Today was the first day since we left that we were stationary without much on the itinerary. We decided that we would take it easy, start a little later than usual and then head out to the main park in town. Brackenridge Park is 343 acres and sports a zoo, Japanese Tea Garden and even a miniature train that runs on about two miles of track around the park.
When we arrived at Brackenridge Park we couldn’t help but notice how wooded it is. To be honest, I am loving all of the green scenery we have encountered here. I guess a lot of years of staring at the desert makes any greenery look good. The Mojave Desert leaves so much to be desired. I will take Oak and Cypress over dirt and tumbleweed any day, but that is just me.
We drove through the massive park and finally found the train station. The price was right, so we boarded the train for our two mile loop around the park. It was a beautiful relaxing trip. When the twenty minute train ride ended, we decided to head over to the Japanese Tea Garden across the park.
The train engineer told us that the tea garden was under refurbishment so we didn’t know what to expect. Unfortunately this tea garden, which was built on the site of an old rock quarry in 1913, has seen better days. All of the water was drained and the plants didn’t look very vibrant. When compared to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco this just doesn’t stack up. Hopefully they will get the funds to refurbish this garden, as I am sure it was once something spectacular to look at!
When we left the tea garden Shawn Reece (and his parents) was starting to get hungry so we once again decided to take in the true Texas BBQ experience. We received information from several sources that Rudy’s Country Store & Bar-B-Q, located about 15 miles out of town, was by far the best BBQ in Texas, if not the world. (There sign says otherwise!) Since we couldn’t resist we headed to Rudy’s with much enthusiasm.
When we arrived the place was certainly as described. The building not only serves as a BBQ joint, it has a convenience store and a gas station attached. We took advantage of the gasoline service and then proceeded to ordering some BBQ. Rudy’s definitely gives you a true Texas BBQ experience, sporting picnic tables lined with red checkered covers throughout their dining room and patio. In addition, all of the food is served on wax paper! No plates here! All I can say is that Rudy’s in San Antonio puts Ruby’s in Austin to shame. The brisket was so tender and the “sause” is truly unbelievable. We were glad that we drove the extra distance to get there.
After what seemed like hours of eating meat, we decided to head back to town to do some laundry in preparation of getting back on the road tomorrow. We are headed for Dallas tomorrow night (after Six Flags) and then to Houston on Sunday. We are right on schedule to pull into Orlando next Thursday night as planned.
I am sorry if you are disappointed that there is not much to report today, but Jasmine was so stuffed from the BBQ that she held us up the rest of the day! (Ok, maybe that’s not true). Due to our limited day we only saw four new McDonalds today! Talk to you soon.
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The Coomer Family
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[…] to Texas I have grown to love Rudy’s. In fact I first ate at Rudy’s over 10 years ago and wrote about it on the previous version of this blog. In my opinion it is a great way to experience Texas BBQ. […]
Don’t forget to send us Ruby to go all this talk of good eats at these bbq joints is making me hungry, throughly enjoying this
thanks for including me