Texas is its own thing. Of this there can be no doubt. Texas
flags are every bit as prevalent as the stars and stripes. Schoolkids here take
a specific Texas history class to go with American history, for instance. With
that in mind, the Bullock Texas State History Museum beckons to those
interested in the state’s past, sitting just off the University of Texas
campus. This past weekend, I decided to check it out.
The
main attraction there is also the one I found most interesting. It’s the
recovered shipwreck from the ill-fated expedition of the explorer René-Robert
Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle (try fitting that on a business card), La Belle.
The ship sank off the coast of Texas when they were looking for the mouth of
the Mississippi River. They had missed it due to an inaccurate map, which had
the mouth of the Mississippi in Texas rather than Louisiana. That mapmaker’s
descendants went on emigrate to America and go on to design Apple Maps (I may
have made that last part up).
Anyway,
the wreck has been recovered and it being carefully reconstructed in the
Bullock museum. It’s a pretty amazing sight, mostly because it’s simply not
very big. The entire ship made it from France to Texas with 35 people on board
and tons of supplies but was only 52 feet long. That’s not a lot of elbow room.
These were some tough Frenchmen (a sentence I don’t write often).
The rest
of the museum is divided up by exhibits that take you through the different
eras, including the revolution and secession from Mexico, the Civil War and the
toll it took on the state, up through Reconstruction, the Dust Bowl, the Civil
Rights era and even Houston’s enormous contribution to the space program.
Other
exhibits show artifacts and information regarding oil drilling, ranching and
cotton farming, each having a lot to do with how Texans made their living over
the years. There’s even a section on movies, and of course music. An ACL
theatre shows films tracing the legacy of the Austin City Limits program which
the town shows justifiable pride.
So in
short, the Bullock Museum is worth a visit. We got through the whole thing in
about two hours, so it’s not an enormous time investment. It’s spacious and
well-planned too. In the Texas history part, one section flows into another, so
you can move from one era to another smoothly. You almost don’t realize just
how much ground you are covering. There is also an additional exhibit hall for
special visiting displays, so every few months there’s something different.
DEEP EDDY
Austin
is also a drinking town. Since I moved here I’ve said Austin is like a lot of
other places, except you can do almost anything while drinking and you can
bring your dog. The Deep Eddy Distillery, a 20-minute drive outside of town,
Not long
ago Deep Eddy debuted a new, peach-flavored Vodka. Peach is among my favorite flavors,
so I was enthusiastic about trying it. On a Sunday we went out to the
distillery, where you can get a sampler flight or drink a cocktail made from
the various flavors. I can tell you the Arnold Palmer made with Deep Eddy Peach
is very tasty, as is another cocktail made with soda and grenadine.
The
distillery was as crowded as I’d ever seen it. The seating area (tall tables, a
few couches, a gift shop) was packed, and there were a lot of people out on the
lawn area (picnic tables, Adirondack chairs, etc). There was cornhole to be
played as well, and a group of younger vodka fans were already well into the
revelry by the time we arrived. Fans might be an understatement. Let’s just put
it out there: These people were totally in the bag.
I knew
the end for some of them were near when their attempts at playing cornhole
degenerated into a game of dodgeball with bean bags. It ended when one of the
women bent down to pick up a bag…and just kept on going. The first thing to hit
the ground was her face. Her friends helped her to her feet between gales of
laughter and got her back inside, where she sat on a stool and ate some ice and
brushed the grass clippings off her shirt.
They
left soon after for a tour bus parked outside, but not before helping
themselves to a few souvenirs from the gift shop via their large purses.
So the
final conclusion was this: Deep Eddy Peach tastes good, but like any other hard
liquor there’s a potential for public embarrassment and thievery.
Sounds
like a good party to me.
