Weekend fun, and my 500th post.

Friday night was a good time. We took mom out to Dynasty, as I told you before, and we made further plans to change things up and visit many more places in the future. Mom spoke about wanting to eat Italian next time, so the plan is for her to come over to Killeen this Friday and we'll all go out to the Olive Garden. It should be a great new tradition. We'll go wherever mom wants to go.

She's got great taste in food and isn't tied the way dad was to one place and one thing. It should be fun, seeing what we can come up with on a weekly basis. Also, not being tied to going to Dynasty every week will have it's rewards.

I can't eat a full plate of that stuff more than once a week or I'll lose my girlish figure, so there are a few great places here in town that I've been avoiding, saving myself for Fridays. All bets are off now, so these other folks had better brace themselves. I'll be bellied up to the buffet in mid week. It may just set the planet and stars off kilter. Someone call Al Gore.

Saturday afternoon, Denise and I drove down 289 towards the Hill Country to visit the Texas Men's Chili Championships in Johnson City. The new batch of Bluebonnets are out already, and soon they'll be spread out all along the roads, mixed with Indian Paint Brush and Butter Cups. If any of you are thinkin' about it, you need to plan a trip to the Hill Country in about a month. The flowers should be in full glory by then.

Some good friends of ours were competing it the show, testing out their new cooker and doing BBQ Brisket for the first time. Normally I'd go down with them and camp out, but this one looked like it was gonna be kinda dull (no gun show or rattlesnake roundup), and Denise had been kinda puny the few days before. She had missed work last week suffering from a stomach flue but was feelin' better by Saturday, so we just made it a day trip. Turned out to be a great idea. It rained a bit on us while we were headed down there. Though I love campin', doin' it in the rain is not my cup of tea if it can be avoided, so the day trip turned out to be a good idea.

The guys had already turned in their food (Chili, BBQ ribs, brisket and chicken) to the judges when we got there, so we hung around for a bit and then decided to head out and drive around the town and see what was there.

After a short drive into town and a trip to a local store for provisions (some peppered jerky, Raspberry Peach Chipotle Glaze, Peach Jalapeno Preserves and some hot mustard), we headed East from Johnson City to check out the Perdenales Falls State Park. Dig the flash flood shots. Not cool.

I'd always heard of the falls but had never seen them. It's a bit early in the year for a road trip like this. the flowers aren't fully out yet and the water isn't flowing much in the river, but these granite falls are pretty none the less. I'll have these shots over on the FlickR page soon. You can click over there for the rest of the pictures.

The falls are created by a sheer drop of along the Perdenales River. the water cuts trough the rock and makes chutes that swimmers and tubers use too have a great time in the summer.

One such chute, the largest of them, is already runnin'. Others can be seen, but the water isn't high enough for them to have any water in them yet.

Off to the side of the falls there's a spring emptying water into the river from under this rock and tree.

A few guys were out fishing and wading, but I don't think they were catching anything. Well, it's all about the friends and the relaxation, right? And the cooler. Don't forget the cooler.

After wandering around the falls we checked out a bird watching blind they have set up in the park. You walk in quietly, past the sign that warns you about rattlesnakes (Denise got a HUGE kick out of that), and then you can sit and watch the critters flit in and out.

There's a cool looking bird bath in there, attracting all sorts of critters.

I tried to take pictures of the hummingbirds, like the one above, but the auto focus on the camera kept focusing on the stuff behind the birds. Drove me nuts, and ruined most of my shots. I did manage to get a few fuzzy shots by focusing on the feeder and then shifting to the bird, but none of them turned out the way I wanted them to.

It was a very peaceful place. We hung out there for a while and then the time came for us to go back to the cook-off to see the awards handed out.

Turns out my buddy Dave and his brother Fred won 10th place for their ribs. It was fun to see them win again.

After that Denise and I headed West 20 minutes or so to Fredericksburg to eat dinner. We went to the Auslander and I tried my first Black & Tan.

Gag me with a stick! That Guinness is AWFUL and cutting it with Bass Ale didn't help! Don't know what some folks see in it, but to each his own. I washed it down with a tall Paulaner Hefeweizen (the idiot put a lemon slice in it) and some beer battered mushrooms. Then Denise and I split a big fat bacon cheeseburger and briefly walked around town. on the walk we stopped in at a little ice cream place for dessert and then decided to head back home the way we came.

On the drive home we noticed a spot light shining up from the center of town in Marble Falls, so we headed over to see what was goin' on.

Turns out they were having a music and arts festival, and there were several great Blues Bands (locals from Austin and others from around the nation) playing at various venues around the town square. Once we parked the car we just went from one place to another, sampling the music, and none of the bands disappointed.

On the main stage down town we found a great guitar player named Derek O'Brien who was backed up by the house band and horns from Antone's in Austin. His drummer that night was Chris Layton, the guy who played drums for Stevie Ray Vaughn and still plays his ass off with many other local and national bands. I can't believe we just missed seein' Omar and the Howlers! Apparently they were on stage just before O'Brien. Well, I guess I should pay closer attention to what's goin' on around the hill country. Had no idea the festival was gonna happen.

The band played their asses off for about a half hour while we sat on a curb and listened. When they finished we wandered over towards the car and happened upon another amazing little power trio playing in a funky little place off the main square.

This is the Chris Lopez Band out of San Antonio, playing in the little bar at the back of a place called The House of Blue Lights, off the main street. Here's a taste...

They were playin' covers when we got there, and pulled out an amazing version of Tom Petty's Mary Jane's Last Dance. It was wonderful. We listened for a while and then headed home.

We zipped up 289 and got to the house by about 12:30. It didn't take long for me to be sawin' logs. Part of me wanted to stay and close down that last venue, but the cats needed kibbles and it had been a very long day. I'll pay closer attention next time and we'll see them again.

Well, I hope all of you had a great weekend. Cheers.