The giant and I rarely go on vacations. We enjoy the time away, but we both prefer spending our money on other things, or saving for our future. Since vacationing is a rare occurrence for us, we get REALLY excited when we get to go somewhere fun.
Last month, we went with the giant's parents to Fredericksburg, Texas. I have never been to that part of Texas, so I was really excited. The giant's parents graciously paid for our hotel room for the stay as a birthday gift to the two of us (our birthdays are one month apart). We were also able to carpool down there, saving on gas.
The Thursday before my birthday, the giant and I worked until noon. We decided to take off work early and get the driving out of the way (it was a 7 hour drive) so that we could have all day Friday to begin our vacation. The drive down was BORING. I took my iPad so I could read, but there were several times I was so anxious to get out of the car that I couldn't focus. When we FINALLY got to Fredericksburg, we dropped our things off at the hotel and went to a German restaurant for dinner. After we ate dinner, we walked around downtown Fredericksburg to scope out anything we wanted to do during our stay. Since our hotel wasn't far from downtown, Jeremy and I walked back to stretch our legs after the long ride.
Fredericksburg is in a part of Texas known as Texas Hill Country. People have discovered the soil in this area is excellent for growing vineyards. The giant's father had a goal to hit EVERY winery in the area before we came home. Luckily we were able to avoid that (we only hit ALMOST every winery).
Since I'm not a drinker, I mostly took pictures of the wineries. I got especially excited when a winery had animals for me to photograph/play with.
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| Cows next to the first winery we went to |
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| Guineas |
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| One of the most colorful roosters I have ever seen! |
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| This poor girl got shaved, so she looked a little silly |
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| It was hot, so the dogs were laying on the cement trying to cool off |
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| The same rooster |
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| Kitty that was napping on people that were sitting at the winery |
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| Wild jackrabbit outside the last winery we went to (this was as close as I got) |
We were able to meet up with some friends of the giant's parents that he has known most of his life. They live not far from the area, so we got to catch up with them and their families.
One set of friends took us to
The Salt Lick on Sunday for lunch. This was genuinely the best barbecue I have ever tasted. If you are ever in the area, TRY IT! You won't regret it. The giant bought their
cookbook so we can try to replicate some of their recipes.
We tried several other restaurants in the area, but The Salt Lick is the only one that was truly memorable for the taste of the food. There is a bat cave near Fredericksburg that we wanted to see, but it was too early for bats. So, we ate at the
Alamo Springs Cafe on Friday. We were told the burgers were great and it wasn't far from the bat cave. The burgers turned out decent, but we got to see someone try the Jefe challenge - 6 beef patties, 6 slices of cheese, and a large order of fries, which must be consumed in 30 minutes or less, with a 15 minute wait period at the table after you finished. We didn't see him finish, but at the rate he was going, I doubt he did.
The thing I was most excited about, other than The Salt Lick, was
Der Kuchen Laden. It was similar to Williams-Sonoma, but more affordable. And it was HUGE. The giant and I went in there while others were enjoying some beer at a brewery. We thought we were in there for 20 minutes, but it was closer to an hour. I found a cute olive oil bottle and a funny cat towel for the kitchen. I definitely could have spend $1,000 in there!
On Saturday, before we hit wineries, we went to the
National Museum of the Pacific War. Outside of the museum is a courtyard covered with metal plaques that commemorate soldiers, ships, and planes that fought in the war. I found the plaque for the U.S.S. Oklahoma, so of course I took a picture.
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| "Veterans Walk of Honor - Admiral Nimitz Museum" |
There were pillars honoring the ten consecutive presidents that served in World War II. I didn't get a picture of each pillar, but this is the sign telling what is being commemorated.
They also had some cool stuff sitting outside the museum.
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| Torpedo housing (way bigger than I thought it would be!) |
There were too many words to read for my liking, but the giant really enjoyed it, and I got some cool pictures.
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| Atomic bomb (I thought this thing would fill a huge room. Not so much.) |
I even got lucky enough to drive through a
sculpture garden and visit a gallery (I was honestly surprised anyone else was willing to do this). I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that enjoyed it.
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| What a view! |
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| Not a sculpture, but this tree was really cool |
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| The drum actually worked! |
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| The only picture of the art inside the gallery I got |
While the rest of the gang recovered from tasting wine all day, the giant's mom and I walked through some shops downtown. There was a wide variety of stores, and they covered a wide variety of prices. We went into an art gallery that had a painting for sale for $20,000! Needless to say we walked out of there pretty fast. We did find a candy store that had chocolate covered bacon, chocolate covered jalapenos, and tons of fudge. We got 6 pieces of fudge to share, and got the guys the jalapeno and bacon. No one was a fan of the jalapeno or the bacon, but the fudge was excellent.
On Sunday, we went to
Twisted X Brewery. I got some pictures of a cool tree they have outside that has different carvings in it. This is the only place I got a picture of the giant and me.
I don't remember what day we went here, but the
Fat Ass Ranch and Winery was definitely the most interesting winery we went to. I liked it enough to get a magnet.
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| "Put Your Butts Right Here" |
It was so nice to get to go somewhere fun, and we really enjoyed getting to see friends we don't see very often. We came back on Monday, the day before my birthday, so we got a full three days of vacation time in.
Here are some random pictures I took on the trip:
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| Cacti everywhere! |
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| Baby grapes! |
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| Huge agave plant |
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| Baby peaches! |
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| Lavender farm |
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| Lavender farm |
