The best place on earth

This past weekend Travis and I had the pleasure of visiting the best place on earth. Well, at least in our opinion it's the best place on earth. This place I speak of is Llano, Texas. It's a small town of just over 2,500 residents, but is home to the best bbq joint, is the place Travis asked me to be his wife, and also the home of the Riley Family Ranch.



In November of 2006 Travis' parents bought some land with a house in Llano to offer another place to get away. Travis likes it for it's deer hunting (llano is known as the deer capital of Texas); meanwhile others like it for its simple beauty. The back of their house and porch over look some beautiful granite outcroppings. You can see for at least 30 miles and see the tip of Enchanted Rock. Just a mile down the road is the Llano River...wonderful for an afternoon float with a cold drink in hand.



As previously mentioned Llano is home to some great bbq joints. The greatest of these joints is: Cooper's BBQ. People drive from near and far to experience this wonderful goodness. The meat is tender, the ribs are HUGE, the cobbler is amazing...i could go on and on. If you are ever out in the hill country- marble falls, fredricksburg, etc...take the 30 minute trip over to Llano and experience some Cooper's...you'll be glad you did.

Below is a picture of the line you go through and select what meat you want.

Over the weekend we got to spend some quality time with Travis' folks. It was our first time to see them since the wedding, but it was a great weekend. Judi fixed some wonderful meals for us, they took us out to eat at Cooper's, took us to the Llano Rodeo, and relaxed in the Llano River.



The rodeo was great. The clowns were actually pretty entertaining and the stands were packed. I love going to small town rodeos. Everybody gets dressed in their best western attire and cheers on the participants. One of the participants happened to be one of my friends at Baylor, Luke Groth. He was competing in the Team Roping event (which is what Travis does) and he won!



In all we had a great weekend in Llano and cannot wait to go back. If you ever want to come with us, just let us know!

Weekend "wrap"-up

Greetings friends-

Pardon me for our blogging absence, but there has not been much going on at the Riley house. It has been very nice to have a few weekends in town with no big plans. However, it looks like after a month break our busy weekends are back, and we are excited.

Here's a little re-cap of our weekend:

Friday: I went to see one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year: Sex and They City with 7 other girls. It was a FABULOUS movie and well worth the $8.50 movie ticket price. To complete my SATC DVD collection, I'll even buy the movie when it comes out. This was quite possibly one of the greatest chick-flicks of all time (in my opinion).

Saturday: We had the privilege of going to the Ranger's game with James and Tara (the newly engaged couple I previously blogged about). We had such a fun time. Tara and I talked about weddings meanwhile James and Travis were in to the game, which the Rangers won! There was even a fireworks show after the game. Once the game was over, we ate dinner with the engaged couple at Joe's Crab Shack and continued our fun evening. It was sad to say goodbye since they live 3 hours away, but it was fun getting to see them. By the way, Tara's engagement ring is beautiful. I wish i had a picture, but James did an incredible job. We cannot wait for their big day!!!

Sunday: My parents joined us along with Trent and Kourtny for church and lunch to celebrate Kourtny's 27th birthday! After lunch we headed over to Top Golf to hit some golf balls at the amazing driving range. I hit a ball 191 yards!!! It's fun golfing with my brother (who is a high school golf coach), he gives great pointers. After the driving range, we wanted to have some more fun so Travis and I played 2 rounds of putt-putt with Trent and Kourt. It was a long day, that we topped off with snow cones and watching National Treasure 2, but a great day with the family.

That's about it for the Riley household...We are going to Llano this coming weekend and cannot wait to go back to the ranch! I can't believe it's already been a year since we got engaged there...

At the end of June we are having a BBQ and washers tournament at our house, so if you are in the area and want to see our place...mark your calendar for June 21st