Mini-Vacay

Jeff and I spent the past two days touring south central Texas. We started out at the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner Thursday morning, where they are serving up free beer (four 3oz. cups per person) at 9:45 a.m. I tried the Ruby Redbird- a seasonal beer brewed with Texas Ruby Red grapfruit (light and fresh tasting)- the Bohemian Black Lager (dark and awesome) and the 102 Double Wheat (tastes like wheat beer). I remain ever-faithful to the Bock though. Good stuff.

Did you know... Shiner's Hefeweizen is neither filtered nor pasteurized, and comes with special directions on how to drink it. You have to pour half into a glass, gently swirl the remaining half in the bottle to mix and then pour the rest into the glass. I'm pretty sure I would never have seen that on the label. That's your fun beer fact for today.

Next we went to the Blue Bell Creamery. I toured the creamery twenty-five years ago or so. Back then it was a dinky five-minute tour, walking up the stairs, standing in front of a window overlooking the production line and coming back down the stairs where you could get a cup of ice cream. After a half hour drive from College Station at the time, my friends and I said, "Well... that was cute!"

Now the tour is 30 minutes and all over their beautiful, much larger facility. (They use the little old place for only their products on sticks. There's a joke there, somewhere.) Outside after the tour, the very nice man who was taking our picture warned me not to touch the bronze cow sculpture, because it was extremely hot. He could tell from the way I was walking up to it that I was SO going to hug that thing! Saved me a third degree burn.

After that, we headed up to A&M and straight to Zach. We visited both Jeff's and my department offices. Almost all our profs have either left the university or been promoted to fancy positions in administrative buildings, so we bored regaled students with our tales from yesteryear and then walked around peeking into classrooms and lecture halls.

After touring the northeast corner of campus, we checked in at the 7F Lodge in College Station. Eight individual secluded cabins in the woods. Just gorgeous! I cannot say enough good things about it. If you ever want a couple of days away in central Texas, definitely stay there. There are no TVs, phones or internet connections. It's actually nice to be off the grid for a bit.

We hung out there a while and then ventured back into town. Eventually we were at The Chicken playing pool. I really enjoy playing, but I am not that great anymore. I used to be good enough to at least win now and then. I wish we had a pool table at our house so I could practice practice practice! Next house- media room and pool table.

I have to mention this T-shirt we saw. It said "Keep College Station normal." NICE. Awww, you know I love you, Austin, but that is some funny stuff right there.

Finished up the whirlwind trip with a visit to the Bush Presidential Library yesterday morning. I've been but Jeff had not. It's very nicely decked out for Fourth of July. There is a huge pond with a path behind the building that is not to miss. So pretty!