Where a Kid Can Be a Kid

We don't get a lot of tiny visitors around here, being an adults only hideaway, but, recently my grandson, Jack, from San Antonio, came to visit while we were closed for some remodeling.  I thought I would take the chance to get in some Grammy time!  With the first couple of days spent exploring around the property and getting dirty as boys so readily do, I made plans for that Saturday afternoon to take a fun country day trip. What I didn't know was how much fun I would have on a trip geared towards being a kid, but hey grown people still love s'mores, right?!

Now, Jack is incredibly smart, but a quiet boy.  He loves museums and history, with a mild obsession with the Titanic, so I had an idea to draw him out of his shell.  I knew we had a some local places, a few of which I have written about before, that he would really enjoy, and so we set out on our adventure.

To add a little ambiance, I made a call to my son, who lives up here.  He loves projects, and is restoring an old Ford 4x4 pickup.  At this point, it's running great, so I asked if we could borrow it for the day.  As Jack got in the big truck, he asked where we were going, and I told him we were going to get lost and find our way back... by which he was thoroughly confused, and said can't you just push the map button?  I explained that this was an old truck and there was no button for navigation.

As Jack peppered me with questions about where and why we were going and looked at wonder at the old truck with no A/C or TV screens anywhere.  You could easily see he was definitely not sure about the old beast.  But with the windows down and the radio up, we rolled down the highway.  After a few minutes, his wand was out the window surfing in the wind, and I knew he was coming around.

As we rolled deeper into the country outside of St. Jo, to the East, we stopped at a road side driveway.  There was a little gate leading into a pasture that had a number of installments placed where they could easily be seen from the road.  A man's retirement art project, these curiosities loom large on the scene.  As long as you are respectful, it's ok to step through and get a closer look at the pieces on display.  We weaved through them, Jack wide eyed as we walked.  The pieces incorporate a lot of interesting media, spanning from telephone poles to Volkswagens and airplane engines. 

Getting back in the truck, we pointed towards Nocona and Horton's Classic Car Museum.  Jack said he wasn't all that into sports cars, but I know little boys, of all ages, a bit better than that.  As we walked into the building housing 120 classic and modern muscle cars, he was slack jawed.  Strolling through the large bulding with so many cool and odd machines we were both taken aback.  The one that stood out the most was the spce ship looking "Mach 5", from the movie Speed Racer, which had a few props included in the display.

As we left Nocona and headed back to St. Jo for our next stop, the heat of the day had come on pretty heavily.  It is only about a 15 mile drive down a country highway, but as we pulled up to the town square, we were both ready for some A/C and a cold one.

We stepped into "Lonely Hearts Grill" next door to our next stop and grabbed a cool spot inside to relax for a moment.  When the server came to the table to take our order, Jack exclaimed "root beer!"  he said that they in fact had the "best root beer on the planet", Sioux City Root Beer.  I could see the look on his face said "I'll be the judge of that".  Alongside the slice of homemade pie we split, he seemed content with that description.

Refreshed, we made our way to the International Ordinance Museum.  This was an easy slam dunk, taking a boy to a tank and cannon museum, but I actually really found it interesting!  They had all sorts of old memorabilia and even a Japanese anti-aircraft prop cannon from the movie Pearl Harbor.  The owners were onsite and had lots of interesting anecdotes and stories that left jack wide eyed and me surprisingly intrigued.

With the day dragging on and time to start cooking dinner looming, we headed back to the manor.  When we gave the truck back to my son, Jack was going on and on about the root beer he had found and the tank that got blown up by a trick shot through a viewing window into the ammo stock inside.  I felt warm knowing I had found a way to melt his quiet exterior for a bit.  he also said he like the old truck because the A/C was broken and we got to drive with the windows down.  Then the phone rang and the radio on the truck shut off so it could be answered, to which Jack, perplexed, retorted "how did the truck get Bluetooth, it was made before they invented phones?!"

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Our business is simply sharing our home with guests, which is a very intimate experience, and so we have made many new friends over the years.  For my husband and I, one of the best parts of our job is the opportunity to meet people from all over the world in our home.  We take every opportunity we can to travel and learn more about places far and wide to bring a taste of these treasures home to share with our guests.  Having made so many friends over the years, we often find ourselves spending our personal time with past guests, sometimes traveling with or even to them.  One such time that was very special to us happened pretty recently.

A couple who has been staying with us for years and have become great friends of ours decided to include us in a very special moment.  we aer planning a trip together this summer, and while going over some details, The gentleman came to us with an idea he had.  His wife was retiring and he had told her he was going to take her away for a relaxing weekend with us the weekend of her retirement.  He decided to throw a surprise retirement party for her and enlisted our help.

The plan was to pick her up and take her to the inn, where she was expecting to spend the weekend reading by the pool.  In reality, He had taken over the whole property and filled it with her friends and their children!

The day of the party, we had everyone come to the house early and had hidden them all up in the library of our personal suite in the manor.  The cars she would recognize we stuck in the barn or somewhere out of sight.  As they were driving in, they were planning on stopping at a winery in St. Jo to give us time to get everything ready, but they had gotten a late start.

We got a text from her husband that they were running late, so we made an excuse for her to need to skip the winery.  Then we got a call from her daughter that they were running late, too, so we called them back and asked them to stop at the grocery store on the way because I was stuck in the middle of cooking and couldn't leave, and my husband was out and his phone had died.  I was really worried because she knew we would never ask a guest to do that, but we were desperate for an excuse to buy time, so as they say in football, I called an audible!

Fortunately, it worked.  She came in and they came up to the house for social hour, and was blown away by the surprise!  All of those people that meant so much to her were there to help her celebrate such a big milestone, and we too got to be a special part of that.  The look on her face was worth all the planning and sidesteps along the way to make this happen right.

That night we all went into town and had a private party at Doc's in Muenster, where the revelry went on into the night. The next day they men all went golfing so the ladies could relax in the sun and enjoy poolside service and all the onsite amenities and spa services.

Saturday night, after the day of outdoor fun for everyone, they all met back up for dinner in the dining room as we do it here at the manor.   With many toasts and cheer all around, the evening went great and was a perfect crescendo to the congratulatory event for her long career. It was such an honor to get to be a part of this weekend for people who have come to mean so much to us over the years!

Where There's Smoke, There's Meat

With the first official tip o' the triple digits scale, Summer is here.  As too many conversations between my husband and sons and son in law have aluded to, this means BBQ time.  Not just cooking our, but going to get it from other places, too.  Not that I mind terribly, as being Texan means an inherent love of meat and fire combined, but it is an overwhelmingly common topic these days. So this being my blog of the things that go on in our innkeeping life, I will share our newly compiled list of places to get your Que on around here!

The Usual Suspects: http://www.smokehousebbqlindsay.com/
                                  http://www.dieterbrosbbq.com/
If you live anywhere around north Texas, it seems you have a preference on one of the two side by side BBQ joints in Lindsey, TX, about 7 miles east of us here in Muenster.  In my opinion, they are very similar as far as the bbq goes, but the boys always look at me like I'm crazy when I say that.  They always start in on me with "one has this and the other that, and I wouldn't know the difference between..." guys, I'm a professional chef, you know?!  There is Dieter Bros.Pit Bar B Q, and next door is Smokehouse BBQ.  Both places are sit down style restaurants and both have beer, but Smokehouse has a full bar.  Dieter Brothers also has german food on the menu, and both places offer an old BBQ pit staple: Pizza.  I know.  Me either.  I say go to both and form your own opinion and i will respect it!

The Sleeper: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jazs-Bbq/407975039215484
My oldest son prides himself on being in the know about all the secret spots (he lived in Austin a bit too long I think). Somehow, he can sniff out hidden gems like a hog to a truffle.  It's weird.  With this skill in place, he did it in Gainesville, TX where he found a BBQ shack in the middle of a neighborhood well off the beaten path.  He was driving around and his radar went off and he just showed up later with a bunch of meat and sides.  He told us of a magical place called Jazz BBQ that he stumbled upon and when he got there, all they had left was Brisket, which is his favorite anyway.  That was his barometer for how good the rest must be, that they sold out before he was able to get some.  Mine was the brisket.  It was good... real good.  Tender and juicy and smokey, like it should be.  I'm not saying he's right about his method, but that doesn't mean the BBQ was bad either.

The New Guy: http://www.redriverstation.com/home.html
 A new place just opened to quite a bit of fanfare last week.  Being a new place in the area, the whole population decended upon it and as is less common, they liked it!  It's called Red River Station in St. Jo, TX.  This place is pretty cool.  It is a BBQ joint and "the Yard" where you can eat and drink and watch live bands play, and they have really good BBQ to go with it.  Just the classics here, though, no pizza.  The Ribs were fall apart tender and so smokey good!

These are the ones on our staples list right now, but I'll update the list soon with some more local joints!