Chapter 7: Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. And Lunch.
On our final full day in Texas, we split up. My parents arrived the previous evening in San Antonio, having spent an extra day in Lajitas. My father took me, David, and Scotty to the second round of the Valero Texas Open, a PGA tournament that just so happened to be taking place that weekend. Sadly, it’s a minor event, so most of the big names in golf were skipping it that week. We love our golf, so we didn’t mind so much.
This is the 16th hole, considered the signature hole on the golf course. It’s a par 3 that is unique due to the bunker sitting right smack in the middle of the green. At first glance, this might seem like an especially cruel design feature, but I think it’s much harder on the pros. My shots never end up anywhere near the middle of the green, so I doubt I’d ever have to worry about that particular hazard.
We always have fun watching professional golfers and wandering golf courses we’d never be able to see. I took detailed notes on every single shot we witnessed, so I’ll go ahead and transcribe them here for your entertainment.
Hmm. I can’t seem to find any of my notes. That’s almost…tragic. I know how much you were looking forward to that.
Well, anyway, that was our day. Meanwhile, my mom, Julie, Sarah and Drew went to the
San Antonio Zoo. I wasn’t there, so I can’t really describe the day, but I’ll do the best I can with the photos they took.
So, yes—I can confirm that they went to the zoo.
Right off the bat, they witnessed nature’s true horror, as this bear probably mauled that bird just after this photo was taken.
There was a butterfly garden, where Julie spent at least 20 minutes taking 90 different versions of this photo in order to get the light settings exactly right, and then wound up keeping the first one and deleting the rest.
Sarah was attacked by this giant mutant moth, which attempted to eat her finger. She paused to take a photo before biting the head off the moth and neutralizing the threat. We appreciate the fact that she also raised her index finger for this photo.
They also apparently took a side detour to Pandora to see exotic creatures.
As well as some exotic creatures of earth.
There was a petting zoo, where Drew and Sarah could find animals to adopt and take home on the plane with us.
There was also a playground. I don’t really need to tell you what happened after this photo was taken, do I? An older sibling has a sacred duty in this situation.
Lastly, there was a train ride that circled the zoo. You can only imagine how excited Drew was to ride the train!
Just slightly excited.
Little did they know that bandits would attempt to rob the train! Luckily, Sarah and Drew were up to the task of fighting them off and defending the rest of the passengers. The thieves tried to escape in a helicopter, but Drew targeted them with his trusty rocket launcher. He had found one in the souvenir shop.
We met up once again in late afternoon and said goodbye to my parents—they’d be spending a few more days in Texas while we had to get back home since spring break was coming to a close. We drove north, and had to take a lot of back roads since Google said the highway from San Antonio to Austin was more crowded than the EPCOT security line. Eventually, we made it to Austin.
Austin is the capital of Texas, and the official home of Texas barbecue. Some of the world’s most famous and highly-rated BBQ joints are here in town, including
Franklin BBQ, which has garnered a reputation as the best barbecue in the world. I would have tried it out, but the line starts forming around 6 or 7 in the morning, at least 4 hours before they open. I don’t have enough vacation time to do that.
I’d consulted the Texas Monthly 50 Best list once again, and found a place in northwest Austin that was fairly highly rated:
Stiles Switch BBQ.
We timed it really well, because the line wasn’t too bad when we arrived, and then it started getting packed soon after we got there. Naturally, it’s a good sign if it’s popular with the locals.
I love that most BBQ places will offer a 2-meat or 3-meat tray so you can try different flavors. I went with my standard pulled pork and beef brisket. Along with my favorite vegetables.
Check out that bark! Sooooo good. This was even better than the place in San Antonio, which was no slouch.
We met up in Austin with Camille, who used to be a regular here on the boards. She is extremely sweet in person, and insisted on taking us over to another shop so she could buy us cupcakes. We played the obligatory half-hearted “you don’t have to do that” game and then caved quickly so we could go get some cupcakes.
She was a joy to spend an evening with, and all I can say is: if you go to Texas, meet up with Camille! She will buy you cupcakes!
That night, Dave complained of not feeling well in the car as we drove to the hotel. Julie felt he was probably dehydrated from walking around in the Texas heat all day and gave him some red Gatorade. Later, after everyone was in bed, we heard Dave get up and wander into the bathroom, whereupon all of that red Gatorade promptly came right back up. As it turned out, he had borrowed a book from Sarah a couple of days earlier and had been furiously reading it in the car for hours. We think that had messed up his head enough to make him sick.
The real tragedy was that he missed out on the morning treat, still not feeling 100%. We stopped in the morning at
Round Rock Donuts, which we’d seen once on the Travel Channel.
This place is famous for its “Texas-size” donuts, which are bigger than the average human head.
As much as I’d wanted to try one of those, the incident with Dave the night before left us thinking that we might not want to share bites of the same food with each other, just in case. So we just got a half-dozen regular donuts.
They were excellent. Served warm and fresh…I’d stop here anytime I was in the Austin area.
We drove three hours north back to Dallas. We had a late afternoon flight back home, but had one more stop to make. I was determined to sample as much Texas BBQ as I possibly could, and one of the highest-rated places on the Texas Monthly list was in Dallas: the
Pecan Lodge.
It opened at 11:00 a.m., and we found a parking spot nearby around 10:45. By the time we got in line, it was 10 minutes before opening. This is what the line looked like:
Once they opened the doors, it moved smoothly. I’d say it still took us almost 30 minutes to get to the front to make an order.
The line remained out the door as long as we were there.
I got pulled pork and brisket again, while Sarah opted for ribs and brisket. We both thought “bacon Mac & cheese” sounded like something we needed to order as well.
Julie, meanwhile, ordered pork on a baked sweet potato. She told me she was “kind of tired of barbecue” and wanted something different. I have to say, I didn’t think that was possible. I mean, we’d only had it for 3 out of our last 9 meals. Sure, it was also 2 out of our last 3, but it’s BBQ! This is what they serve in heaven! (When they’re not serving pie or Philly cheese steaks.)
Anyway, Pecan Lodge was probably the pinnacle of our Texas BBQ samplings. This meat had a heavier smoke flavor than the others, so if you prefer less smoke, I’d go with Stiles Switch. Either way, they were amazing. Some of the best brisket I’ve ever had.
As if this meal couldn’t get any better, there was a
Pie Emporium right next door. I started to make the “Is this heaven?” joke, but then realized it couldn’t be; it was Dallas. But we still felt an obligation to get some dessert. Everything was great.
They also had an excellent note on the front door:
We made one final stop before heading to the airport: the
Texas Book Depository. This, of course, is the site of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald, who shot from the sixth floor of the Book Depository building—unless you prefer to believe the myriad conspiracy theories out there. The building is now a museum dedicated to President Kennedy and the assassination, but we didn’t have time to tour the whole place. So we settled for visiting and seeing Dealey Plaza, where fateful history was made.
We walked down the street a ways, following the basic path of President Kennedy’s motorcade. There are two X’s marked on the pavement, showing where the President was struck by the assassin’s bullets. A grim, sobering reminder of a horrifying day in American history.
As a side note, if you ever want to read a great "what if?" story, try
Stephen King's novel, 11/22/63. It's not his usual horror story. More of a sci-fi/thriller/time-travel/love story. It's over 800 pages, and I never wanted it to end. Just a great read, and one of my favorite books.
And that, my friends, was the end of our time in Texas. In a quick poll of family members, Big Bend/Lajitas was everyone’s favorite place we visited. We’d head right back if it wasn’t so hard to get there! But never fear…we’re always ready for the next adventure.
Updated family map:
See that big hole in the deep south of the U.S.? We would address that on our next trip. Look for that trip report here in the DIS Dads sub-group on the boards. I’ll try and remember to post a link.
Thank you so much for reading along, and for sticking with me through both the Midwest trip report and this bonus Texas TR. It would be much more boring if you weren’t reading along and commenting. I always get excited to read the commentary, hoping that I’ve made you laugh somewhere along the way, or that you’ve fact-checked me and found me falling short as usual, or that you’ve just found yet another way to give me crap. The back-and-forth here makes it so much fun. I appreciate each and every one of you and the time you’ve spent sharing my family’s adventures. I hope you’ll join me for the next one!