Fredericksburg, TX

Downtown Fredericksburg was lined with breweries, wine tasting facilities (there are more than 15 wineries within a stones throw on Highway 290, dubbed the Wine Road), antique shops, art studios, souvenir stores, junk shops, rock shops, etc.  It took a while to walk the four blocks or so of these businesses.  We found some wine that we liked but it was $40 a bottle downtown.  We found the local HEP store (Safeway/Kroger to ya’ll) and wound up with six bottles of the local wines for about $90 total.

I did not want to play Frogger trying to photograph Main Street so I took these from the edge and corners.  We saw a truck with a fifth wheel turn into some people LEGALLY crossing the street, WITH THE LIGHT AND IN THE CROSSWALK.  They scattered and were very lucky.  I don’t think the driver was paying attention, just trying to jump before oncoming  traffic slowed him down.

We noticed these gas lanterns while walking in the morning.

We stopped for lunch at the Fredericksburg Brewing Company.  Cathy had pork stew with red beer sauce.  I had fish ‘n chips . . . no, not really.  I had the reuben sandwich with a German potato salad.  This brewpub, one of many on Main Street, had two large copper kettles and eight large stainless containers for their tap beers, four of which can be seen beyond the two copper units.  No, we did not try the beer.

We chose to sit at the bar so we could watch the goings-on.

After lunch, we continued walking the town, including the Pioneer Memorial and the city library.  A pretty impressive library, next to the city hall.

Next, we drove out-of-town, about two miles to Lady Bird Johnson Park, which was an outstanding facility, and included a RV park right along the runway of the local airport (we watcher a Lear land and taxi in), a  very large pool, a recreation/event facility, a golf course, several duck ponds on the flowing river, a couple of small waterfalls, tennis courts (6), baseball and tee-ball fields and a series of nature trails.  A pretty impressive park for such a small town!

After the park, we drove to the Texas Rangers Heritage Center.  This is the only land the Texas Rangers actually owns.  We were given a good explanation of the history of the rangers and their hierarchy as we were the only ones there.  This facility is very new and they have plans to add educational facilities and event facilities in the next several years, and are totally dependant on donations for the construction.

This tower marks the entrance to the planned facility and the large, 5 peso badge is the memorial to the fallen Rangers. Original Rangers hand-made their badges from the Mexican Five Peso coin, which had a very high silver content.  Since the coin is no longer in circulation, the Rangers have a stash of the last minted versions (ca 1935) to continue the tradition.

We had no idea that so many have fallen since their inception, but the rate of death has slowed remarkably since 1935.

There were several statues to famous Rangers already in place, this one was hauling ass.  Really!  There was a pack donkey at the end of the rope he is holding.

I just finished a short ride with these guys.  We did not have lunch with Cordell Walker, he and James Trivette failed to meet us as planned.

Next stop would be the local fort, and we took a self-guided tour.  We again were the only ones there. The fort is located near Fredericksburg on the Pinta Trail, which was the main route westward from San Antonio used by Native Americans, explorers and settlers.  The trail was founded in April 1757 and was the primary route to the Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas, better known as the Presidio of San Saba.

This is the barracks for the enlisted men at the fort.  There are three separate rooms under the single roof.

The original well, hand dug and lined with limestone.

Cathy is in front of the officers quarters.  Each officer had a two room cabin such as this. We found the door wide open so I walked over to the docent’s home to tell them the facility was (wide) open.  She knew that and told me that all of the buildings were open! We had no idea as we only looked through the windows, never expecting full access.

Another of the officer’s quarters.

I just had to look into the well and yes, there was water!

This is where they housed the lawbreakers.  There were four cells, measuring about two feet by eight feet with a single, very narrow window at a height of about eight feet (see the end of the building.  There are two rooms to house the jailers, each with a separate entrance (the two doors at the left end of the building).  The remaining door at the right end of the building led into a living room type area and was also the entrance to the jail cells.