We’ve decided to explore the area on weekends. Last weekend we went to the BBQ Goat Cook Off in Brady. After looking at the house and land yesterday, we headed towards Dublin, TX. Dublin is about 30 miles from the land we were looking at.
The oldest Dr. Pepper bottling company in the whole world is located in Dublin, TX. The history is very interesting. We had heard about their Dr. Pepper floats and they were every bit as good as we’d been told. Dr. Pepper and Blue Bell ice cream . . what more could you ask for? And, the Dr. Pepper bottled in Dublin is all made with Imperial pure cane sugar vs. corn syrup. Some of the restaurants here serve the Dr. Pepper made with real sugar and I love those!
It was an interesting place, something every Dr. Pepper lover should experience and I think Vince and I might make frequent weekend trips there for those Dr. Pepper floats. Oh . . and they had root beer cake and Dr. Pepper cake samples. I bought a packaged mix for the root beer cake because the icing was to die for! I’m hoping I can come up with a recipe for making it without the kit because it was a bit expensive to buy . . and I think I might want to make a root beer cake every day!
From there we went to a real meat market also in Dublin.
There were funny men working in there. Check out the critter on the wall. They’re everywhere! Houses, businesses . . we don’t have one . . yet! 🙂
It’s been so long since I was able to go to a good meat market, pick and choose the meat I wanted and know I was getting quality meat.
We bought meat for the whole week and I’m anxious to see if Vince notices that it’s better than what we buy in the grocery stores.
We did more exploring but I’ll share that in another post later. Don’t want to bore you with too much of our Texas explorations in one post!
Dora, the quilter says
Wow, real Dr. Pepper! I’ll be they left a lot of poisons out of that recipe, didn’t they? I’m thinking real Dr. Pepper and real Blue Bell ice cream would make a really good float! To find a real meat market had to be a great bonus. I hope Vince does notice how much better the meat is this week!
Gwen says
Sounds like a fun day! I think I would perfer the Dr. Pepper cake myself. Bet you can recreat the root beer one though. I googled it and there are lots of recipes out there to start from. I like the Coca Cola bottled in Mexico that is made with cane sugar that’s the real thing!
JudyL says
I thought I would too but we both liked the root beer cake better than the DP cake . . though the DP cake was good too. I love those Mexico Colas too!
Laura says
Love your explorations – I always want to visit the small towns wherever we travel. Keep sharing!
JudyL says
Me too! That’s one of the reasons I’d rather travel the back roads instead of the interstate. When we’re on the interstate and see something interesting, it’s too much trouble to go back most of the time so we just keep going and I always wonder what I missed by not stopping.
Ava says
We’ve been buying the Pepsi made with real sugar – Flashback – I think it’s called. I wonder where you buy the Dr. Pepper made with sugar – I mean except in Dublin, Texas.
JudyL says
I think it’s “Throwback”. Vince buys the Pepsi and the Mountain Dew with real sugar. You should be able to get the Dr. Pepper at Wood’s . . sometime they had it. Wal-Mart here has it but I can’t remember if Wal-Mart there had it. Target had the Pepsi and Mountain Dew with sugar on sale 4-12 packs for $10 last time we were in Abilene. The Dr. Pepper were on sale too but it was the version with corn syrup.
Perry says
Now you are getting into some of the things that make Texas such a great place to live as far as I am concerned. The meat does have a different flavor from what is available in OK and Missouri. At least it used to be, maybe not anymore. As far as scenery, afraid the lushness you were used to in Missouri is just not around that part of Texas, but I am hoping you will grow to like the type of life there more than you thought you would. I think things may be started to come together for you a little bit. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Gail says
Who is that man in the first photo? Is that Vince’s evil twin wearing a BLUE t shirt???
JudyL says
We must be nicer to him! 🙂 When I asked him if he would stand in front of the sign so I could take a picture, he said “I can’t! I don’t have on a green shirt!”
Cindy in NC says
On Friday afternoon I picked up some inland water shrimp and 25 pounds of andouille from a man who comes up perioidically from New Orleans to visit his daughter, who relocated to NC after Katrina. He sells an assortment of Louisiana groceries and made a special trip to LaPlace to get me Jacob’s andouille. That should keep us in gumbo for a while!
Marla says
Don’t ever worry about boring us with your travel stories! We all love them! Keem em coming!
JudyL says
OK. Thanks! 🙂
Carol says
We have Bluebell up here now. Not sure about the Dr. Pepper with Imperial cane sugar but they do have Dr. Pepper in the stores. The Imperial factory in Sugarland is a neat place to tour.
pdudgeon says
gosh, maybe you can keep track of the ‘help wanted’ signs for the Dr. Pepper plant with Vince in mind…..or for when he retires.
it’s been years since i’ve seen a meat market like that, complete with the little shopping baskets. it certainly brought back memories.
Terri says
More stories please! They are not boring at all!! In fact they kinda make me homesick…… Time for a visit back 🙂
Diana in TX says
Glad you are doing that. think I told you we have been doing the same thing. We have found the best little hole in the wall places to eat when traveling. and every little town has something. Unfortuantely a lot of the little towns haven’t fared so well, pretty deserted with the shopping centers outside of town, but there are still a lot of them that are loads of fun to visit. Keep that cooler in the car-you never know when you will come across another good meat market. By the way there is one in Brady too-it’s where the guys get their venison brats etc made during deer season.
Diana in TX says
Oh yes, be careful doing that on a Sunday. We were headed some where on a Sunday-nothing open in the small towns. We did finally find gas and a gas station that had something to eat!
Nancy B. says
As a long time Dr. Pepper lover, I’ve thought of making the trip to Texas just to go to Dublin! We have the Pepsi and Mr. Dew Throwback here, too, which is bottled locally from Wyoming produced sugar beets (which we grow on our farm). I’ve found if you grew up drinking sodas made with sugar you’ll probably prefer the ‘new’ old stuff, but the younger kids and adults seem to prefer the corn syrup taste.
Love the stories and adventures…think I’m traveling and even looking for a new house vicariously through you, Judy!
Mel Meister says
Funny you should find a meat packer the same day we did. We got the most marvelous ground chuck and smoked sausage. I’m sure the pot roast will be just as excellent. It’s a little far from our house, but we will be planning meals around buying meat so we can just make a couple of trips a month.
Andrea says
I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but the DP from Dublin is an annual treat for DH. We live in the St. Louis area, and for a case to be shipped here it’s almost $40. I know it’s crazy, but it just tastes so much better with cane sugar in glass bottles. We only splurge once a year and we ration them like we’ll never see another one. LOL