Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. ~Voltaire
Texas has a lot of vineyards and wineries. I bet some of you didn't know that! We noticed one outside of Wimberley named Driftwood and decided to drop in on our way to the Salt Lick.
When I say "we" I mean "me". Tom doesn't care for wine, but hey, it was my birthday!
And it was also Rachel's birthday! Her 21st! She was there with her parents. So of course we had to have a picture together.
(My hair doesn't look too bad, does it, considering it was just released from a zipline helmet and it was at least 120 degrees in that room? Thank you, Michael!)
(This is what Tom wants for his birthday.)
Driftwood is actually a little town… the location of The Salt Lick Bar-b-que (the original). I had never been to the Salt Lick, although it seemed everyone else had been, so I used my birthday as an excuse to get Tom to take me. I was so tired of hearing everyone else rave about it!
(Tom wasn't waiting on me to finish snapping pics – he was hungry!)
Let me tell you… it lived up to it's reputation.
And let me tell you something else… Wednesday afternoons at 4pm is the time to go. No one else is there. From what I've heard, if you go on a weekend, expect to wait in a long line!
But I understand why now – it's divine!
Tom's brisket is this good or better, which is saying a lot because this was damn-good, but Salt Lick's ribs, turkey, sausage were melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and the potato salad and cole slaw were the best I've ever eaten.
(Sorry, Mama.)
(This lasted me two days – Wednesday's dinner and Thursday's lunch – yum!)
The oak trees and picnic tables called to me, so we tarried a little outside, and guess what? We discovered a winery next door…
Since I was hitting legendery Austin places, how could I not stop at Poodie's Hilltop Bar & Grill when I spotted it on our way home? Poodie Locke was Willie Nelson's stage manager for three decades – he ran the bar on the side … it's one of those unpresuming spots where big names drop in unannounced.
Very unpresuming.
We didn't recognize anyone famous, so we took our drinks outside to a deck overlooking the western horizon, imagining how beautiful the sunset must be from that vantage, and wondering about Peggy…
A long drive home, through Marble Falls, along twisty, turning hill country roads faced us, so we didn't wait around for sunset on the deck.
We made it home just at twilight, in time for a quick walk with the dogs.
And then, another surprise from Tom… a beautiful card and cheesecake!
Now that's the way to welcome 52.
Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been. – Mark Twain
P.S. Update on my sister – she's much better and was released from the hospital this afternoon. She's weak and still on antibiotics, but able to eat again. Yay! Thank you for your prayers and please keep them coming! There's still that hip surgery she needs to recover from… !
Long Hollow 
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