A few too many pictures of a camel

We decided we should see more of Texas than Dallas so over Labor Day weekend we went on a mini vacation with our own Texas experts, the Morris family. Here is quick summary in pictures (or actually, not so quick):

We began with a stop in Greun (pronounced Green, I believe). A quaint little German town full to the brim with tourists. We took our babies into a bar. (But it was all for the sake of history, this bar being the oldest dance hall in Texas, or some such thing.) And I discovered a true and lasting passion in overpriced Texas souvenirs.

We then headed to some caves outside San Antonio. I can't think of the name right now and am feeling too lazy to look it up. Give me a break though, I just downloaded approximately 531 pictures for this silly post.
The caves proved slightly traumatic for Max. Can you see his reluctance in this picture?
I think this is the King's throne or something. Or maybe the ice palace. Or maybe the oversized and frightening jelly fish. These caves were pretty sweet and very humid.

Outside the caves we decided to let the kids (the Morris' have two boys about the same age as Max and Tessa) play on the dinosaurs with the "Do Not Climb" signs on them. After this (still same day) we drove to San Antonio and visisted the overcrowded Riverwalk (no picture, it was overcrowded). It was a pretty sweet place that I would like to visit again sometime other than Labor Day weekend.

We decided to not eat on the Riverwalk to avoid the crowds. Giannina found a top rated authentic Mexican restaurant that accessable via trolley according to the hostess at this top rated restaurant. She failed to mention that the trolley stopped running a good hour before we talked to her. So we walked two miles or so through the ghetto to reach this place. We did a few little dance steps to the music of the live Mexican mariachi band playing under the festive lights and then proceeded to wait over an hour to be seated. It was fun for a second (see picture below). The chicken in my enchilada was totally bland, which I guess is the way it is supposed to be. Not worth the walk to the ghetto, for sure. But still it is a fun memory now all is said and done.
We walked the two miles back to see the Alamo. This is pretty much as close as we got. I've heard we didn't miss much. We ended the night trying to scrounge pennies off the floor so we could pay for our cash only parking. A nice cop even offered us a dollar, but in the end we found enough change.
We were grateful to get to bed that night.

The next day was Fredricksburg. This is a sweet little town full of lots of fun shops, many of them devoted entirely to my beloved Texas souvenirs. It also had a little bit of Mormon history as depicted by these statues. A huge rainstorm came by while walking down Main Street (pretty much the only street we visited, we're told there isn't much else). We found an ice cream store with Blue Bell Ice Cream cones. Happiness!
Then we went to a place called Luckenbach, Texas. You may have heard of the song. Apparently this was the site of Willie Nielson's family picnic for many years until he moved it to Austin. I think the population is 6. Max learned how to use one of his sweet Texas souvenirs. Every kid needs a high powered sling shot.
A guy rode a steer.
We danced in the dance hall sans music.
Ty M. and Giannina bought their boys some souvenir shirts. We ate some fabulous Texas potato twists and drank some fresh lemonade. Then we left and headed to dinner at a German restaurant in Fredricksburg where fried chicken was listed under the "Lighter Items" portion of the menu. Tyler and I expanded our horizons and both ordered hamburgers. But we did sample some grease that was deceptively called "sausage".

We arrived at our hotel in Kerrsville. Although we may have been greatly disappointed in the cleanliness of the place, we were not disappointed with the rock climbing wall they had at the head of our beds.
We woke up and headed to an exotic resort. If you don't believe me, just check out the sign.

They loaded us into a little cage and we went on a sweet safari to feed the exotic animals.

Tessa daintily pushed food to the zebra.

We said "hello" to a friendly camel.

And said "gooooddbyyeee"

When we finished we washed our hands....five times.

On to dinner at the Salt Lick, a kind of famous barbeque place outside of Austin. We waited over an hour for dinner, but didn't mind a bit. The kids played Thomas the Train in the dirt and we listened to some amazing live music. The food was pretty good, but the atmosphere was amazing.

Slurpees and a movie on the ride home. Again, happiness!