Shopping Salado, Texas

Seems that small Texas towns close early on Sundays.  It’s actually a nice thing when you think of all those shop and restaurant workers enjoying dinner with their families.  When you’re a hungry traveler, it can be a huge problem.  As we drove from one end of Salado, Texas to the other, we couldn’t help but notice two things: the town was very charming and it was deserted.

Even the bed and breakfast hotel where we hoped to stay, didn’t answer their door or their telephone.  (We should have called ahead.)

Cars in the parking lot of Adelea’s Bistro gave us hope, but they were having a wedding shower and we weren’t invited.  We were beginning to think that dinner might be a Sonic chili dog, when we saw the open sign at the Stagecoach Inn.

Sam Houston and George Armstrong Custer dined here, along with a bevy of historical good and bad guys.  We were happy to dine here too.  If we’d arrived thirty minutes later, we’d have been out of luck.  The restaurant closes at seven on Sundays.

We came to Salado to shop, not to delve into the town’s history.  The Central Texas Museum is closed on Mondays.  We headed straight to Clarie Belles. 

Two guys from Austin, with a great eye for gift items, have a darling shop beside the Stagecoach Inn.  They have amazing soaps.  Some are homemade. (That big black cat on the bed is Clarie.)

They make their own aprons.

We enjoyed looking at everything. 

Just down the street, we tasted wine and cheese.

And we tasted candy!

We found great home accessories at Horse Feathers.

If we had arrived on a weekday, our dining options would have been varied.  We could have eaten at The Range at The Barton House.  It gets rave reviews.

There are art galleries to visit, but you really don’t have to go inside.  There is art everywhere.

There’s even a mermaid and trout down by the creek.

The pedestrian bridge is a rare example of a lenticular truss structure.  (It includes a lens-shaped truss.) Only eight remain on this side of the Mississippi.  This one was relocated to its present location.  The troll is a nice touch.

Until the 1890s, cattle drives came right through the middle of town.  The crystal clear springs that feed Salado Creek attracted settlers and stagecoach companies and one of the state’s early colleges.  Little is left of those days, but the Stagecoach Inn hasn’t changed much at all.

Residential streets near the town’s Main Street, are chocked full of historic structures.

The streets are hilly; the creek winds throughout the town, sometimes narrow, and sometimes wide and fast flowing. 

We talked about moving to Salado, but when it was time to head home, we were happy to come back to Houston.  Truth is: we kind of like the 24-7 lifestyle.

And we learned another lesson in Salado:  No more Sunday trips for us!