Good BBQ and Good Times at Gonzales Winterfest

Michele and I had the pleasure today of going to the Annual Winterfest in Gonzales, TX today with our friends, Thomas and Brooke.  What a great day.

On the way to Gonzalez, we stopped in Lockhart to read the Texas Historical Commission plaque describing the Battle of Plum Creek.  This is the battle in which the Comanche Indians invaded Central Texas in 1840 trying to drive the Texians out of the Republic.  The Comanches succeded in staving off the western expansion by the Texians, but it also spurred the Republic of Texas to beef up their defenses against the Indians and work to drive them out of Texas.  This effort took 40 more years and only became effective after the Civil War when former soldiers killed the buffaloes along the Great Plains, causing wide-spread starvation among the Comanche tribe.  

In Luling, we stopped at City Market to have some fantastic BBQ.  The brisket, sausage, and ribs at City Market are some of the best I have ever had.  

We then traveled down to Winterfest in Gonzales to see the historic home tours.  We visited the jailhouse in town, took a few goofy pictures at the gallows and the jail cells, and then began looking at the historic homes in Gonzales.  There were five homes on show today.  The most impressive of these homes is the J.D. Houston home, near the courthouse.  This home was built in the 1890's by the banker J.D. Houston.  The home was sold to another family at the turn of the 20th century and then to the current owner's grandparents.   The current owners are restoring the house to its original quality, as it was originally designed by the same architect who built the Littlefield House on the UT campus.  This is the first opportunity for many people in Gonzales to see the interior of this home in many years.  

Other homes on the tour included the College, built in 1851, the J.B. Wells home, built in the 1880's, the W.T. Dawe house, built in 1907, and the J.C. Bright house, built in 1911.  These are all very fine homes.

After leaving Gonzales, we came back to Austin to watch the first half of the Big 12 Championship Game.  The game is not going well for the University of Texas, but the day went very well for us in seeing historic Texas locations with good friends.