Texas 2013 Day 9: Tubing and Cowboy Boots

7/6/2013
Texas 2013 Day 9: Tubing and Cowboy Boots

Tubing today!! This was another big reason for the trip to Texas -- Frank and Jess had told me all these great stories of "Tubing on the Guadalupe" and I was really keen to take part in this honoured pasttime from their childhood summers.

We headed off a little later than usual and stopped first at Buc-ee's for breakfast food and extra drinks. Then off we went to Gruene to "put in" at Rockin R rentals. They were very organized, we paid for the tubes and dropped off anything we didn't need for the trip, tied the drinks onto the tubes and tied on a garbage bag, and off we went!

Tubing

Tubing

Tubing

It was really fun. Most of it was quite slow, very much like a lazy river. There were lots of people out there, having fun and just taking it easy. There were some nice views along the way of cool lakeside properties, and we chatted along the way about which ones we liked the best -- Frank getting to geek out about his architecture knowledge as well.

After about 2.5 hrs, we got out and were driven back to the first spot. We changed back into our shorts and headed for the outlet malls! First we went back to the boot place and they had all the boots out at this point and organized into their appropriate size areas, and separated out male vs. female. They had done a lot of work to get organized in the last few days! I tried on LOTS. I tried on a size 9 square toe and it fit fine, but I preferred a rounded or pointed toe because it looked so much more like a cowboy boot. Rounded was the best though. I tried the different widths too: B, D, EE... and it turned out that 9.5 D was my best fit. I liked a plain brown one, but after trying it on it was a bit too plain. I tried on a few others that looked too ornate on the toe and looked too girly. Then I tried a brown one with nice stitching work, but it was too tight on the toe which would be an issue later.

My boots!!!!

My epic boot purchase

The best fit after trying on about 15 boots was a Cherry Black goat and lizard boot! I really liked it and though the lizard part is a bit unusual, it's also pretty subdued and not in-your-face like the alligator ones, so I like it. It's a great fit and looks great with jeans. It's also super funny to be getting these, but Frank and Michal and Jess all approve so it's go time! Apparently I shouldn't wear these with shorts unless I am a girl, so that's too bad. I'll need to invest in some boot cut jeans I guess. I bought them and I'm so excited as to how they will look with a suit and with my regular jeans too. They were a super good deal too. The regular price on these, since they have "exotic leather" is about $540, and I got them for $299! A great deal given how much cowboy boots tend to cost, and this brand (Lucchese) are some of the best.

Awesome Texas whiskey and wine I got

The boot outlet appeared to be a new business venture for the owners of the next-door Gabriel's Liquor Warehouse! So we went in there as well, and I got some wine from Dry Comal Creek winery in case we don't get there before we leave. I also got a great Texas whiskey called Rebecca Creek, which we had tried at the rodeo earlier in the trip.

From there, we headed out for dinner and to go meet Alex and Tammy and their baby!! It's so nice that they made the trip. We headed to Root Cellar Cafe, and they had great food. We started with spinach artichoke dip and bruschetta. We also got beer bread with honey butter which was excellent. I got a Pecan-Bourbon chicken salad with fried zucchini sticks, and Michal got a salmon and salad which was also excellent. The food was fantastic and it was awesome to have time to catch up with Tammy and Alex... they are so cool. :)

Salmon for dinner

Fried asparagus!

Frank very seriously cutting his burger

Jess and some leafy green salad situation

Good times!

Tammy and little Mr. Texan!

After this tasty dinner and good chat, we headed back to the lake house. Frank's parents arrived and we chatted and unpacked and showed off our boot purchases. We had an ice cream snack and I caught up on my journal, heading to bed thinking about how glorious Franklin BBQ in Austin will be tomorrow.