#5 Texas Barbeque, LBJ, and a Bunch of Junk

We knew that Austin has many sights to see and tastes to savor, but still were not prepared for how big a treat this three day experience would be! Camping at McKinney State Park just outside of town, our first foray was south to Lockhart where Kreutz’ Barbeque makes its home. Kreutz’ is a rustic place that sells, by the pound, wood cooked and smoked meats served up on brown butcher paper with plastic knives and no forks. You can buy some sides and drinks separately, if you want. Interestingly, the meat is cooked and served with no barbeque sauce. The brisket, ribs and sausage were excellent, but a little too smoky for Anne and we both might have liked them with a little sauce.

Next day it was off to Johnson City and the nearby home of LBJ. This 680 acre National Historic Park that comprises the ranch was just opened to the public last June, though it was willed to the government when LBJ died in 1973. Lady Bird lived there until her death in 2007. After a driving tour of the ranch, for a mere $1 you can do a house tour. We took the latter with only about 5 other people, and really enjoyed seeing the Texas White House. While the house was pretty large, it was also fairly simple and definitely not updated to modern standards. For us, it emphasized President Johnson’s simple beginnings that likely were so important to shaping who he was. We enjoyed seeing his amphibious car and three side-by-side televisions.

Ever seen Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives on the Food channel? We went with Jared to one of the featured restaurants in Chicago that they visited, and enjoyed some good Mexican food. We decided to visit two more places the show documented in Austin. Both the Magnolia Café and the Green Mesquite had outstanding barbeque, and we enjoyed them thoroughly. Mmmmm…

Why can’t you get barbeque like this in Chi town??

Lastly, but certainly not least-ly, we decided to visit a pile of junk. We had heard about the Cathedral of Junkthat one Vince Hannemann had built in his backyard.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/7816

Vince was round back of his small house when we arrived, and he welcomed us to his view his creation. What an incredible structure! It is a three story high structure and was absolutely amazing. As you walked up inside its three stories, and could find almost any piece of junk from bottle caps to bicycle sprockets, old railings, and lawn sprinklers. You could spend many days looking over and walking up the tower and never see all of the 60 tons of junk.

As we get ready to leave, all we can say about Austin is that it is a really special place. And we didn’t even tell you about our visit to the Wild Seed store and Whole Foods first, and by far huge-est, store. WOW!