Bayou City Postcards: Hill Country Idyll

I'm sorry I missed yesterday, I'm still getting my act together after having been out of town all weekend. I was attending a not-a-wedding.

What is a not-a-wedding? It's a ceremony for a couple that eloped; complete with blessing the couple, cake, sit-down dinner and dancing, but it's NOT a wedding because:

They are already married, &
The not-groom very firmly says "It's NOT a wedding" everytime anyone says the word "wedding".

I'm teasing, of course. My favorite moment was during the blessing. We were all standing around the couple, and a little boy (about 4) walked up to his father, handed him his shoes, and walked away. They told him to be quiet during the ceremony, and he was, but I had a hard time not giggling.

The party was lovely, particularly the setting. If you are going to get not-married, do it in the Texas Hill Country in spring, when the wildflowers are at their peak. I'm thinking of asking them to do it again next year, so I'll have an excuse to drive around looking at fields of bluebonnets.

I also had some time to look around New Braunfels and Gruene, which is a daytrip from San Antonio or Austin, and an overnighter if you're coming from Houston or Dallas. The main reason to go New Braunfels is tubing on the river. There are several companies that rent tubes and drop people off 4-8 hours upstream. Then you can spend the day floating lazily down the Guadalupe, drinking beer (they rent cooler tubes) and enjoying Nature.

But, since it's only the beginning of April, it was little chilly for tubing, so I walked around taking pictures instead. I think I found all the museums and monuments in town. I also visited the oldest bakery in Texas - Naegelin's Bakery, est. 1868. I recommend the springerle and lebkuchen. Yummy. Also, the Phoenix Saloon had the best hamburger I've had in a year.