What to do in Wimberley

I lived in Wimberley from '80 'till '87 and my mother lives there now.

Here are my insider tips:

The easiest way to get there from Austin is to take 290 West to Dripping Springs then turn left onto Rance Road 12. You know you're nearing RR 12 cuz you'll see a Dairy Queen on the right. (PS this DQ sucks. wait 'till you get to Wimberley)

Quick story: The DQ was the first place to have a tall, plastic sign in Wimberley (this is '86) and the sign was shot three times and replaced three times in the first months it was up.

The Cypress Creek Cafe on the square is the better of the cafes. "The Cafe" has a nice bucolic feel at night when they open the bar in the back and have rootsy/bluesy/country type tunes. They have a big fire pit thing in the back which I like.
INOZ is on the square too and has a better view but it's sports bar food. Maybe have a drink at INOZ for the view and enjoy the access to the river bank.

There's a wine bar called Clifford's on RR12 on your way from "Dripping". It's got a nice patio area surrounded by oaks and is pretty private.

I LOVE Pioneer Town but you have to bring your sense of humor and irony. They have these great (read:terrible) set ups of mannequins playing cards and other household activities and an 8 foot stuffed "jackalope". There's never anyone there since the liability insurance forced the closure of the fort and the train so it's really desolate and rad. There's also an arcade and an ice cream parlor. Did I mention that it had it's heyday in the 60's?

There is a coffee shop across the street from the grocery store.

Bella Vista is the Olive grove. It's not TERRIBLY exciting but it's pretty cool to see. I like Wimberley Glass Works and the Bonsai museum. This last one sounds dull but it's pretty cool.

The Old Mill store next to the Cypress Creek Cafe has the best candy.

This link has a map to Old Baldy which is a "Texas mountain" with a great view. A great place to picnic or just get away.

Wimberley's culinary coming-of-age

Wimberley has long been a popular central Texas tourist destination, offering a slow pace, cowboy-hippie culture, quaint country charm, lovely folk art, plenty of shopping, and Market Days, the second largest flea market in Texas. Tourists thirst for a visit to the Blanco River, eager to alternate days of tubing or sunbathing on sleepy banks with cooking classes and shopping. In the last 10 years the cuisine of Wimberley has grown into its britches, appealing to Austin foodies who long to experience the local fare. The Wimberley culinary tourist trend was greatly influenced by its inclusion in the list of top 10 small towns in America by Travel Holiday Magazine. The high regard for Wimberley did not escape the notice of local entrepreneurs and an array of lovely restaurants began to spring up to meet the needs of weekend visitors. Visitors soon began to encourage Wimberley cooks and authors to publish books aimed at local cooking and life and arranged for experts such as Terri Burney-Bisett and Mark Malowski to set up cooking classes to teach and promote hill country cuisine. USA Today named The Blair House Bed and Breakfast one of the top 10 cooking schools in the nation and Austin American Statesman food critic Dale Rice calls the Cypress Creek Cafe’s chicken fried sirloin “the epitome of classic fare”. The result of this explosion of quality eateries is that culinary vacations are now among the most sought-after and savored Texas vacations.