Fredericksburg, Texas

 By 8:15 we were on the road to Enchanted Rock State Park and Fredericksburg.  We decided to take a rural ranch road to avoid going back through Johnson City.  At first the road followed a river.  The scenery was very nice.  As we were driving to Enchanted Rock State Park, we saw a sign with flashing lights reading that you had to have reservations to go into the park.  Honestly, we didn't believe the sign so we continued on the road.  However, when we got to the entrance to the park, we could see that it was blocked off with a sign that read "Public Hunting  No Entrance"  We could not go into the park; however, we were able to get a couple of pictures and the drive to and from the park was nice.

The road to and from the park.

Enchanted Rock is beyond the sign.  There is a trail that takes you to the top of the granite rock.  We had planned to take that trail but maybe it is a good thing that we weren't able to.  One of us might have fallen off!!  Native Americans revered and feared the rock. It had sheltered a Texas Ranger from a Comanche Indian attach in the 1840's. 

This picture is out of order because we passed by Luckenbach, Texas on the way to Fredericksburg.  Country music fans will recognize the song Luckenbach, Texas written and recorded by Waylon Jennings.  Luckenbach consists of a general store, bar and dance hall which has live music daily.  It opens at 9:00 p.m. 'til close (wherever that may be).

This bridge spans the two lanes going south on Highway 281. The lanes going north are on a modern bridge.  Apparently, the highway department didn't want to destroy this beautiful old bridge.  The bridges cross the Guadalupe River.

The National Museum of the Pacific War is located in Fredericksburg.  It is a beautiful museum with way too much information and displays to tour in an hour or two and that is all the time we wanted to give the museum.  The museum is located here because it is the birth place and childhood home of Admiral Chester Nimitz who was Commander-in-Chief of  Naval Pacific Fleet during WWII.  The museum had lots of artifacts, movies, and Exhibits.  It was very well done but for us it was information overload.  We spent nearly two hours at the museum before we called it quits.  

I did take one picture inside the museum and that was of a door from the USS Arizona. The hole that can be seen at the top of the door was cut by divers looking for survivors.  The black line on the door was from oil in the water leading out of the Arizona..

There were also outdoor displays of naval guns.

Another reason we left the museum was our stomachs were complaining.  It was nearly 1:00 p.m. and breakfast was long ago.  We ate a German meal at The Brewery.  We had been told by a volunteer at the working homestead at the LBJ State Park that the schnitzel there was very good.  Carol ordered that and I ordered a Reuben sandwich.  Both of us had German Potato Salad.  It was very good.  Carol said that schnitzel was only a German version of an American pork tenderloin

The town was very busy with tourists.  The main street is several blocks of shops selling things to entice tourists to spend their money.  We went into several stores but the only thing we brought was a cup of ice cream

It looks like this old building is being renovated in hopes of a new little shop will open in it.

Fredericksburg was founded by a colony of German Families.  Comanche Indian tried to run them out of  the territory but the leader of the German families was able to sign a peace treaty with them.  To this day it is the only peace treaty that has never been broken.  The town built a public structure like the one in this picture.  It is called a Vereins Kirche (Society Church) and was used as a meeting hall, church, fortress, and school.  The original was torn down but reconstructed in 1936.  Now it is the center of a beautiful park in the center of town.  We learned that the German farmers would come into town on Saturdays to sell their farm goods, spend the night, and attend church on Sunday before returning to their homes.  Some of them built "Sunday Homes" to stay in on Saturday nights.  Some of them are still standing and being used as homes.  When they were built, they were a very basic dwelling used mainly for sleeping the one night. 

Fredericksburg has a thriving wine producing industry.  One guide book said there are more than 40 wineries in or near the city.  We saw several like the one in the picture above and below as we traveled between Johnson City and Fredericksburg.  

We also discovered that this part of Texas is great for growing peaches and goats.  Unfortunately, peach season was past so we were not able to taste the product.  We saw several lots of goats.  We enjoyed the day and got back to camp a 6:00.  It was a long day but a good one.  Tomorrow will be our last day in this area.  We are going to scout out the route from this campground to the highway we plan to take Sunday morning when we leave.  Other than that we plan to relax.  The last three days have been long and busy. Hill country Texas is beautiful.  I never imagine parts of Texas would look like this.  The temperatures have been great.  It gets up into the lower 80's during the day but it is dry so it is comfortable.  We have not used our air conditioner since we left Big Bend.  We haven't had any rain for awhile which is okay with us.  The winds have been quiet.  We can't complain!

I took this sunset picture as a huge flock of geese flew over.  Those are geese in the sunset glow not dirt specks.