Fredericksburg

We headed to a small town west of Austin this weekend, Fredericksburg. It's a German town known for its shops, wineries and breweries.

Jeff went hiking with our friends Erik and Matt at Enchanted Rock. Clearly, in my current state (and my extreme distaste for all things athletic and sweaty), I opted out of the hike. Luckily, Christa was also not interested in the hike, so we spent the morning and early afternoon browsing the shops in town and having lunch. It was HOT, hitting almost 100 degrees that day, but we managed.

Christa introduced me to a new store, Rustlin' Rob's. This place was amazing! It's full of all kinds of sauces, marinades, jellies, jams, dip mixes, salad dressings, etc. and you can sample everything in the store before you buy. She was looking for gifts for her dad, and I was the lucky taste tester for things she didn't like but knew he would. Tasty. :)

After we were done shopping, we went to lunch at the Fredericksburg Herb Farm (or to me, the Burger Herb Farm - ha - inside joke for Christa). The food here was excellent, and very fresh. They also have a day spa so I'll have to go back and visit that some other time.

We then met up with the guys at the hotel, the Sunday House Inn. Umm.....this was ok. Not the greatest place, but not the worst either. Lots of things were booked, so Erik did a good job finding us a hotel in the downtown area so we could walk. It was clean (mostly), and the rooms were huge. Next time, I'll stay next door at the newer Hampton Inn.

I then got the privilege of driving everyone to a couple of wineries (ah, the joys of being the pregnant lady). We first visited Becker Vineyards which has a beautiful property and an onsite lavender farm. I did get a couple of sips of some of Jeff's wine tastings, and wasn't particularly overwhelmed by any of them. The second vineyard we went to was Torre di Pietra, which I liked much better than Becker. I got to taste one of their white wines (again, just sips off of Christa's, pregnancy police) called Dirty Girl. Inexpensive, but good! The property was again beautiful, and they had live music.

After that vineyard, we headed back to town, parked at the hotel and headed to Lincoln St., a wine bar that Jeff and I had visited before our wedding. It's a cute little house with a great wine selection.

Dinner was at Fredericksburg Brewing Company, and then we went to the Silver Creek for more drinks/music. I hit a wall about 10pm after enduring the heat and walking around all day, and Jeff was pooped from his hike that morning, so we headed back to the hotel for some sleep.

Sunday morning, no food to be found in Fredericksburg! Apparently they neglect to realize that in a tourist town, you really should have breakfast options available on a Sunday morning. We headed back to Austin and stopped along the way in Dripping Springs for brunch at Nutty Brown Cafe. It was a zoo, thanks to Mother's Day, but Matt and Jeff braved the buffet line twice. Once was enough for me, I hate waiting in lines!

I'll post some pics Jeff (aka Ansel Adams) took from Enchanted Rock once I download them.