April 2018

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Fredericksburg Public Library – isn’t it a peach? Coincidentally, they are rather famous for their peaches, but we were a bit early for harvest, sigh.

Main Street is lined with charming buildings, many of them erected with Austin stone, which I LOVE. The original settlement, as you might have guessed from the name, was German, and named after King Frederick of Prussia (where my Sohn ancestors hail from). In keeping with this heritage, we noshed on some uber-tasty German cuisine at the aptly named Old German Bakery and Restaurant. We were not disappointed!

I don’t know if it is actually true, but this look, to my eye, is quintessentially Southern.

And on to the namesake town of one of the best country songs, EVER, Luckenbach, Texas. Juniper made acquaintance with one of the very few actual residents.

Oh boy, if ever I decide to return to truly greener pastures, I am high tailing it to Texas Hill Country. I never expected to be so smitten with this rolling, rollicking landscape, but boy howdy is it something, with every manner of flower and tree growing with abandon. Beautiful!

The San Antonio River Walk – my first glimpse since I was a babe of four.

Star jasmine, which took a bit of coaxing to grow in pots on our Portland patio positively thrives here, winding wildly amongst trees to massive hedges, some fifty feet in length. The scent and memory was positively intoxicating.

Tower of Life

Fine adobe and Guadalupe niche at La Villita

The wind can be whipping wildly and the streets crowded and cacophonous, but descend the stairs to the River Walk and all is calm, lush, and contemplative.

Torch of Friendship

Remember the Alamo has NO basement.

Emily Morgan Hotel

Travis Park United Methodist Church

More River Walking

Bexar County Courthouse

San Fernando Cathedral

It’s a year-round fiesta inside Mi Tierra. So cheerful!

We enjoyed  muy delicioso hot chocolate and pastries and service as sweet and wondrous as the decor.

Photo-bomb!

He makes my heart SO happy.

We didn’t try the Miller Bar-B-Q, but the building sure was fine.

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Our Marfa digs: El Cosmico

Is it glamping if the toilet is 100 feet away?

Fab BBQ and beautiful art at Convenience West

E A S T

As they fly…

Must have: yellow rose of Texas

We enjoyed the best margaritas of our trip and super service at the Hotel Paisano. The eats weren’t too shabby, either.

Non-vacation related, but SUPER important – ask for your beverages without a straw, even though they might give you one anyway. The United States uses 500 million straws PER DAY, enough to fill Yankee Stadium nine times every year. Say whaaat? If you’re feeling even more bold, try giving up single-use plastics altogether, as they are the largest source of debris in the ocean. The hubster and I avoid as much plastic packaging as possible, and bring our own cups, carryout containers, and utensils to restaurants that use plastic or styrofoam (we keep them in the car with our shopping baskets). It’s so easy to do! It’s also a great way to be remembered by your server. You’re the people who bring a container for PIE! You want the coconut, right?

So long, Marfa!

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Got up and out before the sun to get a jump on this year’s road trip south to Texas! We stopped at my favorite Las Vegas and filled ourselves with happy at Charlie’s Spic and Span. The breakfast burrito for the hubster and stuffed sopapilla (Stuffy) for me. Egads, peeps, they know how to do breakfast RIGHT.

We spent our first night in Roswell and made ourselves comfortable with a little Fixer Upper and a tour of buildings past. Just in case you were wondering, there was no contact with extra-terrestrials. Sad face.

Side tracked in Carlsbad…

Cloud wave

Guadalupe Peak – the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet.

This used to be ocean…

Favorite Traveling Companions

Wind blown ear tips, so cute!

Van Horn

Marfa, our first destination in Texas. One old association, James Dean, on whom I had a very serious high school crush and bedroom walls plastered with his image. He filmed Giant, along with Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson, on a nearby ranch, waaay back in the day. One new association, about which I have read countless times, the Prada Marfa art installation by Elmgreen and Dragset.

I made my dress and like the crooked reflection of my legs in the plexiglass. If you look carefully, you can see the hubster patiently waiting for me to get the shot. The man is a gem of gems.

Drone, scanning the landscape for interlopers. Marfa is some sixty miles from the border, yet, according to the Patrolman we met on our travels, still sees a fairly steady number of migrants. I have mixed feelings about this. Of course, I would love for everyone to arrive via the proper channels, but one of my own kin arrived illegally via a barrel hidden on a steamship, desperate for a better life. It makes it harder to find fault.

More Marfa tomorrow!

Simple Life

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter… to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life.

John Burroughs

First

Nothing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. I answer you that there must be time. First let it blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

Epictetus

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