Texas Hill Country: Fredericksburg Part 1 (of 2)

Luckenbach has been a place I wanted to visit for awhile, so I planned a little weekend get away (more about Luckenbach in the next post, but it needed to be said...since it's why I ended up in Fredericksburg). I had also added Fredericksburg to that list awhile back after reading about it in Texas Highway Magazine. Conveniently, Fredericksburg is the closest 'real' town to Luckenbach...population 3. I told my friend Maggie about it, and my cousin Holly-who is always up for a little weekend adventure, and they were both interested.
Due to some scheduling conflicts, we crammed a lot into a short weekend, but having been given a taste, I'll be heading back to really dig deep into the dirt of these parts of the hill country.
It is about a 5 hour drive from Plano to Fredericksburg. It's a beautiful drive. You head through the heart of the hill country, and the temptation of the Peach Harvest that is just getting started. Fruit stands were in the works, and I can already hear the ice cream churning. Maggie (who once lived near this area) said Memorial Day is when you can see this it it's full glory. What we had this weekend were the remnants of the wildflowers, and that was enough for me! I think I'll head back in April next time....I can't even imagine how beautiful it was b/c it pretty much took my breath away on this trip down.

No camera could ever do it justice. Ever. BUT if you want to see the most beautiful pieces of Texas. Go to the hill country in late April. The end.
Once you hop onto 290 from I-35 you pass a lot of little towns like Dripping Springs, and slices of President Lyndon B Johnson's childhood haunts, and current National Preserves set aside in his honor. They have little general stores, historic buildings, and fruit stands dotting the road for the hour+ it takes to reach Fredricksburg, and counting....and we barely got down those hilly roads to be able to report on all there was to see and do. I can only imagine what lay ahead...behind...to the side....etc! I was driving....it wasn't very easy to snap pictures, so....I guess you'll just have to go if you haven't because this post doesn't 'get it'. Trust me, go, you'll thank me for it!

Once we got to Fredericksburg we stopped at Peach Pit BBQ in the main part of town for lunch.
Skip it, it's fine, but it's nothing special.
Just being honest, and it's the only thing slightly ordinary I have to say, and even at that, it wasn't bad, but there are too many excellent BBQ joints in the hill country, so don't spend time here...not to mention-this is a German settlement....go with the German specialties....more on that in a bit.
We shopped the main street until check in, and I'm...in...love with these little boutiques, 5 and dime store, General Store, bakeries, fudge shops, ice cream shops, and antique shops. I didn't even scratch the surface of all they had to offer, this was more of a sip and see sort of field trip, and now I know what I needed to know to know I want to go back! The boutiques are fabulous, with all price ranges, and the old buildings are even more fabulous along the strip.


There are also little historical buildings like this old Methodist church...

...and a driving tour you can take of little school houses I will have to save for my next visit.
We also ate at a really good German restaurant for dinner called Auslander.

They had a pretty authentic menu, with some Texas twist, but I got a Reuben, and potato pancakes, and I took some bites of Maggie's German Chocolate cake. It was great, and I should know b/c I've spent two whole days in Germany, and eaten at a local Dallas German restaurants probably 15 times through the last 30 years, so, obviously, I'm sort of an expert on the subject of what good German food taste like...ha...fine...I am an expert on what taste good, and the restaurant is cute inside, and there was live music, affordable prices, and you should just listen to me b/c (my) world runs smoother when other people let me be in charge. ;o)
Next (blog) stop....Luckenbach! Tons more pics to wade through!
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