Fredericksburg, Heart of The Hill Country

It’s called The Hill Country around here and it’s a region in south central Texas that boasts quite a few wineries, vineyards, and breweries, and Fredericksburg is the “Capital “of the Region.

          Fredericksburg was settled in the 1800’s by German immigrants and has managed to hold on dearly to its heritage. The entire town is German themed, and this makes is it a favorite destination for just about everyone. With the wineries, regular and German restaurants, and a downtown Main Street that has managed to maintain all of its old-world charm, Fredericksburg seems to be perpetually busy.          Especially now, it’s Oktoberfest time!

          We’ve been through this little town many times before as Rt. 290 runs right through the middle of it. Rt. 290 is the road that we take from our home base in Brenham all the way to the god-forsaken, evil-infested Interstate Route 10. It is also the town that we limped back to in the Texas Icemageddon of 2021 this past winter. We stayed an additional 3 days in the Walmart parking lot until we determined that it might be safe enough to venture out and make it back home.

          So, we definitely have a soft spot in us for Fredericksburg.      Unfortunately, during that wintry hiatus there, we were unable to sample any of its delightful feature’s because half of the town was without power, and if they did have it, the employees were unable to navigate the roads and come into work.

          So, we decided to come back some day.

          That day was perfectly positioned at the end of our Big Bend trip as we needed to travel right through it anyway!

          And it’s Oktoberfest!

          And the weather is still summerlike around here!

          We stayed at a very nice campground, one of the Jellystone Park franchises. Yup, that’s the one, the same as in Yogi and Boo-Boo!

          The place was meticulously clean and there is definitely a family vibe here with some nice activities and outdoor playthings available to use. The pool was sparkling clean, but we did not avail ourselves of that as we were too busy trying German restaurants!

           (And walking the town)

          We decided that the best way to conquer Main Street was to park at one end, walk up as far as we could, then cross and return back down. This tactic was good as almost every shop was interesting enough to poke our heads into and determine if they warranted a full visit or not. Our goal was to be back towards the beginning around lunchtime as we wanted to visit Der Lindenbaum, an authentic German restaurant complete with Helga, our native German accented waitress. This place had a nice Wiener Schnitzel, one of the dishes that Paula wanted to have.

          The other dish she wanted was Rouladen, her favorite.

          The night before, we had located another eatery, Auslander Biergarten,  where we had dinner. Our waiter was not German, but he was a hoot, and we had a ton of fun with him trading stories of all sorts.

          The Main Street has mostly covered sidewalks, which lend to its charm. I can see where these are crucial to this mercantile setting as they provide shade, which if it’s sunny, is somewhat of a necessity in the hotter weather.

          We did not venture out to the wineries as there were way too many to choose from, and Paula wanted to wait for Kaitie, her daughter-in-law, so that she could be there also. I looked to see if there were any dairies around so that I could do some Milk Tastings, but alas, there were none, so I may have to accompany the Winos, so they have a Designated Driver!

Here are some other views of Main Street.

          Back when we were driving through town I noticed a sign that read, WW II National Museum of the Pacific.

          I’m sorry, but I was immediately skeptical of this.

          Why here?

          Was this a ploy of someone’s to capture some tourist trade?

           What could possibly be authentic about a Pacific based museum here in the middle of the Texas desert?

          Be careful Doubting Donny! Don’t make rash judgements!

           Well, it turns out that Fredericksburg is the hometown of Admiral Chester Nimitz of WW II fame. I will not attempt to recite to you all of his attributes, as I could not begin to do them justice. I will tell you this, if you are in any way, a fan of military history and/or great American’s, then look no further and at least do some research and read a bit about him. I promise that you won’t be disappointed!

          As for the museum, drop what you are doing now and book a flight into Austin, let me know when you’re coming, and I will pick you up and drive you to this incredible place. We spent almost four hours there and could have doubled that if we read everything that was there. It truly is a totally complete history of the Pacific Theater of WW II.

          And Admiral Nimitz had a front row seat.

          To show you what kind of person he was, when the Town Fathers wanted to make a museum after the war, he refused to be involved unless it was a museum about all of the men and women that were involved, and it needed to be about their conflicts, not his. He once declined a promotion to Admiral because it would have meant that he would leap-frog over 30 men senior to him.  He thought that this would have not been received well and be a detriment to morale.

          How selfless can one be?

          His men obviously loved him.

          We saved a bit for a return trip, there is an Extension of the Museum called the Battle Zone which was closed for the day by the time that we finished in the main Museum. Along with that and the wineries, we are assured of another fine trip to The Hill Country and Fredericksburg.

          Hope to see you there!