Fredericksburg, TX

With another gorgeous sunny afternoon upon us, we decided to take a short drive north to the German town of Fredericksburg. Main Street is filled with quaint shops, restaurants and a bit of history. Our first stop was Rustlin' Robs.

This "Texas Gourmet Foods" store is filled with sauces, butters, oils, dips, salsas, jellies, jams, marinated veggies and peanut butters. And, oh yeah, fudge. If you can spread it on a cracker or stick a mini pretzel in it, they sell it here, complete with all the crackers and pretzels you need to taste a sample of everything. We did our share of tasting and settled on a couple of jars of salsa. That was the toughest decision of the day!

With our snacking complete, we wandered down Main Street and poked around a few shops. This quilt store had the most interesting, and colorful, display of fabrics on one wall.

The stores had all kinds of interesting things to attract our attention. But, with space at a premium, we've learned to snap pictures instead of buy. This basket of stone hearts was pretty.

In nearly every store we looked, we were reminded that we are in Texas!

With many German restaurants to choose from, selecting our lunch spot was a bit of a challenge. We chose the Auslander Biergarten Restaurant. As soon as Paul saw the word "Biergarten" he made a beeline for the door! We enjoyed a very tasty lunch of authentic German fare, topped off with a "bier", of course.

After lunch, we wandered over to the National Museum of the Pacific War, which is housed in the old Nimitz Hotel. The hotel was the boyhood home of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Fredericksburg's most famous native. Having driven many miles on a Bay Area freeway bearing the five-star Admiral's name, we looked forward to learning more about his hometown and career. We've been told it takes two days to tour the museum. So, we decided to tour the outside exhibits and save the inside for winter day during our next visit. This Memorial Courtyard is surrounded by old walls of cut limestone that now serve as the Memorial Wall.

This is one of several hundreds of plaques along the wall honoring the contributions of individuals, ships and units during the war in the Pacific. Many contain photos and stories about the lives of these heroes. They were quite touching.

From the Memorial Courtyard we stepped into the Garden of Peace, which is a gift from the people of Japan.

Throughout this peaceful place, we found many signs of Spring.

Lots of flowers are blooming in the Hill Country.

Even the Yucca's are in full display.

This sign in one shop window just about summed up this perfect day in Fredericksburg. The only thing we'd add is "bier"!