» Fredericksburg

Weekend before Xmas proves ok!

Published on December 22, 2009 by Katya in the category out and about | 1 Comment

This is one of the first weekends we have actually stayed put. We don’t usually stay anywhere longer than a week before we are rushing off to the next unknown location, spending our weekends on the road and parking in Walmarts.

We made it to Central Time (nice to sleep in a bit before work), we made it to a state I’ve never been to and we were both tired of pouring all our money into the next jump east so we decided to stay a while and slow the trip down. The first thing we’ve learned about the south so far is that is is NOT warm in the winters. Apparently this is an “Arizona. California and Florida thing” and only small parts of those states as well. We have had our heat on pretty much every day all day and night since we ran out of propane and thought we would freeze to death a few weeks ago. Luckily it only gets down to about 30 here at night and up to 65 during the day – with a breeze that says “keep your damn hoody on outsider”.

This Saturday we got up at the crack of noon and took to the town. Our first stop Denny’s for garden burgers, probably the only restaurant in town with those, then the Cemetery. I thought… well, assumed it would be old and awesome – therefore photogenic – but it wasn’t, so we hung out long enough to find a smelly orange berry fruit – which turned out to be a Kumquat (the most stupidly named fruit ever). I didn’t eat it but if I see more I may.

Brougham at the Cemetery

Brougham at the Cemetery

We then looked for a post office, being lied to horribly by google maps (on iphone) we walked around downtown a bit looking for it when we finally found a blue box and dumped our Christmas cards in it – with Edgar Allen Poe stamps haha.

Then the Gun Show. I found out about that by looking up “Fredericksburg Texas Christmas” in an effort to find out why they spend so much on their Christmas decorations – like maybe they hold a fair, parade… party? I found the official Fredericksburg website and found it is the home of Lady Bird  and possibly Lyndon B Johnson and they have a holiday party at his house. They also had an events calender with the Gun Show listed directly next to that on the same day. Rather than rub elbows with the local elite, we decided to see what Texan gun enthusiasts were like and boy, it was…. something.

We got there late so they only charged us a single fare, $5 and I think it was worth it. It was the smallest gun show I’ve been to (I used to do security at the Portland Expo Center Gun Show) but it did not disappoint. One of the first tables we came to was a hate filled cesspool of “kill liberals, kill cats and obama is a terrorist” stickers next to books about surviving the coming apocalypse, killing your enemies and gun defense for women carrying babies.

I lost almost all my photos of the gun show today when my iPhone crashed and I didn’t back them up lately. Luckily I uploaded a couple to facebook – though not the most offensive.

Saturday, while playing with our tomtom GPS, I found out we were really close to some interesting sounding places. Balancing Rock (which we never found), Pilar Rock (which we traded for a movie) and the Cave Without a Name.

Hilmar Hung street, where we got lost looking for a balancing rock. Notice the measure stick in the background? Notice that it says 5 feet ABOVE the road – fun with flooding!

We drove about 56 miles without first researching much aside from their hours of operation. When we arrived we found they charged $15 a person and tours only. After a round trip of over 100 miles, gas was enough of a price so the weekend began playing makeup for all the weekends we.. well.. spent lots of money on gas driving.. hmm.We had somehow imagined the cave would be free and without a tour… now we know for sure that anything people can make money off of, they will.

Anyway, we went. It was pretty cool. It looked more to me like a cave people should live in than one people should tour. I imagined it succeeding greatly as a restaurant for people who would love to eat in caves, like me. There were only 4 people on the tour, the other, a Chinese couple from Houston who were twice asked how and why they came from China – both having been born and raised in Texas, this was a little odd and funny to watch. People weren’t rude to them just really curious.

I managed to take some photos at iso 1600 with my digital, didn’t even bother bringing film because of the lack of light (and I only have 50 and 100 speed film). The walls look like parts of mud monsters and had a certain glitter to them, apparently having a crystal content or some kind – to which the guy in the other couple stated “looks like Edward”. I tried so hard not to bust up laughing.

white grapes at the cave without a name

white grapes at the cave without a name

All in all the tour was a little less perilous than I wanted. We weren’t allowed into the section where they dive under water in the cave to explore it. Apparently there is 3 miles of cave so far but people only get to see about 1/4 of a mile of smooth trail, floor and concrete stairs.

After the cave we were going to head to Pillar Rock outside Kerrville but after seeing photos on Wikipedia, we decided it was boring. Instead we went to see Avatar in 3D! It was nearly a 3 hour movie but totally worth it. The graphics were not the slightest bit annoying or unrealistic – and while in 3D you really started to feel like everything about the world was completely possible and after a while, normal. It was a pretty big disappointment leaving the theater and coming back to earth – seeing trees that don’t glow and animals that cant swallow your head. I was quickly reminded after the film where we were when a kid behind us said “damn treehuggers”, repeating a statement from the military in the film who were set on stealing the planet’s resources. I suppose if you hunt and every member of your family is in the military, you may take the military side in the film but I think the main purpose of the plot was to attempt to visually explain the importance of appreciating your resources and the destructive results of stealing from – destroying and remaining ignorant about other cultures. Also understanding your right to abuse the environment, especially for something so temporary as money. Anyway, great film! See it! (in 3D if possible).

Fredericksburg Texas for Christmas

Published on December 21, 2009 by Katya in the category RV life, RV Parks, travel | Leave a comment

This is our second week in Fredericksburg. We ended up here sort of by accident – while on the way to Spring Branch Texas we were looking for somewhere to eat. I looked up the next town’s selection of food on my Urban Spoon app on my iPhone and found a strange collection of German restaurants and pubs. Curious, I looked up more info on the town in Wikipedia and found it was a historically German town and one very hooked on its heritage. When we drove through downtown we were greeted by actual signs of life. Every town in Texas before Fredericksburg lacked a certain something – somethings like edible food, movie theaters, people outside of their cars and a at least some modernity – something as nerds we haven’t let go of yet.

We got into town relatively early considering our usual arrival time in of 3am – rolling into a super cheap RV park at 8pm was some kind of miracle. We wanted a place near the center of town to get a chance to do something, anything, during the week. It would be the first time we were near anything at all really. A part of me just wanted to be able to walk to a store or ride my bike to a bar after spending the last couple months in the boondocks. Of the 2 closest to the center of town, Hill County RV Park was the cheapest at only $20 a night or $100 a week. It was almost as cheap as some of the non-hookup sites at state parks and featured free wifi, cable TV and the usual hookups. They even had a gray/black water hookup unlike all the parks so far. For everyone who doesn’t know what gray water is (and I barely know), its the water from your sink and shower, basically anything but your toilet. Black Water is toilet water + the rest – anything you should be embarrassed about. We still don’t use our toilet and don’t plan on it. There is a bathroom with a shower about 40 feet from the RV and as usual we are some of the only people using it so it’s not bad.

Since this is technically the first RV park we have stayed at (everything else having been state parks or parking lots) we were skeptical about sharing space so closely with so many people. Turns out people tend to leave you alone, especially if you leave them alone or look different. They have a rec room we haven’t used for anything yet. It has a TV, books and 2 computers with internet. They are planning a Christmas potluck – probably consisting of a few of the many full time residents at the park. There’s are 64 spots here and less than half of them every seem to get new people in them. Most of the people seem older, many working locally and all of them spending most of their time inside.

Fredericksburg has so far proven interesting enough to keep us here 2 weeks. After we were here a couple days we took a bike ride into town to find a place to get a drink. The highway is the only way into town from where we are and it’s definitely not meant for bikes. It was already dark, naturally (since it gets dark at 5:30) and we hadn’t made the attempt in daylight to get a feel for it. People travel down the highway at about 50 to 70mph, most any intention of giving us any space. I can ride my bike in the dirt if I have to but Ross’s bike has small road tires that pop if you look at them wrong. We had to share a headlight and tail light, me in the back with the flashing red – and probably the only thing that kept us form being smothered. The ride into town is about 2 miles up a slight hill, which wouldn’t have been a problem if I had ridden a bike more than once in the last 3 years. About half way there we found a place called Mamacitas and stopped for something to eat. I thought it was locally owned but we were immediately greeted by a Starbucks inside (the first in Texas) and a possible sighting of a Bush family member (this is a leaping guess, but he looked like Bush). After some soggy spinach on tortillas and cheese we headed off to find another place to grab a drink – someplace Texan this time.

We rode downtown with the expectations that a weeknight would not keep Texans out of the bars but found only a completely dead downtown. All the bars and restaurants on main street were closed and it was only 8pm. We quickly scoured the annals of our iPhones in search of nearby late night beverage sales and came up with Buck O’Brians – an “Irish bar” who was close and open. We walked in to a bar full of cowboys and hunters listening to country music I haven’t heard since I was 12 in Montana and my mom worked in bar. The ride home was cold but at least downhill and we didn’t go out again til this weekend.

Xmas obsessed Fredericksburg:

Santa-Garlic in Fredricksburg Texas

Santa-Garlic in Fredricksburg Texas

santa on crutches

santa on crutches

Spunky Monkey and the Xmas dog

Spunky Monkey and the Xmas dog

We will be here until Christmas and 2 days after. We don’t expect to do much on, around or after Christmas but I guess that all depends on our willingness to face the highway, pack up and drive somewhere or socialize. I’m sure something will drag us out before then.

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube