The Hill Country of Texas has so many small (and large)
towns within an hour or two that are worth a visit. Below I have highlighted some
of the towns we visited on our swing south and what makes each one interesting.
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| Steve and I in front of the floors of archives at the LBJ Presidential Library |
The focus of our day trip to Austin was the LBJ
Presidential Library which is on the University of Texas campus. We spent four
hours there – with exhibits and videos on three floors including the President’s
Oval office with the original furniture. I really enjoyed the Lady Bird
exhibits with information on her life. Claudia Alta Taylor was nicknamed by her
nursemaid, Alice Tittle, who said she was “as pretty as a ladybird”. Claudia
later chose to be called by Lady Bird. As First Lady she was also a champion of
conservation efforts, and advocated for the creation of Nation Park Service
units, as well as other environmental legislation. After the library we enjoyed
a late lunch at Terry Black’s Barbecue which we rated the best BBQ we had so
far on our trip!
Fredericksburg is a German town with a historic main
street filled with shops, restaurants, art galleries and wineries. We did not
spend much time there, but we did enjoy a delicious German lunch at Altdorf Restaurant.
On the way out of town we also stopped at one of the many wineries, Safari, for
a wine tasting.
New Braunfels and Gruene are towns northeast of San
Antonio and were a half hour drive from our condo in Canyon Lake. The guys
golfed at Landa Park Golf Course twice which gave Vicki and I the opportunity
to explore the area. We enjoyed delicious pastries at Naegelin’s German Bakery
and shopped in downtown New Braunfels at the antique and gift shops.
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| The historic bar in the Gurene Dance Hall |
If you are in this area of Texas do not miss the Gruene
Historic District. Here you can find shopping, dining, and music events in the
original historic buildings. We spent a morning shopping for souvenirs
including Christmas ornaments, Texas hot sauce and pecans. We later brought the
husbands back for lunch at the Gruene River Grill overlooking the river and a
walk through the Gruene Dance Hall, Texas’s oldest continually operating dance
hall. Built in 1878, very little has changed since then. It has a tin roof,
side flaps to open the hall to the fresh air, a cool old bar in the front and a
large outdoor patio area. It hosts concerts throughout the week and many famous
artists have performed. A highlight was meeting friends on a Saturday afternoon
who were in the area for a girls’ weekend.
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| The Alamo in San Antonio |
San Antonio is about an hour south of Canyon Lake. We
visited the Alamo and enjoyed walking through the church which was originally a
Spanish mission from 1755 to 1793. It played a vital role in the 1836 Battle of
the Alamo, and later became a U.S. Army Quartermaster Depot warehouse. Surrounding
the Alamo Church is a Calvary Courtyard with statues of people who played prominent
roles in the wars, a large gift shop and beautiful grounds and gardens. We also took the hop-on hop-off bus tour which provided a tour of the areas around the
Alamo, as well as a boat tour on the river. The boat guide was great
providing us with lots of history and stories about San Antonio and the
Riverwalk. He told us about the Esquire bar which opened in 1933 right after
prohibition ended. It had the longest continuous wooden bar in the city. Of
course, we had to have a drink on the balcony overlooking the river.
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| At Magnolia - the church and silos |
Waco – Of course everything Magnolia was what I was
most interested in, but Waco is also the birthplace of Dr. Pepper (with a
museum) and is home to the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame,
and the Waco Mammoth National Monument. We wandered through the shops at the
Magnolia Market, had coffee and lavender donut holes, hit a few balls at the
whiffle ball field, and bought souvenirs. It was totally lovely, other than me
swinging too hard at a whiffle ball and landing on my back in pea gravel - ouch!!
Just a few scratches and I was fine – LOL! We could not get reservations at
Magnolia Table, so mid-afternoon we took a chance and drove to the restaurant,
were seated immediately and had a late lunch. The menu is limited, and our food
was good, but nothing stellar. It was still fun to eat there! Before leaving
town, we bought a variety pack of cupcakes at the Silo Baking Co and enjoyed
those!
Wimberly is a cute small town with shops, breweries, wineries,
and restaurants – and lots of people on a weekend day. We found weekdays to be
much quieter and more pleasant wherever we went in the Hill Country. Wimberly also has beautiful spring-fed swimming
holes in or near town. We had a picnic lunch at Blue Hole Regional Park along
Cypress Creek. It is a beautiful park with large bald cypress trees (they can
live up to 600 years) lining the river and framed by a rock wall on the other
side. In the summer Cypress Creek is a popular swimming location.
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| The LBJ Texas White House |
LBJ National and State Historic Sites – not a town,
but I must mention the LBJ parks we visited. We learned more about Lyndon B.
Johnson in our time in Texas than we ever imagined! The National Site is in Johnson
City and includes
the old white house where LBJ lived when he was a child and the Johnson
settlement, restored structures from the 1800’s including a cabin and barns. The
State Historical Site is in Stonewall, and there you can obtain a permit
to drive through the LBJ ranch. It is still a working ranch with cattle, an
airstrip where LBJ flew in as President, the hanger which is now the Visitors
Center and the Texas White House where LBJ hosted many dignitaries.
Unfortunately, we could not enter the house because it is structurally unsound
and being renovated. Additions were made over the years, and a hot tub was
added to the second floor, but the old house could not support those additions.
We were surprised at the variety of geography, towns, and
activities in the Texas Hill Country. We
enjoyed our time and would go back to see other areas of the state in the
future. If you have spent time in Texas, what did you enjoy most?
