on the radio today, Garth Brooks is tonight's media mention.  Amazon is not letting me link his Double Live album though which is my favorite.  His studio albums are fine but he is one of the few artists who actually sounds better live.  He brings so much more energy to the recordings that way.