Hill Country

 After leaving White Sands, we  headed toward the Texas Hill Country. We stopped overnight in Ft. Stockton before arriving at Ft. Sam Houston RV Park in San Antonio. 

Harold had never seen either the Riverwalk or the Alamo. I had had my sights set on seeing the Christmas lights along the Riverwalk after visiting Opryland last year. We enjoyed our walk, ate at a biergarten restaurant and took the narrated  35-minute boat ride at night. I have to say Opryland has far more lights. 

The Alamo

Riverwalk

From San Antonio we headed to La Hacienda RV Resort in Austin. Harold has been itching to go to Franklin's BBQ since...well, for quite some time. With Covid restrictions, we had to preorder our barbecue and arrive at a scheduled pick up time. Harold was wanting the full experience and was somewhat disappointed that he didn't have to go stand in line at 6:00 a.m. I was fine with the preorder process. 

Bring on the brisket

We also drove out to Lexington for Snow's BBQ. Harold had called, and they said they were open. So we drove the hour and a half to get there, arriving at an oddly empty premises. We wandered around, used the thankfully unlocked bathrooms, and finally spotted the closed sign. We're not sure who Harold called, but it wasn't Snow's. As we were headed to the car, Mr. Bexley came out. He was probably wondering what we were doing. The next thing I know, we're headed to the storage area and Harold is shelling out money for a vacuum-packed brisket. 

Brisket without the wait

Dad thought we ought to go to Fredericksburg and Luckenbach, and he mentioned the Cowboy Church on Sundays. Well, wouldn't you know it, Austin was under a winter weather advisory the Sunday we were there. So we opted to worship online with my brother-in-law, Allen Lenker, of Summerdean Church of the Brethren. 

Sunday snowfall

We did head out to Luckenbach and Fredericksburg on Monday after the weather cleared up. Luckenbach was pretty quiet - and muddy. It looked like it would be a fun place to hang out on a summer day. 

They'll let anyone on stage

In Fredericksburg we were delighted to see a giant Christmas pyramid. I had brought a pyramid back from Germany for my parents years ago. I like them.  There was plenty of shopping in town if one so desired. Some of the buildings displayed neat architecture.

Unbeknownst to us, Fredericksburg is right in the middle of Texas wine country. We were astonished at the number of wineries. We also noted the occasional brewery or distillery along with a peach stand or two. Our wine-drinking friends could probably spend a couple of months in the area and still not hit all the wineries. 

The hill country area is pretty, but we'll be glad to escape to less crowded roadways. There are a lot of Texans, and they drive fast. You got to watch for those toll roads too. 

Meep Meep!