Fredericksburg, The Heart of Hill Country

We've had a fabulous five nights in Fredericksburg, TX. Besides visiting Enchanted Rock and the LBJ Ranch, we also walked downtown Fredericksburg and some of the very lovely surrounding neighborhoods. There are numerous well preserved historic homes and commercial buildings from the mid to late 1800's, and the German ancestry is readily apparent.

Though Fredericksburg is a tourist town, many of the tourist focused shops have quality looking merchandise and there are a lot of decent looking places to eat. We only ate out once and chose to relive Hans' childhood with a traditional German meal at the Old German Bakery and Restaurant. Though we did not buy any, their pastries looked decadently delicious!

In five days we did not manage to do everything the area has to offer, including the National Museum of the Pacific War, which we've heard is excellent. Darn, I guess we'll have to come back!

Shop alley.

The old courthouse is now the library.

Bluebonnets are looking lovely in pockets all over town.

One of many beautifully preserved historic homes.
The limestone building on the far left is an old jailhouse!

A German feast! Rouladen and Currywurst

We've had quite a bit of clouds during our stay and Sunday was no exception when we met up with Bob and Susan (Travel Bug) from San Antonio for one last hike and lunch before we move out of the area. We rendezvous'd at Joshua Springs Park and Preserve and got caught up since we last saw each other a few weeks ago on a nice five mile hike around meadows and up to a fogged in viewpoint (we didn't mind the clouds so much because it kept us cool--Texas humidity has been in the air lately!).

Walking one of the meadows at Joshua Springs.

The neon green of spring growth brightens a gray morning.

Our lunchtime wildlife sighting.

Lisa, Hans, Susan and Bob sharing lunch and camaraderie.

After lunch the four of us drove up to Comfort, TX and walked the streets of this charming, old hill country town, then piled into one car and drove some of the back-of-town roads along a tributary of the Guadalupe River. It was another fun day spent in easy going, comfortable company.

Comfort was founded by Freethinkers...my kind of people!

Plenty of nicely preserved old Texas buildings in Comfort, whose slogan is "An Antique Town".

Cute cafe: Comfortable in Comfort, TX!

This cute building is a greenhouse on private property!

Cypress Creek.

After saying our good byes, on Bob and Susan's recommendation, we drove Old San Antonio Road back to Fredericksburg. What a lovely stretch of hill country road! Rolling hills of meadows and oak and cypress forest, ranch and farm land, all in every shade of green imaginable.

The railroad is gone but the trestle remains.

We took a short detour to visit James Kiehl River Bend Park, another good find by Susan and Bob. This small park is dedicated to Mr. Kiehl and other servicemen and women who lost their lives in the service of their country. Short trails along the Guadalupe River provide birding and fishing opportunities, while interpretive plaques provide information about the areas railroad history and local flora and fauna.

Cypress reflections in the Guadalupe River.
We heard what sounded like a peacock on our walk but never located the source of those distinctive calls.

We interrupted a few of these guys feasting on something in the road...

Campground Review

Lady Bird Johnson Municipal RV Park was an excellent place to stay for a few nights. Many of it's 98 sites have a view of the runway at Fredericksburg airport. We had site 86, an extremely long pull through that used to support two RV's back to back and now is one site. The only bummer is that your door faces your neighbors door, pretty close by.

The Municipal park contains all kinds of sports fields as well as a public golf course, public pool, tennis courts and fishing in Live Oak Creek/Lake. There are two very pretty nature trails that cover about two miles, plus add on the loop around the entire park grounds and you've walked about three miles...excellent! There is an enormous (like 10 acres) enclosed dog park between the RV's and the air strip, oddly we never saw a dog in there. The only thing missing is a laundry facility, but you can find that about two miles up the road into town.

We really enjoyed staying here. Watching the variety of aircraft was interesting and walking the grounds and trails was serene and beautiful; the park is huge and very pretty in its spring clothing. Very quiet at night. $30/night for full hookups. Decent Verizon signal. We were about 15 miles from both Enchanted Rock and LBJ Ranch, and only three miles from the center of Fredericksburg. We'd definitely stay here again.

We are in Site 86, our neighbors door faces ours.
The air strip is behind the truck.

Many of the sites in this park have a front row view of the air strip.

There were three old military helicopters practicing hovering one sunny day.

The Hangar Hotel and the Airport Diner face the runway.
Notice the hotel balcony with chairs for plane watching.

A B17 and a B24 took off several times a day during our stay.

The butterfly / hummingbird garden adjacent to the RV park.

Evening reflections on Live Oak Creek Lake.

View trail or water trail?

Bird blind overlooking several feeders.

This guy was as big as Hans' fist!

Today we're off to South Llano State Park, an easy hour drive from here, where we'll be without signal for a few days unless we go in to town...