Main Street?

We headed to New Braunfels, approximately 30 minutes from the Ranch. It was, per the reviews, this great little town - with museums, historical sites, etc. Well, when we got there - we kept going in circles - not quite believing we'd actually arrived. That should have told us something right away. Once we realized that we were actually on the main street, we parked - right in front of the Red Rooster Antique Co., which also happened to have a restaurant.

 

Perfect, antiques and food. Two of my favorite things. 

As we were walking up, we could tell - this place was gonna be interesting and it didn't disappoint. Talk about bizarre. The restaurant, which was smack in the middle of the antique store/more like in-door flea market, was adorned with a collection of deer heads, old Big Boy statues, vintage gas pumps, old diner signs, neon 80's movie signs flashing, etc. My favorite was the disco ball hanging over the buffet. Talk about a rare and unusual collection of "stuff". It almost felt like a place where you'd pick up used props from old movie sets - but it felt off - as here it was in the middle of the outskirts of city life, tucked away in this small town.

After our cafeteria quality eggs and bacon and cup of plain coffee - we paid our tab and made for the antiques. Prices were surprisingly high, hmmm...maybe this place has a client base that's willing to pay? It was a very large space, the main collection - so, so. Lots of large rooms with old church windows, old gas station 20x20" signs, etc. Great place to pick up the odd and hard to find, I'll give it that. 

After that we ventured onto "Main Street", which was more like a stuck in time, desolate street - on a Saturday afternoon.

Then we saw this place, thought it might be a museum, nope - just someones house. With signs all around the gate saying: "PRIVATE PROPERTY".

I'll be honest I started getting the creeps. Nonetheless, we decided to stick it out and keep going down the main drag.

After crossing the train tracks, which are also in the middle of the main intersection, we saw a sign for the New Braunfels Historical Railroad and Modelers Society. Could be fun, right? We decided to check it out.

It was tiny, it was old, it was being run by three men whom I wasn't sure if I should run from or be nice to. BUT, it did have a pretty cool miniature train track room, set up with dozens of railroads, towns, etc. That I had to see. So, I did. If Piper was older, I think she would have appreciated it.

So after donating $10 to their donation box, we left, via the back as of course we had to see the "train that was just donated from Ohio" (as per the main curator it was a big deal). So we did,

um no comment - trying to be nice here.

Then we walked one more block - got to the end of main street and that's when we decided we were done. Time to leave.

Okay, wasn't sure how to write this, whether I wanted to write it at all. But hey, it was an experience, I certainly won't forget it! I came to the conclusion that it was one of those towns you can't really explain. It was just "off" and I still can't quite put my finger on it. 

But just to give it the benefit of the doubt, I have heard that the main two attractions for the town, which were both closed due to a recent storm are the Schlitterbahn Waterpark and the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. So, I am sure that I will head in New Braunfels direction again, but I can almost 100% assure you, I won't be heading to Main Street.

Love, Kristina