TOURIN' TEXAS A FREE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER                                               PAGE 2

   GONZALES & SHINER

SHINER RESTAURANT AND BAR. Located in the historic and award-winning Green Building, in the center of downtown Shiner, Texas, at the corner of Seventh Street and Highway 90A. The Historic Bar, featuring a massive two-piece cherry wood bar, is one of the oldest bars still in existence in Texas.

Many towns in Texas have been busy restoring century-old buildings--Gonzales and Shiner are no exception. Except for the cars, pavement and a few modern poles this view in Shiner coulda' been taken a century ago. Well, they didn't have color pictures back then, but you get the idea.

oon we were in Gonzales where we stopped at a convenience store that advertised clean restrooms and they weren't kidding. With white tiles on the wall and two stripes, one at eye level and the other along the ceiling in red and white checker board, the men's room was a clean  well-lighted place. I suggested to Ms. Intrepid that I pick up some junk food but she said to hold off, there was a take-out stand across the street which smelled promising. I don't know how she comes up with this stuff cause I couldn't smell or see a thing at first.

       The stand, located at the intersection of 183 and 90 was truly the "real meal deal". We had hamburgers and shared curly fries which were about as good as you can get anywhere. If you're really picky about how your chicken is served, they have fried chicken, reheated fried chicken and cold chicken.
       While sitting at the picnic table under the canopy I could see a billboard across the way for Burger King. Typical of the fast food chains they show a thick burger piled high with rich red tomatoes, bright green lettuce and so fourth. Liar, liar, pants on fire. Well, I digress, or regress or both.
       But I can swear to this, the burger in front of me had everything the billboard promised. And more.  Like the owner told us later, part of the secret is warming up the buns directly on the grill right along with the burger. I really wanted to try their corn dogs too, but I was past full and we had more adventures ahead.
       Back on the road we entered Gonzales with the suggested slogan "Come and Enjoy It!" which I located on the Internet. This is the same town Sam Houston torched during the Runaway Scrape back in 1836. Today the place lives up to its historic heritage with plenty of refurbished structures to keep a photographer busy for days. Their imposing  courthouse is pictured to the left & a panorama of one downtown block is HERE.   I took more pictures of Gonzales than I can post here (Well wait. Why not?, here's another)
       Anyway, I figured there was an adult beverage or two in my future and Shiner was just up the road.  Now, with a designated driver I could just taste the free samples of Shiner this and Shiner that being forced upon me.
       Shiner bills itself as "Cleanest Little City in Texas." I've yet to check out every city in Texas so the claim seemed pretty tall but as Ms. Intrepid said, "Even the trailers don't have trash."  So I suppose that pretty well settles the debate.
         Their sidewalks are elegantly decorated with brick inlaid designs of the state and Lone Stars. I took the star picture and then another of the Shiner Bar and Restaurant across the street. The place was closed on Saturday.  Apparently it's only open by reservation so we continued on to the Shiner brewery.  Well, guess what? It was closed too. Their gift shop was open but they weren't serving up any free samples.  However, if you're looking for some great, stylish caps, t-shirts, hand bags and such be sure to drop in even if the brewery is closed.

       On the way out of Shiner we spotted a USO (unidentified stationary object) which I assume is a grain silo.  Maybe, maybe not, but either way it is a pretty handsome structure which would have been even more remarkable when it was all shiny and new.  It's surprises like this which make these excursions so exciting. (See, I'm not so hard to please.)

     PAGE 1: HEADIN' OUT /  PAGE 2: GONZALES & SHINER 
PAGE 3: YOKUM & SCHULENBURG /  PAGE 4: PRAHA
LULING TO PRAHA: INTERACTIVE MAP

HOME  |   CONTENTS  |  NOV 2001   |  DEC 2001   |  JAN 2002  |  FEB  2002
FREE WALLPAPER   |   LETTERS TO EDITOR
VISIT SAN MARCOS

BOOKMARK THIS SITE
TYPE CTRL-D NOW

Texas Hill Country Wine: Torrie de Pietra Vineyards and Winery near Fredericksburg Texas