Normally these 5 THINGS! columns are about 5 things to do IN Brown County, but I thought I’d mix it up a little this time to give the regular 5 Things! columns texture and context. I’ll explain…
One of the reasons Danielle and I moved into Downtown Brownwood is that we used to take occasional daytrips. Little getaways. *I’m using “daytrip” as one word, and my grammar checker thingy hates it! But that’s ok. I’m a professional writer and I have a poetic license. I can do what I want.
Anyway, daytrips… We took those trips because there were things we liked to do, see, or shop for that (at the time) you couldn’t find in Brownwood. This was 10+ years ago. When I was in the process of writing a book, sometimes we would travel the few hours down south to Fredericksburg. We’d get a cheap hotel (you could do that back then!) and I’d stay in the hotel and write while Danielle and the children would go hang out on the main drag there. They’d walk and shop or just sightsee and have fun. Then, after I was done writing for the day, we’d go somewhere nice and eat. It was fun walking around and enjoying the “city life” that was so far removed from life on our off-grid farm.
Sometimes, not often but sometimes, Danielle and I would go on daytrips by ourselves. Little mini anniversaries, you could call them. We’d go to Fredericksburg or San Antonio usually. We preferred a nice walkable downtown that had everything to offer without us constantly having to get in the car and drive to another spot (which also requires you to know beforehand what exactly you are looking for.) We liked the discovery part of it, and it was akin to a little city adventure. We always liked to find a little place to people-watch, maybe have a beer, talk, then stroll to the next place. Antique shops, junk stores, anything really.
Fast forward to a few years ago. With the children out of the nest, we really appreciated the fact that Downtown Brownwood was revitalizing. Most everything we once traveled to do or see on our daytrips was now available in a cool, small, walkable downtown very close to us. We liked it so much that we moved into our downtown apartment so we could walk every day!
I’d spent a lot of the time in our early marriage on the road traveling. I’ve been everywhere, man. Portland, Chatanooga, Fresno, Boston, Duluth, West Palm Beach, New Orleans, Columbus, Albuquerque, Annapolis, Greensville, Mobile, Kooskie, you name it. I’ve been everywhere. My idea of traveling was broad. But Danielle was almost always at home. Homeschooling. Homesteading. She didn’t get to travel with me much.
When it got to the point where Danielle and I could do some limited travel together (limited by our bank account,) Danielle revealed to me that she just wanted to see Texas. She’s a Texas lover through and through. She said, “There’s so much to Texas I’ve never seen, and I want to see more of it. I don’t need to travel overseas or take long trips out of state” Cool.
So, we mashed together our love of walking around and discovering things with our love of everything Texas. To fit our wanderlust into our mostly non-existent “budget,” we decided to do regular (usually every Thursday) daytrips. Here’s how it works…
Our rule is that for these trips we keep it within three hours of travel one way. We want to be able to get back, usually before dark, on Thursday. We can’t afford hotel rooms or tours. We don’t rent cars, buses, bikes, kayaks, or scooters. We’re not really into “sightseeing” so much. I mean, those things are cool, but traveling a couple of hours to look at an abandoned church isn’t something that resonates with me. To each his own. We want to engage more of our senses than just looking at old stuff. We like antique and thrift shops, small restaurants and bars, breweries, and cool stuff like where they manufacture cheeses, wines, chocolates, etc. Oddities. We like “joints.” By joints I mean, we prefer places that haven’t yet become tourist traps or over-commercialized. We love locally-owned entrepreneurial adventures. Small businesses trying to make it. Some of the places we go you must drive from one place to another, and that’s fine, but we prefer to park and walk as much as possible. If we can, accounting for a tank of gas, we would like to spend less than $100. That makes for a perfect day for us.
So, how does this add context and texture to my usual 5 Things! columns? You’ll notice some similarities to what is available right here in Brown County. In fact, if we were restricted from doing these Thursday daytrips and had to stay in Brown County, we’d be perfectly happy! Almost everything we ever want to do and see is available right here at home. We love our daytrips. We love experiencing Texas, but we are also happy that most of the things we do on those trips we can also do right here at home!
So, here’s the deal… this not a “top 5 list.” This isn’t even a most favorite list. I tried to mix it up a little and include different directions and a variety of vibes. That’s it. There’s nothing more to it. So here we go!!
LLANO, TEXAS
I said this wasn’t a top 5 or favorite list, but I must say that Llano is one of our favorite daytrips. It’s close, and frankly, they have almost everything we’re looking for in a short journey from home. Just 81 miles from Brownwood in the Hill Country is this little jewel. Cool small shops. Nice people. A water feature (the Llano River!), a distillery bar, and a small brewery. And it is all walkable.
For eats we’ve enjoyed the Trailblazer Grille, Joe’s Bar, and Gio’s Italian Eatery. We went to go to the famous Cooper’s BBQ, but on the day we were there, they were unexpectedly closed at 11 a.m. when the sign and the internet said they would be open. We missed it, but we’ll go back soon. Our favorite thing to do is to walk down to the bridge and just look out over the river. Then, just over the bridge, there are the coolest little antique and junk shops. There’s a man-tique shop there, I can’t remember the name, that smells of leather, vanilla, and nostalgia, with my music (40s swing, big band, and standards) playing. I could spend all day there. We never miss stopping by the Llano Craft Distillery where I order one single vodka martini, dirty. We like to take our drinks on their little patio and enjoy the day. Right across the street is the Llano Beer Company, which is fantastic. They have a great selection of Texas craft brews for your cold beer enjoyment.
If it gets hot and you need to cool down, head over to the Llano Slab where you can wade in and get wet in the cool Llano River!
LAMPASAS, TEXAS
Just a little over an hour southeast of Brownwood is Lampasas, Texas. Most people just know this as a stopover on the way to Austin, but it has become one of our favorite daytrips. Austin is still over an hour away (68 miles) so Lampasas is the perfect distance from the traffic and congestion of the big city, but it still has all the great amenities. Lampasas has the famous Storm’s Drive-in on the way into town for burgers and fries, and we love Eve’s Café (German food!) right on the square downtown. El Frias has good food and beer, and it’s just on the way in town, too. We used to drive to Fredericksburg for authentic German food, cool shops, and good beer – but now we can get it all without the high prices, wall-to-wall tourists, and parking headaches. You know we like walkable downtowns, and there are some great walkable shops in downtown Lampasas. After your meal and some shopping, there is a little ice cream shop or we like to stop by Lampasas Beer Market, which is an old-fashioned style Texas Beer Hall with pizza too. We’ve heard about a lot of other great things to do and see in Lampasas, so let us know your favorites because we’ll be visiting often!
ABILENE, TEXAS
We don’t go to Abilene as much as we used to. When we lived on our land, Abilene was only about 50 minutes north and they had an HEB and Sam’s Club, so we went once a month or so. Now we live downtown in Brownwood, we don’t get that way very often.
A few weeks ago we decided to go spend the day in the old Downtown Abilene and we’re so glad we did. Abilene is just an hour and twenty minutes north of Brownwood, so it’s an easy drive. About the same as driving to Lampasas or Llano. We’ve always liked eating at the Cypress Street Station since it is owned by Texas Tech alums. They have great food and beer, a nice bar, and a cool ambiance. Park there and you can walk most of this area of downtown. From there we would walk about a block and a half to The Leaf, which is a very cool little cigar and smoke shop. Old school with a nice walk-in humidor and great seating for conversations, etc.
There are several great coffee shops downtown, and we haven’t tried many of them yet, but just a block east over on Cypress Street again is Monk’s Coffee Shop which has been serving downtown for quite some time. They have a great selection of hot drinks, cold drinks, muffins and desserts, so stop by when you are in town.
Grain Theory is a great brewery with awesome beer, but they are a great coffee shop too, and they have a cool upstairs patio seating area so you can sit out with your coffee or your beer (or both!) and watch the people go about their business downtown.
Quick shout out to The Pour House and Sway (an adjacent wine/coffee/café), just another block east and up a bit on Pine Street. An upscale cocktail lounge with an attached wine and coffee bar. Don’t miss them!
KINGSLAND, TEXAS
A little less than 2 hours southeast, and just another 20 minutes or so past Llano, is Kingsland. Kingsland is a cool place with lakes and rivers criss-crossing the route so you get the feel that you might be down by the coast or in the Everglades or something.
This isn’t really one of our normal “park one place and walk” locations, but we love it anyway. And we haven’t even looked around that much. Frankly, we really have only visited two places all three times we’ve been there! That’s because we like sitting out on a patio over a body of water, and that’s what we prefer doing.
Out two go-to joints are Boat Town Burger Bar, and the Wakepoint LBJ. Both are great places to sit out and enjoy the sun and the water. Boat Town is a full restaurant and bar, with beer and cocktails and pretty great burgers. Wakepoint is built just behind a quickie mart kind of convenience store. You walk down a series of gangplanks and there is the bar – like a marina experience – with full cocktail menu and beer. We like to sit and watch the boats going hither and yon, if that’s what boats do. If you want a close daytrip with a south Texas or south Florida feel, don’t miss Kingsland.
MARBLE FALLS, TEXAS
Right at about 2 hours away, south again and past Burnet and east of Kingsland, is Marble Falls. Marble Falls is no a big “hidden gem.” I know people who have been going there for years, but to us, this is all pretty new. We’ve only been three times (I think,) but we’ve enjoyed it every time. This is another place where you can park downtown and walk just about everywhere.
We usually start out at RBar – Rae’s Bar and Grill and have some good food. They have great outdoor seating as well. Then we walk down to the Lakeside Park where we can sit under a nice tree and watch the water. This is a fantastic spot for a picnic or even a little nap on a blanket!
There are some great joints to hit while walking downtown. Double Horn Brewery has great beer. Jo Jo’s Bakery has wonderful cookies and baked goods. And there is the Downtown Beer Hall which has good beer and sandwiches. Don’t miss the House of Cheese cheese shop right next to the Downtown Beer Hall.
Ok, so that’s just five great daytrips from Brown County. But my main reason for writing this wasn’t to get you all to load up in the car and drive somewhere. Great if you do that, but you don’t absolutely NEED to. Literally, everything we have done on all of these 5 daytrips has a corresponding and equal element right here in Brown County! Most of this is available downtown, but we have parks with a nice river running through them, marinas, great food joints, and more opening up all the time.
Make sure to let me know some of your favorite daytrips and where we should visit in the future!
Michael Bunker