Another beautiful morning! We were packing up and moving on down the road. Before leaving Marble Falls, we stopped at one of our favorite restaurant, Blue Bonnet Cafe. It is definitely an icon of Marble Falls.
People have been coming to this restaurant since 1929. It has been updated, but the great food and friendly staff has not changed. Kenny started going to the Blue Bonnet in 1983. His job took him there every week. He always looked forward to going in and having Rose wait on him. It seemed like she always knew when he would walk in, as she would have the paper and a cold glass of milk waiting for him. Rose wasn't just any waitress. She was the one with the beehive hairdo, long fingernails, dark lipstick and a smile. After Kenny and I got married in 1986, we would travel from Austin about once a month to go see Rose. Rose became like family to us. In 1989, we moved to Bismarck, North Dakota and we continued our relationship by mail. During our time in North Dakota, Rose was diagnosed with lung cancer and died within the year. Our heart was sadden to hear about this. We did find out that the owner of Blue Bonnet Cafe, John, took care of her medical bills.
Walking into the cafe, the first thing that I saw was all the different pies. They make their pies fresh each day. The bakers have perfected the mile-high meringue and creamy custard fillings. They have a variety of pies to select from. The pie that I purchased was the coconut cream pie. We were driving to my parents and my mom loves coconut. Also, my mom's older sister loved to bake coconut pies all the time. It was her specialty. Some choices of pies are the various fruits(apple, cherry, peach), pecan, fudge, peanut butter, chocolate and about seven others to choose from.
The sweet waitress came to our table and brought out her pencil and pad to take our order. I had to have the Texas toast, eggs and grits. Good 'ole southern breakfast. It was nice to be there, but we missed having Rose take our order.
As we paid our bill, Kenny asked about John, the owner. We were sad to find out that John had died in May at the age of 67. He had suffered from complications associated with Parkinson's disease. The obituary stated "he had purchased the Blue Bonnet Cafe in 1981 and had turned it into the world-famous restaurant known for its southern comfort food and a myriad selection of pies".
Getting into the truck, we talked about the impact that the cafe and the people that had worked there had made on our own lives, as well as others. Praying that the "Blue Bonnet Cafe" can survive this pandemic so that other's can be touched by the people who work there.
The truck seemed to know where it was going. We headed north on 281 to Waco. We were going to celebrate my dad's 90th birthday with family. As we drove northeast on the farm-to-market roads, we enjoyed seeing the cattle grazing, windmills turning and the wide open range. For September, the weather was nice with blue sky and puffy white clouds.
On our way to Waco, we traveled through Gatesville. This town has a population of about 16,000. Some facts. The city has five of the eight prisons and state jails for women. The county museum has a collection of about 10,000 pairs of spurs. Wish we would have time to stop to see all those spurs. There is also a drive-in picture show. It is one of the seventeen remaining. With the pandemic, people have enjoyed going to the drive-in this summer. The Coryell County Courthouse sits in the heart of downtown Gatesville. This historic courthouse was built in 1897 and finished in 1898. Stones were cut and hauled in wagons to build it. Four statues(two of Liberty and two of Justice) adorn the top of the building and an eagle in flight tops the clock tower.
As we left Gatesville, we drove east on US 84. In forty-five minutes, we would be at my parent's home. There wasn't much traffic as it was Labor Day. We drove through several more small towns and we followed the Blue-Bell truck into McGregor. If you have never have had Blue Bell Ice Cream, you need to try it. In the early 1900's, a creamery in Brenham, Texas began making ice cream and delivering it to neighbors by horse and wagon. They produce over 66 different flavors. Enough about Blue Bell, let me tell you some facts about McGregor.
McGregor is another small town with a population of 5,000. It is only about twenty minutes from Waco. It is the site of the former Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant to make munitions during WWII. After the war, the site has been used by a number of companies to make rockets. In high school, several of my friend's fathers worked for Rocketdyne in designing rocket engines. But now days, McGregor is known for the Magnolia House. It was renovated by Chip and Joanna Gaines in Season 3 of Fixer Upper as a bed and breakfast.
At 11 am sharp, Kenny and I pulled into my parent's driveway. My sister, brother-in-law and nephew got there the day before. My niece and her family, who live in Waco, were there to greet us. There is something about being with family. It had been a while since we had all been together in one location. My dad and mom were all smiles as they had the family there. We enjoyed some delicious barbeque beef, as well as beans and potato salad. Of course, there was that delicious coconut pie that we had brought from the Blue Bonnet Cafe.
Celebrating dad's 90th birthday, made this Road Trip! Like I have said road trips are all about seeing the country and stopping and visiting with family and friends.
1 comment:
Oh how I would love to be able to take a road trip
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