Fredericksburg

Last week, Wes and I celebrated our fourth anniversary with a trip to Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg was founded by German settlers in 1846 and still maintains a lot of German character. It is also the birthplace of Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Forces in World War II. The National Museum of the Pacific War is in Fredericksburg, despite the considerable distance from the Pacific.

We started our time in Fredericksburg with dinner at one of the many German restaurants. We had schnitzel and sausage in the beer garden at Altdorf.

After dinner, we went to see the bat colony at Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area. It was fun to see the swarm of bats head off into the sky. We did not realize how popular the bat watching would be - the lower viewing deck had sold out (it holds about 70 people) and the upper deck was pretty full. The next day, we saw this news story on the website of one of the Houston news stations.

On the way back into town, we passed by an interesting scene. This is the first time I have ever seen sheep-emus! I did not see them in action, but I am sure they are much more impressive than sheepdogs or even Babe the sheep-pig.


The rest of our time in Frederickburg, we explored the various shops and restaurants on Main Street. It is a cute shopping area where they have maintained many of the historic buildings. One of my favorite ones was a kitchenware shop in the building that once housed the hospital. They used the small rooms and passageways very effectively.


We tried several beers at the Fredericksburg Brewery and several wines at the Fredericksburg Winery.

We loved the German influence and local history that we found in Fredericksburg. Unfortunately, sometimes authenticity is sacrificed for the sake of commercialism and things break down, such as this store we saw on Main Street:

"Auer Haus" Home Furnishings

On our way out of town, we stopped in for tastings at two wineries, Torre di Pietra and Pedernales Cellars. We enjoyed both stops, but would recommend Pedernales Cellars over Torre di Pietra because the wine was much tastier.

Enchanted Rock

While we were spending the last weekend in Fredericksburg, Wes and I spent the morning hiking at Enchanted Rock. The weather was not too hot, considering it is Texas in August. We had a great time.

We started out with a hike up to the peak. On the way we met a friendly doe.
View from the top.
Geological marker at the peak.



We didn't do the calculation, but we're pretty sure this mountain holds enough granite to make counter tops for every home in China.We found some shade in a cave:


We hiked around the loop trail after we finished with the peak.

We <3 New York!

In December, Wes had some business meetings in New Jersey so we made a long weekend of it and spent some time in New York. It was Wes' first trip there and we had a great time.

We spent some time at the Met

From New York Dec 08

From New York Dec 08

Then, we walked around Central Park for a while.

From New York Dec 08

We flocked with the other tourists to Rockefeller Center

From New York Dec 08

We had some great views of the city from Top of the Rock - we timed it just right to watch the sunset.

From New York Dec 08

From New York Dec 08

From New York Dec 08

Our Broadway show of choice for the weekend was Spamalot - very entertaining.

From New York Dec 08

On our last day in town, we took a harbor tour and were lucky to have great weather.

From New York Dec 08

From New York Dec 08

Just before we left town, Wes met the Rock.

From New York Dec 08

Hawaii Part II

Here are just a few more pictures from our trip to Hawaii - these are all from our time on the Big Island. The volcano was very impressive, as was all of the scenery that we saw on our drive around the island.