Something Educational, Then Something Alcoholic...Because Texas

               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.