Conley Update

Okay, before you roll your eyes and dismiss this post, please here me out. This soap has changed my life and it could possibly change your life as well.

Okay, that was just a little dramatic. Before I met Sara I was a bar soap kinda guy. It’s all I ever knew. Men don’t use them sissy, flowery body washes, right? Then Sara brought her body wash into my life and I’ve been living life differently. When I watch those commercials where they talk about soap scum, residue and sticky film left behind by bar soap, not my head in agreement. I’ve been converted.

I think what normally drives Sara’s choice in body wash selection is price. She gets whatever is on sale. Currently we’re using Soft Soap’s Honeysuckle and Orange Peel. It’s good, but it doesn’t compare to what we just finished. Seriously, as much as moving to body wash changed my life, this product changed my life again. It’s Soft Soap’s Pomegranate and Mango. I’ll be honest. I don’t really like mango and I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten a pomegranate. However, every time I used this stuff, I wanted to eat it. I didn’t because it was soap. But if you poured this stuff in a jar and gave it to someone, they’d want to drink it becasue it smells that good. You; however, would be a jerk for getting someone to drink soap though.

So, if you’re at the store and you see a bottle of Pomegranate and Mango, do yourself a favor and get a bottle or three. I’m praying it goes on sale again soon. Now you know what’s going on my Christmas list this year.

Sara and I love to travel and experience new things, even if those new things seem trivial to others. However, we do like to take advantage of where we live. Not that we’ve done so on purpose, but in the ten year we’ve been married, we’ve lived in four differnt cities in three differnt states (more if you count our six month stint in Georgia). So the thing we’ve learned is that we have to take advantage of seeing everything there is around us while we’re there. Otherwise, we may regreat never having seen ________ or not having visited ________. Personally, I’d be real happy to stay put for now. I love what I’m doing at Gateway and we love where we live. Plus, there are enough things to do around her to keep us buys for a decade.

So, in addition to our BBQ challenge, we’re taking on the Swimming Hole Challenge as well.

One thing we noticed since living in central Texas is that people around here love their swimming holes. More than any other place I’ve ever seen, these people love their rivers, lakes and stream. I guess it’s making up for the fact that Texas doesn’t have the best beaches. I was first exposed to this when we moved here and we saw Barton Creek in Zilker Park. Just south of downtown is a HUGE, beautiful spring fed swimming hole that people swim in year round (the temperature of the water is 68 degrees year round). Then we started to hear about all the people who tube down the Guadalupe or swim in the Frio. Then last summer Texas Monthy, the same magazine that ran the BBQ competition, had an article about the best spots to swim in Texas. Most of these swimming holes are close to where we live, so Sara and I (Titus too) are going to plunge in to all that we can.

Below is the list from Texas Monthy:

1. Barton Springs – Austin.
2. Blue Hole – Wimberly
3. Brinks Crossing – Cedar Point
4. Balmorhea State Park – Toyhavale
5. Hamilton Pool – Travis County
6. Garner State Park – Uvalde County
7. Schlitterbahn West – New Braunfels
8. Deep Eddy Pool – Austin
9. Medina River – Near Bandera
10. Fort Clark Springs – Bracketville
11. Krause Springs – Spicewood
12. Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area – Ratcliff
13. City Tube Chute – New Braunfels
14. Lake Raven – Huntsville
15. Utopia City Park – Utopia
16. Burger’s Lake – Fort Worth
17. The Quince – Camp Wood
18. The Slab – Kingsland
19. Cypress Bend Park – New Braunfels
20. Lake Fryer at Wolf Creek Park – Perryton
21. Rio Vista Park – San Marcos
22. Hunt Crossing – Hunt
23. Village Creek State Park – Lumberton
24. Blanco State Park – Blanco
25. Hancock Springs Pool – Lampasas

In addition to this list, I found another list of top swimming spots. I won’t include repeats from the previous list:

1. Lake Whitney
2. Pedernales Falls
3. Mustang Island State Park
4. Guadalupe River State Park
5. Colorado Bend State Park

There you have it. That’s 30 swimming holes. There are a few that may be a little futher out of our way and aren’t as high of a priority. However, we’re going to hit as many of these as we can. We’ve already been to Hamilton Pool and we anticipate going there again soon. Between our busy schedules and all, I assume that this will take us 2-3 years to complete. So, if you’re in the area, you like to swim and are up for a bit of adventure – let us know and we’ll put it on the schedule!

I feel like we’ve just entered the BBQ big leagues. Several week ago Sara and I decided to hit the top five BBQ joints in Texas. They’re all within an hour or so of Austin, so it’s a great challenge.

Today we caravaned with with two other couples from our church to head down to Lockhart, TX. Since all of us had kids, we had to ride in three separate cars. Lockhart is actually home to two of the top five BBQ joints. Smitty’s Market was the original and either the brother or sister of the owner branched out and started Kreuz Market right down the road. It’s amazing such a small town has room for two BBQ giants.

So I’ll give you my general impressions. If you want the detailed review, check out Sara’s blog at Dixie Gypsy for the lowdown.

We walked in the back of the resturant where you pick out your meet. It was a dark and smoky brick room (the brick was all black from years of smoke. As soon as I came around the corner I was met by intense heat. Why, there was a fire on the floor about four feet from where I was standing. No, this isn’t the place to let your two-year old run around… there is FIRE ON THE FLOOR! The two fires were heating the two pits filled with meat.

Sara ordered a 1/4 pound of lean brisket and I got 1/4 pound of fat brisket. I also got a hot ring and a pork chop. I’d heard the pork chops were good. As bad as I wanted one, I resisted the prime rib. It seems that the serious BBQ joints here in Texas serve prime rib (which happens to be my favorite cut of meat). In case you don’t know (I didn’t), a hot ring is a link of sausage. The ends are tied together forming a ring. The hot rings are pulled off the pit and the cold rings are not… so they’re cold.

We paid for our food (amazingly it was less that $20 and walked into the air conditioned eating area. I made one of two possible mistakes. After sitting down I asked a worker who walked by where I can get a fork. “We don’t have forks.,” was his response. They did have plastic knifes, but no forks. You eat with your hands. Can you imagine eating brisket or prime rib with your bare hands? The meat was so tender you didn’t have to worry about cutting it with your lone knife. I didn’t make the second mistake as I already knew about it. Don’t has for BBQ sauce. They don’t have that either. I guess it’s like the way I grew up. My Dad always told me that a good steak doesn’t need any steak sauce. I guess the same is true of good Texas BBQ. It was kind of wierd not having the sauce to dip the meat in. However, I’m not complaining. It was incredible BBQ and I didn’t feel like I missed out on anything. Not having BBQ sause makes it easier to eat with your hands I guess.

So, I certainly recommend BBQ. Yes, it was some of the best BBQ I’ve ever eaten. We’ll see how it fares with the others.