Hail, the Lone Star State!

I'm a little late, but here are a few highlights from our trip to Texas. We flew into San Antonio, spent a couple days there, drove around the Texas Hill Country for a few days and then went down to Houston. We spent a day driving along Galveston Bay and Island. We then drove back to San Antonio for our flight home.
1. Debbie and Rod Barnes. They have a nice guest room and pool outside, they serve up a really nice barbecue dinner, and daughter Jennifer, son-in-law Ron Jones and grandson Parker all live nearby.
2. Jennifer Barnes Jones and Ron Jones. They joined us at Debbie's for dinner. Jen was a little stressed out about her new job, but they are a really sweet couple (especially considering that Ron is an FBI agent!) and Parker is a neat kid.
3. Sarah Barnes Stellges and Brandon Stellges. They took us out to a REAL Mexican restaurant, where I had the absolute best Margaritas I've ever had. (First ones, too.) Sarah is well along in her pregnancy and we had a really delightful evening with them. We had lunch the next day and went into a Lucchese Boot shop – the least expensive pair was $775. That's about as much I have paid for all the shoes I have bought in my entire life. (Almost.) But Sarah gave us a recommendation for another store which was on our way out of San Antone and I got meself a mighty fine pair of Tony Lamas – and a Lucchese belt, which Janet picked out.
4. The LBJ Ranch in Hill Country, along a river spelled "Pedernales" but which everyone pronounces "purrden-alice." It's a moving visit.
5. Riverwalk in San Antonio. Mobbed (including many cadets from a nearby Air Force base), but worth it. We had dinner one evening in SA and went back for our last dinner.
6. Alamo? Meh. But south of SA is Mission San Juan, a well-done Park Service site which educates you well about these missions, which were designed to domesticate the Native Americans so as to settle the area, since not enough Spanish could be persuaded to come to the New World.
7. Hill Country. Pretty. Very pretty. Lots of bluebonnets. Almost every river and creek bed was bone dry. They really have a drought problem.
8. Hill Country wineries. I had no idea there are so many, and they use Texas-grown grapes. As is the case with so many small wineries, the locals get all the good stuff. We had some truly marvelous wine.
9.  We decided the fool-proof way to foment an armed rebellion in Texas would be to prohibit (a) pickup trucks and (b) fences.
10. Galveston, on the Gulf. It's getting more built up and touristy, but the views of the Gulf are pretty amazing. We had lunch in a great little honky-tonk crab shack right on the water. Gives new meaning to the term "eat local."
11. Houston traffic. Bad, bad, bad.
12. Hugh and Judy Thompson. Hugh was a roommate (for one year) and good friend at Princeton, but we've had no contact since graduation. They served up a nice dinner at their house, just 15 minutes from Debbie and Rod.
13. LBJ Houston Space Center? A real bust, all Disney-fied. Phooey.
14. Fredericksburg, in the center of Hill Country. A town settled by Germans. First night: the worst sauerbraten I've ever had. Second night: much better sauerbraten.
15. Rod Barnes. You gotta love this guy. In my foolishness, I had thought we would take three of those wines back on the plane. Oops, 3 oz. limits on liquids. We didn't want to check any luggage, so Rod offered to pack up the wine (and two glasses) and ship them to us. They arrived a week later so hugely armored that a direct hit from Kim Jong-Un wouldn't have done anything.

I'd definitely go back. Thank you Debbie, Rod, Sarah, Brandon, Jennifer, Ron, Hugh and Judy.