Day two started out the same way many days at home start out… With Shipley’s Donuts! Another Texas only stop, and not to mention, one of mine and Thomas’ favorite donut shops!
After entering somewhat of a sugary-kolache filled coma, We decided that we should probably head back and get things ready for our next adventure… The River!
Thankfully, we picked a hotel that was close to everything, and I mean, everything! We were less than 10 minutes away from every main attraction around New Braunfels, Gruene, and San Marcos! So, we had a very short drive to and from the river! We rented our tubes from Tube Haus and were very impressed! I had read mixed reviews about this place all over the Internet, not sure why though… The staff was all very friendly, and helpful! The shuttle even stopped on the side of the road to pick Thomas and I up, even though it usually only stops in a designated spot farther down the street.
The water in the river was quite cold, I wish I could say we “got used to it,” but we didn’t, not one bit! The water was probably 70 degrees, while the air was a good 95 degrees, BRRRR! Our float was almost perfect, the water levels weren’t too terribly low, and we hardly ran into any rocks. But when we did, we decided we should take a break, and hang out on them for a bit! We had brought a cooler with lots of yummy snacks, and felt like this was the perfect time to dig in! After a short snack, we we’re back to our float where we met so many nice people! Maybe it was because we were floating on a Friday rather than on a typical weekend day, but we didn’t see really any wild or crazy people! We decided early on that the short float would be better for us, mainly because we wanted to walk around Gruene, and do some sightseeing!
Once we got off the river, we ventured to Downtown Gruene, and spent some time here in a few different spots, mainly enjoying the small town feel as well as not being on any sort of schedule, like we would be at home!
By 4pm, we were both feeling pretty tired, so we decided it was time to head back to the hotel, to shower, change, and take a little nap. We had both already decided we were going out to dinner for our last night in New Braunfels, and we knew just the place to go… Gristmill!
This restaurant is such a cute place. It has a couple different levels, as well as indoor and outdoor seating, and it is massive!
Like always, we read our reviews about everything at this restaurant to make sure we knew what to go for and what to not go for! But these onion rings had NO bad reviews, actually no bad anything. So of course, we sprung for a small order to start our meal off. Easily the best onion rings I have ever had in my life. I don’t know what is was about them, they were just spectacular!
Above is my dinner choice, Tomatillio chicken, and boy was it delicious! I mean over the top incredible. I love spicy tomatillio sauce, and this was the perfect dish! As my side choice I opted for their salad with house dressing-which, by the way was an amazing creamy vinaigrette. Omg, yum! While Thomas, of course, got the chicken fried steak with homemade mashed potatoes. We were both very happy with our dinner choices! Overall, we give Gristmill a 9.5, it was absolutely wonderful food, we had an amazing server, but we thought some of the items were just a little overpriced, but like we said, it was wonderful overall!
Gruene Hall… Do I have to say anything more? It’s one of the oldest dance halls in Texas, and on this night, Granger Smith was playing! We got done with dinner around 7, and unfortunately had no patience to wait until he came on around 10… So we decided not to go in, but still, this is such an awesome place, you can just feel all of the talent that has gone through this place.
This was our last stop in Gruene for the night, a small boutique called Simply Detailed, you can check out their Facebook page here. We almost didn’t go in here because we had had horrible luck with the boutiques in Gruene earlier that day, but for some reason, we decided to head on in. I’m so picky when it comes to clothes, but this place had everything I love! I ended up scoring a super cute, sheer black top, and a gorgeous light brown dress with turquoise and orange print on it, both for a great price! The two girls in the store were both so helpful, and very sweet! I’ll definitely be coming back here as well as watching their FB page for cute new finds!
After leaving Gruene, Thomas and I searched for someplace to have dessert, we were unsuccessful because most places were closed… But you know what wasn’t closed? BUC-EE’S! So we hoped on 35 and headed a mile north to grab something sweet. It was the perfect stop, because I have quickly become addicted to their ice, which I put a very minimal amount of vanilla syrup on to give it a little flavor, and BAM! That was my sweet!
After Buc-ee’s it was definitely time to hop in bed because we were both exhausted! I fell right to sleep and slept like a baby! Overall, our Friday adventures were a huge success, and I can’t wait to return to Gruene again!
Today (Saturday), we head to Houston! So excited for all of our adventure there the next two days!
