More Bandera Dance Rally

This is a long blog because I am posting everything else that has happened here at the dance rally. Today is the last day and we all go to the Cowboy Bar again tonight for a burn your own and dancing. Tomorrow everyone goes their own way. But for now.....

I was the purple team leader. My job was to ensure everyone on the team got to volunteer on our day. At the last social we took team pictures.

Here is the yellow team.

And the blue team.

And the red team.

Unfortunately the green team disbanded before I got their picture.

I did make it to Fredericksburg and the Nimitz Museum, the best WWII museum I have ever seen. But I had a duel purpose, I was looking for information about a picture of my father which was in the museum 20 years ago. Didn't find out anything yet, but did get some info on the unit he was in. Now to check out the Seals Museum in Ft. Pierce next winter.

And of course, while in Fredericksburg we had to go eat German. What a great German restaurant. I highly recommend it.

Last Sunday several of us headed toward Gruene for dinner at the Gristmill and dancing at Gruene Hall.

Rib dinner at the Gristmill with friends.

This was a working cotton mill owned and operated by the Gruene family until the 1920s.

Gruene Dance Hall claims to be the oldest continuously operated dance hall in Texas, opening in 1887.

Bret Graham was the entertainer and he played for 4 hours with no break. He was great.

Several people had never been to Gruene Hall before and now they can say they even danced at Gruene Hall.

Even this young 2 year old was having a good time.

One of the Gruene's home. They made their wealth in cotton, but lost it during the drought times of the 1920s and 1930s.

There was also the Pajama Party on Saturday night.

The "irritations" helped the band.

All these cute pj's....

On the way to Luckenbach, TX, on Saturday, we stopped at Camp Verde, about 12 miles NE of Bandera. Back in the late 1800s the camp was another attempt by the army to try the capabilities of camels for use in the army. It didn't work here any better than in Quartzsite.

Everyone flies the Texas flag around here.

I believe this was the commanders house on the post. It later became the general store and post office. It still serves as a post office for the area, but now it is a tourist/gift shop and restaurant.

We also stopped at the Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area. This is commonly called 'the bat tunnel'. They say 3 million bats live here from Mar-Nov. That's a lot of bats. I could actually see the bats flying around inside the tunnel.

Down the road is Alamo Springs Cafe, where they claim they have the best burgers around. I will attest that they do have good burgers. It was so big I only ate half and took the other half home.

Grapetown was once a small community which even had a school. Now a couple of buildings are historic sites, but most of the area is privately owned.

This was as far as we could go before hitting the gated private area of Grapetown.

An old homestead and the schoolhouse.

Finally we made it to Luckenbach. Here we found some other friends already there.

We knew there was to be music that day and thought it would be in the dance hall, but alas, it was out behind the general store/saloon on the outdoor stage. The evening dance was going to be in the dance hall, but we weren't staying for that.

Here's a shot of the inside dance hall. I did attend a dance here last year and they have a nice wooden floor to dance on.

The band playing today was Blacktop Gypsies. They were good.

I think this hat really does something for Maynard.

But I must say, I like it better on Max.

This longhorn was taking a siesta....

...before going back to work. This is his owner riding him over to the picture taking location. Last year I got my picture taken riding the longhorn.

The original home of one the founder of the town of Luckenbach. The town remained in the hands of the Engel family until it was sold, lock stock and dancehall, in 1970. It has been privately owned since.

 Luckenbach started its reputation for country music in 1973 when Jerry Jeff Walker came there to record an album, but it was really in the 1990s before it became the tourist attraction that it is today.

Just a pretty view of a creek nearby.

Driving through the little town of Waring we heard music. We drove around and found there was a bandstand/stage out behind the general store. The cooker was going, the picnic tables were busy and the band was playing. Too bad we didn't have time to stop today. I'll remember this for next year.

On Friday evening we had 'New York Dress Up' night. Most everyone decked out in their going out on the town finery for the dance. The 'irritations' helped the band sing one of their songs.

Someone started a conga line.

Normally Ronnie Furr provides the entertainment, but for Friday and Saturday evenings we had the Ricky Adams Band. They were good and I would enjoy hearing them again.

Some of the evening revelers in their finery.

Last Thursday at lunchtime, there was the Tacky Fashion Show. But it is so much more than a fashion show. Here we got to watch a small skit played out. I believe it was a shotgun wedding.

Here Patricia shows off the painted jeans she makes.

But the last act was the singing Trolls.

They even got me to get up and dance with them.

I never did find out who they were.

Well that does it for the Bandera Dance Rally 2011. As much as I love it, I'm ready for it to end. Can't wait until next year. For those of you who didn't make it this year, eat your hearts out, you missed a really good time.