DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!

Pic of Texas countryside I sent to Greg... good for his jeep!

Yes, we are deep in the heart of Texas and while we have had fun in the Hill Country and the past 2 days in San Antonio… it sure did take us a L-O-N-G time to get here.  We left Tucson and drove to El Paso.  Then we drove, and drove and drove through Texas to Fredricksburg.  I felt like I was in a John Wayne movie.  Mesa after mesa, with nothing but scrub brush in between.  At least Arizona had interesting cacti!  The only town between El Paso and Fredricksburg was Fort Collins.  I was expecting more… it wasn’t even “walmart size”… and B’s diner was the best in town at 3 Yelp stars. 

This says "Texas Women shoot their own snakes"  a bumper sticker I saw in Fort Collins.
Funny and a little scary!

Fredricksburg however was a cute, if touristy town.  When Texas was part of Mexico, they recruited Americans and Europeans to the area with the promise of free land.  120 Germans came and made a settlement at Fredricksburg.  (Later too many “foreigners” came and the Mexican government wanted them to become more "Mexican" and conform to their type of government.  Does this sound familiar?  Later the Alamo was a battle in Texas' war of Independence.)  General Nimitz is also from Fredericksburg and it houses an extensive Museum of the Pacific Campaign of WWII.  Which worked out really well:  Dave did the museum while I shopped.   I gave out after about ½ of Main Street and Dave said, “I need 45 more minutes.”  (This was a first!)  So I did a wine tasting in one of the tasting rooms in town and then met him for German food and beer at the Fredericksburg Pub and Brewery.  (schnitzel at least 6 ways! And the sweetest red cabbage ever!)  I bought a few things but mostly took pictures of things that reminded me of folks and texted the pictures back… a quilt shop to Kasey, typical Texas sculpture to Laurie, a dog-only store to Mary Lou, and a picture of the countryside ready for 4 wheeling to Greg (see above).

After lunch we followed a wine trail through the Hill Country.  The Texans are proud of their wine and charge $12-15 per tasting and the only thing we liked was $60/bottle, so we just bought a glass and enjoyed the breeze and view on their patio.` What we saw of their vineyards reminded us of NC about 15 years ago.  Most of the vineyards were pretty young and one of the tasting room attendants confessed that most of their grapes come from New Mexico.

OK Dave is too much in the shadows....but ya'll know what he looks like
Look at the view!

While driving around the countryside, we came up upon LBJ’s ranch and the Western White House.  It was too late to get the tour, but we could still drive around and see it, including the 1 room school house he attended and where he signed the Elementary and Secondary School Act in the 60’s. This school is touted as the first Head Start.  I can remember as a child the hub bub he would cause when the reporters would have to come to the “Texas White House.”  How he would pick up the beagle by its ears and make the reporters ride horses with him.  Definitely one of the more colorful presidents, at least in my time.

1st Head Start School

Pic of marker at the school of LBJ signing the Education Act

From there it was an easy 45 minute drive to San Antonio.  Our hotel is right on the River Walk and Dave and I walked around Tuesday night after settling in.  It was still in the 90’s at 9:30… or at least felt like it.  Margaritas on the river tasted really good!  Today has been hot too.  This morning we did the River Walk boat tour and then went across the street to the Alamo.  Right now while it is really hot, we are taking a siesta until it cools down (“when in Rome”… or San Antonio…lol), then we hope to go up in the observation tower left over from the Hemisphere World Fair and eat some “real” Texas BBQ.

Yes... these pictures are heavy on shadows and shade... but believe me you seek out the shade here!

the River Walk from the boat

New sculpture along the river walk titled.." Driving the dogies into San Antonio"

Deb and Dave under a live oak tree at the Alamo

The Alamo

A few random things I learned at the Alamo and Texas history:  Both SC and NC had 7 men die there for the cause.  One panel said that Davey Crocket and and John McGregor played the fiddle and bagpipes to keep up the men's spirits.  The Alamo was restored by the DTR - Daughters of the Texas Revolution.  So we in the South and East have the DAR and they have the DTR!  And lastly, in 1856 the Army established the Camel Corps, using camels to scout wagon routes through the desert.  After 10 years they were all sold, because they were contrary, smelled bad, and frightened the horses!

Here are a few more I just thought were interesting:

Interactive :art: on the side of a building in San Antonio

This was a poster at the liquor store!  They have a dozen different flavors of funnel cakes on their "after school special" menu (it was across from a Catholic School)
My favorite was "recess pieces"... I think they meant the candy bar!

A coffee table I coveted in a glass shop...It was "only" $11,000!!

After our "siesta", Dave and I went out for Texas BBQ and then up in the Tower of the Americas.  It had cooled off and was a nice walk.

Eatin' ribs on the River Walk

Western vistas seem to go on forever

Tower of the America built for the World Fair in the 60's

Tomorrow we truly head for home.  The bug has got us and we’re ready to “beat feet” home.  I especially got that way when Emily pasted on Facebook that Ella announced she had a great dream.  She dreamed she was at Gammy’s.  sigh!

Addendum on Bert:  Bert is down to about a C+ . Dave finally put the new part in, but the AC still cuts off some of the time and then will crank back up on its own, which probably indicates a short in the spaghetti of wires.  Thankfully so far, the AC has worked more than it has not, so we keep praising him when it does!!