Outside Fredericksburg: LBJ Ranch and Luckenbach, TX

A real working farm, with no electricity.

Judy and I are back on the wagon..well not really

What a special, special treat to have our good friends Carl and Judy join up with us in Fredericksburg, TX.  We had some wine up town and the next morning headed out to see the LBJ ranch and a working farm.  This was very educational if you were a survivalist sort of person and wanted to learn to live off the grid without refrigeration, electricity, etc.  The farm was staffed by people in period dress and those people actually slaughtered (yeck) the pigs, made the sausage, stored the sausage in lard for a year or more without any refrigeration.
They made their own cream, cheese, etc. and had several chickens on the farm.

The gates were a little tricky.
 Ha! not for an old farm girl.

After the farm we went on down the road to see LBJ's ranch.  I have to say that being in high school in the late 60's did not make him my favorite president, but it's always interesting to see how president's lived.

LBJ actually went to preschool here.   

LBJ Ranch:   I was amazed at what a modest life style they lived on this ranch.  LBJ did not grow up with a lot of money.  Actually, Lady Bird had more of the money, and that was made in radio and TV stations.


LBJ started the Head Start Program

Next stop was the family cemetery.  We saw the headstones for LBJ and Lady Bird (her real first name was Claudia.)  Lady Bird lived on the ranch until she died.   During that time she planned what would happened with their home after death and how the house would be presented.  She stored the 60's style furnishings as she updated the decorating.  After her death, the house was returned to its former late 60's look. I especially liked the yellow formica counter tops in the kitchen No pics of the house inside were allowed.

He had his own landing strip.

LBJ would fly home frequently and did conduct official White House business from the ranch.  He had something like 67 phone lines in the house, three phones or more in each room, 3 TVs in each room so he could watch the news on the three main stations at the same time.  He did have phones in his bathroom.  Lady Bird's formal dinners were often interrupted by his phone calls.  He had a phone by his chair under the dining room table.

This was a fairly simple but nice house.

Pretty view.  I loved this area.

He enjoyed many hours in the pool with his grandchildren.

  Driving around the ranch, you could understand why he wanted to come home so often.

Luckenbach, TX:  Listen to the song cause that's all there is to this place.  It's a place to go with a gang of friends, drink beer and listen to country western music on Friday nights.

This guy was making all the music while we were here.

Fredericksburg, TX

 Downtown Frederiksburg.  This is a lovely old German town that reminded me of Frankenmuth, MI.  Lots of stores and shops, German food, German bakeries (oh no...there goes that diet) and tons of wild flowers.

This place is like English Gardens with a bier garten, snack shop, wine tasting,  ...planting flowers was never that much fun.

Blue bonnets.  

We had a great German lunch here.

more flowers from the Wild Seed Farm

Next was our visit to Enchanted Rock State Park.

Someone loved the trails.

Everyone loved the trails!

We came to a little stream and had to carry the dogs and wade across.  Shoes are going back on.  snakes???  ha ha

this was a huge granite mountain.

We loved this place and I would go back if I could.   Next stop is the LBJ ranch.

Goodbye Mission, TX; Hello San Antonio

Lots of space at Bentsen Palm

We will  miss the dozens of Border Patrol cars that were always along our road. (and their helicopters that flew overhead all night long.)

We are packing up and saying adios to Bentsen Palm.  Off to San Antonio and to enjoy the Texas springtime. 

The Texas Hill Country is one of the prettiest spots we've been too.  First stop, San Antonio.  Now this is a great city.  I could see buying a retirement home around here.  There is so much to do.          

 The Texas Blue Bonnets were blooming all along the highway as we made our way north.

At last...beautiful San Antonio.

I was surprised to learn that these men were not buried at the Alamo.

San Antonio has so much to do.  We checked into our Rv park which was right next to Sea World.  It was a short drive to downtown to enjoy the River walk, Buckhorn Salon, Governor's Residence, churches, burial site of Travis, Crockett and the rest of the Alamo gang.  And, of course, The Alamo.

You can see that the weather was just perfect.

Dining along the river for lunch involved fighting some crowds.  Local area schools were off for spring break.

Dale took a minute to check out the Buckhorn Salon.

The Buckhorn Salon.

Standing in front of the Buckhorn Salon.

 Strolling along the river walk.

Touring the Alamo.  We listened to an excellent historian explain the whole battle.

Gotta love that Davy Crockett, "You can all go to hell and I will go to Texas!"  I guess he was a little irritated that he wasn't re-elected?

After an afternoon or two downtown, we went along the Mission Trail to see the old Spanish missions.  The Spanish taught the locals many things like how to build aqueducts, and how to set up an entire irrigation system along with a lot of skills and crafts.

 

 

Next stop is Texas Hill Country fun in Frederiksburg.   Wine country,  close to Luckenbach country music.  Yee Haaaw saddle up and ride!