Texas Hill Country
We’re about halfway across Texas, stopping for a few days outside of San Antonio. Today we visited Kerrville and Fredericksburg, both located in the state’s Hill Country. Our last (and first) visit to Fredericksburg was about twelve years ago on a camping trip to Inks Lake State Park, north of Austin. It’s known for its wineries, wildflowers, and a German cultural influence. LeeAnn chose this RV park partially for its proximity to Fredericksburg, being excited about revisiting the town’s wineries and flowers.
Kerrville is sort of, slightly on the way to Fredericksburg, and I wanted to visit simply because I read a book series that partially took place there. Once I saw how close it was, I asked LeeAnn if she minded a little detour on our trip to Texas wine country. I’m glad we did, the town is nice. We liked seeing its downtown square and the Guadalupe River meandering through town with parks covering much of its floodplain.
Since I just wanted to see if it bears any resemblance to the books I read, we didn’t really have anything to do other than look at it, but it was lunchtime, so we sought out BBQ, and BBQ we found. We ate at Bill’s Bar-B-Que. It was all you’d want from a small, local Texas BBQ joint. LeeAnn had pulled pork with slaw and potato salad, and I had brisket and jalapeño sausage with beans. All were excellent. Its funny, we’ve now been in Texas five days, and this is our first day eating BBQ.
After eating we went to our actual destination of Fredericksburg. We were hoping to visit some wineries along the way, but most of the ones we saw on the way were closed for the day. It’s a Tuesday, and off-season, so that’s not too surprising. Also, the weather was gloomy, so it dampened (no pun intended) our enthusiasm for wineries. We figured we’d just hit a tasting room or two in town.
Once in town, we parked downtown and visited a tasting room dedicated to Italian wines. It was nice, but looking back we both wish we’d skipped that one to focus on local wines instead. On the plus side, they don’t sell food, so Barnie was allowed inside. We can’t remember if this was the case last time we visited, but now the downtown establishments are allowed to sell drinks to go, so I stopped in at the Auslander to get a beer to enjoy outside on the sidewalk, since Barnie wasn’t allowed inside.
After sitting on the bench for a bit, we walked the downtown. LeeAnn went in a shop or two, then we decided we needed to leave to get to the big nursery she wanted to visit. We got back to our truck to see that the whiskey room we parked in front of was now open, but whiskey samples right before driving didn’t sound like a good idea, so we went on to Wildseed Farms.
Wildseed was just as we remembered. It’s a huge nursery, local food store, tasting room, and giftshop with and outdoor entertainment center. It’s really a must see for anyone in the area. We spent time walking around looking at everything. It was still overcast when we were there, so pictures don’t really do it justice, but the huge facility surrounded by fields with wildflowers in bloom was a pleasure to walk around. A little better planning, and we could have spent half a day there. LeeAnn wants to make it clear that she showed “great restraint” by not buying any plants, only seeds.
Even though weather didn’t really cooperate with us, it was a nice day in Texas Hill Country.
