Exploring Glen Arbor and Empire with friends

Friends of ours from our old hometown were going to be vacationing in the same area as us, so we made plans to meet up on Thursday when we arrived in Empire.

After getting set up on our site at Indigo Bluffs RV Resort in Empire,

we drove up the road to Glen Arbor to meet our friends.

The boys were all glad to see each other, and it’s amazing to see how they’ve all grown into such handsome young men!

We had some lunch while we caught up with what everyone has been doing and the new adventures coming up this year, and after sharing a pitcher of beer, Tom and Joe were both feeling pretty relaxed!

To wear off some of that lunch, we walked around town, browsing in some of the shops and enjoying the sights.

There are the usual T-shirt shops and ice cream stores, but there are also artist galleries, bookstores and even furniture shops.

We walked to the beach, admiring the pretty flowers along the way,

and checked out the water when we got there.  Not too much of a beach here, but the water was nice.

Headed back to town, we passed by some more interesting decorations,

 

 

on our way to our favorite destination in Glen Arbor – the Cherry Republic.         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked through the Cherry Republic complex, enjoying an assortment of samples – dried cherries, cherry salsa, cherry candies, cherry wine (for the adults), and cherry pop.

We left with plenty of our favorites, including a bottle of cherry sangria and cherry pop for the kids!

We’d pretty much exhausted town, but weren’t ready for dinner yet, so we drove back to the RV Resort to relax and visit some more, and let Casey out for awhile.

A few hours later, we decided to go into Empire for dinner.  IT’s a small town, without too many choices for dinner, but we’ve been to Joe’s Friendly Tavern before and have been impressed with the quality of the food and the prices.    

 

We had to wait “just a minute” for a table, so Krys and I walked to a little shop across the street that was really cute . . . we didn’t get to look for too long – it really was just a few minutes before our table was ready.

Joe at Joe’s Friendly Tavern . . .

 

Tom ordered the “gigantic burrito”, and the rest of us had hamburgers, which were excellent.  He said his burrito was delicious, too . . . and he actually finished the whole thing!!

 

 

After that dinner, we needed to wear it off, so we walked a few blocks to the beach.  Empire has a beautiful beach, and there were several groups of people enjoying the beautiful summer evening with campfires on the beach.

We took some family pictures on the beach,

The Gimmarro’s

The Kluck’s

and some more of the boys . . .

along with a couple of young girls who couldn’t resist getting in the picture with them!

We spent a little more time at the beach, enjoying the sights and the sunset . . .

 

and the boys had to get in a little play-time!!

We parted ways then, but we were glad we were able to meet up with our friends and spend a very enjoyable day with them! 

Bulls, Gunfighters, Motorcycles and Hot Rods

This guy didn’t look too crazy about Tom touching his horns!

He was probably afraid he might be turned into a table runner!

Saturday was a beautiful day for exploring, so we decided to take a drive to Bandera.  We had heard it was a cute little town, and that they have gunfighters on Saturday afternoon.  After we visited with the bulls and strolled through a few shops,

we grabbed a quick lunch at Sid’s BBQ (in a converted gas station!),

and found a good spot in front of the Courthouse to watch the gunfights.

 

We started out along the wall in front of the Courthouse, but this guy came along to make us move . . . we didn’t argue with him! LOL!

 

 

 

 

 

Before long, the fighting started . . .

 

and the horsin’ around, too!

I don’t think I’d want these guys to work on my teeth!!

 

The skits were pretty entertaining, and we enjoyed the show . . .

even though we didn’t get deputized like these kids did!

This is usually the extent of Saturday afternoon entertainment in Bandera, but this particular weekend a motorcycle rally was in town, too, so we walked around checking out all the bikes!

Tom was wishing that he had ridden his, but we just accidentally ran into this event . . . we had to get a picture of this cool bike, though!

The streets were lined with bikes on both sides, and all the restaurants and “saloons” were packed!  One place we didn’t see any bikers, though, was the quilt shop that I found. 

I guess biker babes don’t quilt!  Oh well . . . I did find some cute fabric to buy, and they had a really nice selection of “western” themed fabrics.

 

 

From Bandera, we took State Rd. 46 through the Hill Country back to Boerne, for a quick stop at Walmart for some groceries.  On our way back to the RV Park, we stumbled onto “Hot Rod Night” at Soda Pops . . . suddenly Nicolas wasn’t so anxious to get back home . . .

Soda Pops is a cute little 50s diner-type place, where you can get either a milkshake or a beer with your burger (or both, I suppose!)

We decided to get some dinner while we were there, with milkshakes (the shakes were really thick and tasty . . . made with Blue Bell ice cream – YUM!) . . . and admired the hot rods as they arrived.

A band was getting set up to play, and the crowd was continuing to grow, but we didn’t stay for the music . . . we’d been out all day, and needed to get back and get the dog out.

 

 

It sounds like they have these most weekends, though, so I’m sure we’ll be back!

Deep Sea Fishing

Tim has been anxious to get his boat on the water, and Monday was shaping up to be a beautiful day, so I scheduled a short day for myself and the boys so we could all go out with him and Denise.  They invited Mark & Maryann, as well, so we had a full boat for an afternoon of fishing.  We even had a hijacker!

From the boat launch, we passed under the Little Carlos Bridge,

and found a spot to anchor the boat and have some lunch.

 

It was a busy area, with lots of boats around, but not anywhere near as busy as it was on the weekend!

 

 

 

With all the activity, the water in the pass was pretty rough, but the guys couldn’t resist trying to catch a few fish.

Mark got off to a quick start, catching a pompano that wasn’t quite big enough to keep, and Bryce caught a jackfish.

The waves were throwing the boat around pretty well,

making it difficult to catch anything, so we decided to head out into open water. 

You’d have to be pretty brave to take on the open water on a little sunfish like this one!  Even on the bigger boat, the waves were pretty big!  Tim let Nicolas take the wheel to get us out to our next fishing spot – May’s Reef.

We anchored over the top of the reef, where the fish supposedly like to hang out, and for awhile we were the only ones out there.

We did see this sailboat while we were out there – it was a great day for sailing – plenty of wind!

The guys got busy fishing again,

all but Tom – he just relaxed!

Bryce was getting quite a few bites, but was having trouble recognizing them in the rough surf.  He had to replace his bait quite a few times!

I was getting a great suntan, but they weren’t having much luck with the fishing, so we decided to move back into calmer waters.

At the north end of Lovers Key, we anchored just offshore in about 7 feet of water, near the Big Carlos Bridge that goes into Fort Myers Beach.

The water was definitely calmer here, but the guys only caught a few fish.  Nicolas took the prize for the smallest catch of the day!

But don’t worry, he’ll make up for it later!

We moved under the bridge into the canal, and found a spot near the docks of Lovers Key Resort.  Before long, Nicolas had a bite on his line and determined that it was something big.

He worked at reeling it in for several minutes, and finally brought this monster up to the boat!  Mark had the net ready to catch it in case it came off the hook!

Mark identified it as a Goliath Grouper (REALLY good eatin’ fish!), and Nick held it up to get a measurement – 23 inches!

Nicolas did a great job – it was the “big catch” of the day!

The rest of the guys wished they had been the one to reel this one in!

Unfortunately, the goliath grouper is a protected fish, so we weren’t able to keep it!  Too bad, ‘cause it would have made quite a meal!

Before throwing it back in, Tim told Nicolas that he needed to give it a kiss to send it on its’ way . . . Nick said “No way!”, but Tim was game!

We moved one more time, right to the edge of the channel, and the guys really started pulling in the fish – whitings and trout that were keepers, and a few more jackfish that were not!  Bryce caught several of each,

and Tom got pretty good at taking them off the hook!

He didn’t quite build up enough nerve to kiss one, though!

the day was winding down, and the sun was sinking lower in the sky, but we couldn’t go back until we’d used up all the bait!

Bryce used the last little shrimp, and that brought our day to an end.  All together, the guys ended up with 16 keepable fish – not bad for a little fish fry!

We headed back to the boat launch, and Tim got the boat loaded onto the trailer.

It was a beautiful day on the water, and everyone had a great time!  Thanks, Tim & Denise, for taking us out!