Bandera, TX..One of our new “favs” in Texas…

  I’d like to give a big “YEEHAW!” to Alan and Connie for jumping into our GMC and riding along.  The back seat is a little more comfy since MacGuyver cleaned out his stash, but you still may have to fight for a window seat…

  Friday nite, about 10PM, we heard some noise in the vacant spot next to us, complete with music, dogs barking, and flashlights.  Yep, we were getting new neighbors….They worked on setting up, then partied till 2AM…that’s when I fell asleep.  I awakened at 4AM when they were apparently making breakfast outside.  I peered out my bedroom window , but couldn’t see much..Yes, I know..I am becoming Gladys Cravitz.  Saturday morning when we raised our day/night shades, we found this…

 

 

Well, there goes our lake view….I’m thinking this huge tarp is a wind block, or else they didn’t want to look at our Hiker.  That’s OK…the feeling is mutual.  But…our sunset view over the lake (when there IS one) is pretty much non-existent.  We can only hope they are just here for the weekend and we will get our lakefront property back soon.

 

 

Yesterday, Den and I took an hour and 1/2 ride over to Bandera, Texas.  We got there about 12:30PM, just about a half hour before the “gunfight” was to begin.  I guess you need to schedule those things now days, there are so many…

This took place at Heritage Park, right across from the courthouse.  Before the shootin’ started, we all got a lecture in gun safety.  These players are local people who do this every Saturday at 1PM and 3PM…and let me just say, when the gunfights start, it’s loud!..These are real guns, cowpokes!!

..This was sooooo much fun…After the smoke cleared, and the “bodies” were revived, we got a few photos of the participants without guns drawn…

That character in the left photo,the one with suspenders and beard, reminded me of Gabby Hayes..If any of you remember who that was, you are older than dirt, just like us.

…Some people in the audience had no shame and became Cowboy “groupies” who insisted on a photo with some of the shooters>>>…I gotta get this one framed!!

  After so much “violence”, we needed a drink.  So we walked the block around behind Main St. to the much acclaimed 11th St. Cowboy Bar.  The 11th Street Cowboy Bar has been featured in Life Magazine, The Oprah Show, Texas Highways, Texas Monthly, Texas Co-op Power (July 2006), USA Today, Southern Living, the Houston Chronicle, Hill Country Happenings, the Hill Country Sun (July 2006), the San Antonio Express-News, area radio stations and many more national publications and outlets as a must-see destination in Texas.

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This place has the look of a real OLD bar.  What you cannot see from this photo is the huge dancehall, stage and seating to the rear of it…Of course, MacGuyver and I had to go in and check this place out…making sure it was up to fire codes…yea, right.

 

 

 

 

Yep, those are all bras hanging from the ceiling. That is the first thing you notice when you walk in the door…I told the lady barkeep that I could put mine in a shot glass for posterity..it would fit.  She could identify, and laughed with me..

There is a little bar,in the original building, but when you walk through that, you to get to the big dance hall in the rear…

...OK, this place is good for fire codes…I checked for myself….Couldn’t find anyone to polish my sneakers, though.

We had our cocktail there and headed back down to Main St.,where we heard there was yet another old bar..in the basement of one of the buildings…

 

 

We were told by the bartender at 11th St. Bar to just look for the red door and go down the steps…to Arkey Blue's Silver Dollar Saloon  Boy, we were in for a treat..This bar was supposedly won in a poker game by Arkey Blue, a local singer.  It has had the likes of Hank Williams, Sr. and Willie Nelson singing there..or drinking there…Soooo much history for me to channel!! We opened the red door and were transported to another time, and they were having a jam session !! YEE HAW AND GET ALONG LITTLE DOGGIES!

 

…Complete with sawdust on the dance floor, billiard table, a  real wood burning  fireplace and a picture of Arkey Blue hanging over it. (Who the Hell he is, I have no clue, but the folks in Bandera know of him!)

There weren’t many folks in there..could have been because it was only 2:30PM…OK, we are early partiers!   You might notice one of the more “unsavory” characters seated at the far table in a baseball cap.

These musicians  were just locals,  jammin’ it up country style, and MacGuyver and I could  have spent all day…but we  had to stay straight to make the long drive back to Canyon Lake….

I just gotta say that we will make another trip to Bandera some day…but find a closer place to stay so we can enjoy it more…The whole trip was well worth it, and you don’t have to have a beer to go in and enjoy some great country music that will make you tap your toe all the way home!!

“Country music is three chords and the truth.”  ~ Harlan Howard