‘Everything you could want from Texas’
“Everything you could possibly want from Texas is right here,” says Chris Anderson. cover fields, prairies and roadsides like an electric constellation. songs.
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FREDERICKSBURG, Texas Sharing his horizon-to-horizon view from atop Enchanted Rock in the heavenly Hill Country, I can certainly “set with that” as the cowboys say.
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This part of Texas around the little town of Fredericksburg, about 70 miles north of San Antonio, annually draws millions of visitors, primarily in the spring when Indian paintbrushes, Texas bluebonnets and a dozen other prismatic wildflowers Central Texas also contains top-notch art galleries, idyllic hike and bike trails, about 40 wineries and the kind of giant Texas night sky that launches a thousand country love
Mountain of granite
Anderson is a volunteer guide and naturalist at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. About a billion years ago, nature performed quite a feat in constructing this 400-foot, 640-acre exfoliation dome of pink granite. It’s the second largest exfoliation dome in the United States, behind Stone Mountain in Georgia.
There was no eruption. This dome formed when a large pool of volcanic magma was pushed to the surface and cooled, forming a mini-mountain.
The hike straight up is a tall order for a couch potato, but the view from the top is well worth the sweat. Cumulus clouds roll shadows over pink and purple hills as well as valleys of Texas hickory, blackjack oak and honey mesquite.
Enchanted Rock holds some interesting treasures, like purple-flowering giant spiderwort that grows only here in the granite’s fissures, or nearly translucent freshwater fairy shrimp that eke out a life high atop the rock in pocketsized vernal pools that come and go with the weather.
“The Indians had plenty of stories about this place,” said Anderson, explaining how Native Americans believed souls of the dead would come here to wander about for a while.
Wildflower wonderland
“We pray for rain, pray for sun, pray there’s no hail. I’ll never marry another farmer,” jokes Marilyn Thomas, coowner with husband John of Wildseed Farms.
In truth the couple’s farm life has gone quite well. Wildseed Farms is the nation’s largest working wildflower farm and does more than $4 million in sales annually. The business, begun in 1983, sells seeds worldwide.
John Thomas says 41 varieties of wildflowers are produced on the 217 acres here and another 800 acres in Colorado County west of Houston.
A visit is a step into the Emerald City of wildflowers with thousands of poppies, daisies and sunflowers in all shapes, sizes and bright colors splashing out in every direction. Nearly onehalf million visitors arrive annually not only to walk about and photograph the floral spectacle, but also to visit the winery, food area and expansive gift shop on site.
The extravaganza of these wildflowers growing at will along the highways of central Texas is unrivaled, but checking out the floral display at purely beautiful Wildseed Farms is one glorious afternoon.
Downtown Fredericksburg
Baron Otfried Hans von Meusebach founded Fredericksburg in 1846 with visions of making it a home for a “Noble Society” of German liberals escaping unfavorable conditions at home.
The Deutschlandic origin gives the town an interesting twist. Restaurants like Der Lindenbaum offer schnitzels and sauerbraten just a block or so from a place like Tubby’s Ice House with a half dozen taco offerings on the menu and an unbelievable charcoal lemonade paleta for dessert. Sometimes Tex Mex and German entrees grace menus at the same restaurant.
Mark Wieser tells of selling peaches from his German parents’ orchard as a child. He started Das Peach Haus as a roadside fruit stand, selling peaches next to the orchard. Today Fischer and Wieser, the company he founded, has become Texas’ top gourmet food producer with global clientele. The variety of award-winning products stretches from roasted raspberry chipotle sauce to blood orange cinnamon preserves.
The Pioneer Museum Complex provides insight into Fredericksburg’s German beginnings. In a switch from traditional life in Germany, where many resided in town but had farms or gardens in the country, the pioneers here often lived on their country farms and came in town on weekends to go to church. They had smaller in-town homes like the Weber Sunday House preserved on the complex site.
Although Fredericksburg’s population is just north of 10,000, the emphasis on tourism provides some big city venues. The many artists featured at the 20-plus galleries downtown on or near Main Street, such as InSight Gallery and Gallery 330, have gained international acclaim.
Of the 150 specialty shops, you’ll find exactly zero chain stores. Jewelry, clothing and accessories all have a Texas flair. L.M. Easterling Boot Company sells the real-deal, custom-fitted cowboy footwear.
Despite the town’s diminutive size, Fredericksburg has more than 2,500 guest accommodations. In addition to hotels and motels, many bed-andbreakfast inns and guesthouses provide comfortable options.
Fredericksburg Herb Farm offers stylish “Sunday House” cottages in addition to a top-notch spa and the Farm Haus Bistro restaurant.
Another option is the Hangar Hotel, located on the side of a small airfield. It’s designed to look like a World War II plane hangar on the outside with comfortable rooms inside. Nothing like sipping a Lone Star beer on the balcony and watching the planes land and take off.
Plenty of history
After President Lyndon Baines Johnson had his second heart attack, his wife, Lady Bird, decided he needed more exercise and had a pool built in the backyard of their Texas ranch home.
Lady Bird swam, but LBJ, a workaholic who seldom slept, could be spotted on an air mattress with a phone in his ear run off a 50-foot cord from the house. The president had dozens of phones at the ranch, including one he carried with him on inspections of the ranch, that he could plug into jacks hidden on various fence posts along the way.
A tour of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park provides such stories of our nation’s 36th president. He came and went from the ranch along the Pedernales River many times during his presidency on a plane about half the size of Air Force One that was nicknamed Air Force One Half. The plane now sits in the front yard.
Fredericksburg was home to Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander of the Pacific fleet during World War II. His statue stands proudly before the National Museum of the Pacific War, that has an annual $4.4 million budget and rivals any war museum in or outside of Washington D.C.
The 33,000 foot exhibition space holds more than 900 artifacts including tanks, personnel carriers and airplanes. One exhibit displays a Stuart tank with a shell hole through the front and across the viewing hall is the cannon that made the hole. A black Japanese submarine grounded during the country’s attack on Pearl Harbor has a long room to itself.