Hank – The cold is still here. Rain is in the forecast tonight. So we’re hanging out in Fredericksburg for one more day. We walked to the donut shop and had tea and donuts. Then we crossed the street to a grocery store and picked up a few items. I wanted to check out the Pioneer Museum and Kathy wanted to visit more wineries so we split up after walking into town.

The Pioneer Museum is a collection of old buildings, a couple of which are on their original sites. The Sunday house is interesting. When the German immigrants arrived in the 1840s they were granted land to farm on and a small lot in town. They would build what would be called Sunday houses in town. They were usually one room houses with no water and, even when it became available later, no electricity. The families that owned them lived in the country and used their Sunday houses when they came into town on weekends, especially on Sunday when they came in for church. So the house would be used during the day and rarely for an overnight stay.

The White Oak School was originally 15 miles out of town. The Walton-Smith log cabin was built in 1879 and was disassembled, moved, and rebuilt here. The Arhelger Bathhouse was moved here from its location on East Main Street. Both the Fassel-Roeder House and the Kammlah Homestead are on their original sites. All the buildings contain lots of cool old stuff. I love learning about local history like this.

I walked over to the replica Vereins Kirche (Society Church) located in the Marketplatz. The original Society Church was located in the middle of Main Street and was used by the people of different faiths until they built their own churches. The Society Church felt into disrepair and was eventually town down in 1896. The replica was built and dedicated in 1935.

I found two other fascinating bits of history. There was a group of about 150 Mormons who moved here after their leader rejected the leadership of Brigham Young. Also, there was a treaty negotiated between John Meusebach and the Penateka Comanche. It’s remarkable because neither the state or federal government was involved. It was between the Germans in the Adelsverein and two chiefs in the Comanche tribe. The treaty was never broken.

Fredericksburg factoid: The first letters of the street names intersecting Main and Adams and proceeding southeast spell ALL WELCOME. The first letters of the street names intersecting at Main and Crockett and heading northwest spell COME BACK.

Kathy – So due to the continued cold weather system moving through this area we get another day in paradise, or should I say wine country! 🍷 It was tough, but I took one for the team and bundled up with hat and gloves on and headed out in the cold weather. I wanted to check out more of the downtown area shops and wineries.

Fredericksburg, Texas downtown area is pretty cool. The stores and wine tasting venues are mixed about within all the old storefront buildings. Every building is connected until the block ends so you walk in/out of one shop right to the next. They have lots of great stores that will please everyones taste. You have many choices from clothing and household items to stores with boots, hats, knifes, five and dime store, and of course a whole bunch of stores with tourists items. These all intermixed with the many wineries, restaurants, museums and historical sites. It’s a great town to spend some time in.

Traveling on bicycles limits my purchases because of the added weight so I tend to do more window shopping. But there were a few things I couldn’t live without today. I found a nice little trinket from ‘It’s aGlow’ store and they were kind enough to mail it home for me. I also purchased a few bottles of wine that were pretty yummy. Not sure if you can mail wine home but we are going to take our chances.

While downtown I ran into two of our new lady friends from last night. I enjoyed more time with Kristen, Arenda as we sipped on some great tasting wines together. These are some really nice gals. Maybe they will take me up on my offer to stay at our place in Spokane, Washington then we could drive to Walla Walla, Washington and enjoy wine tasting there.

After our wine tasting the ladies headed back to their hotel. We talked about possibly getting together later in the evening but it didn’t pan out. I continued to walk about downtown checking out all the shops but didn’t make anymore purchases. I did enjoy a few more wine tastings though. Remember they are tastings, just small amounts of wine to try not glasses of wine. I spent almost six hours walking about and tried five wineries, so I did pace myself nicely. 😉

Hank and I met up and hit the local stake house for dinner. Hank went for the ribs and I kept it simple with a grilled pork chop and a wonderful salad. I was happy for the really nice salad bar as our choices are sometimes limited.

Once back in the hotel I called my sister Mary Beth to wish her a happy belated birthday. She is a nurse and was busy on-call for the weekend. We were both tired but still had a good time catching up. Mary Beth is such a great gal and hard worker. I hope she gets a little rest and relaxation time soon.

It was another good day in Fredericksburg. I guess if you have to get stuck in a town for a few days due to the weather, then this is the place to get stuck in. It’s been great, Fredericksburg, but I’m looking forward to better weather tomorrow and hitting the road.

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