Back in the Great State of Texas

We made it to Texas October 29, 2022. It feels so good to be back. Hubby took some time off and we stayed at my dad and Connie's place in a small town by the name of Iraan. This small town came into existence after the discovery of oil on the nearby Ira G. Yates ranch in 1926. Iraan was named for Ira and Ann Yates in a contest that offered a town lot as a prize. From the property it takes about 10 minutes to drive to town. You have to be sure you have enough supplies for the weekend, because about noon on Saturday the town shuts down and doesn't reopen until Monday. Not the grocery store or the gas station, just other businesses. 

The property.

Our site for a couple of days.

Mowing also happened.

Look at those clouds.

On our drive to look over the property.

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:8 (NASB). 

I made sure we didn't have to go to town to go grocery shopping, we did that in Carlsbad. We did make a trip to the Dollar General and pick up things that were needed in the house. We only slept in the rig, so we were in a little bigger home than ours. We went into town on Monday so that we could buy deer corn and alfalfa. We worked on the deer feeders and alfalfa feeders. Hubby put out a game camera and we were able to see a raccoon making its way to the pond, deer around the feeder and a deer that looked right into the camera for his close up shot.

Momma and babies.

Ready for my close up.

On our drive to Fredericksburg, Texas, we saw signs of fall. The weather was also very nice.

On the side of I-10.

We arrived in Fredericksburg, Texas November 2, 2022, and will stay for a week and a half before being back in the Houston area. Fredericksburg is a nice town with a German heritage. It was founded on May 8, 1846, by German immigrants under the Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas. It was originally named Friedrichsburg but was later change to honor Prince Frederick of Prussia. Fun fact: On March 1, 1847, John Meusebach met with several tribes of Comanche Indians unarmed to negotiate a treaty between the Tribes and the town. Meuseback asked the townsfolk to be allowed to farm the land along the Llano in return for the Comanche being allowed in town at any time. He furthered the offer by promising that in times of hunger, the town would provide the Tribes with grain in return for game, honey, and bear fat. The Peace Treaty was made, and the peace pipe smoked.

Our site for the week.

Our son, Tim, drove out on Thursday and stayed until Saturday. We had a busy three days. It was so wonderful to see him. This was his first time in Fredericksburg, and I don't think it will be his last.

This is where he stayed. They have five glamping wagons here.

Not a bad place to stay. You can't see it, but to the left 

when you first walked in were bunkbeds.

That night we went out to dinner, yes, you guessed it, German food. Hubby opted for a chicken sandwich which he enjoyed. Tim and I enjoyed our German food. Altdorf's Biergarten has a well that it discovered after doing some renovations. It was hand dug in 1846 by the original owner of the home. It also has a light so you can see all the way to the bottom. I did get a little dizzy trying to take the picture.

Dug by Conrad Wissemann.

After dinner we walked around a little bit. I wanted to see St. Mary's Catholic Church and take some pictures. 

Rapid growth in the 19th century caused St. Mary's to build a

 bigger building. This is the second church built in 1906. It has three bells 

that were brought over from the first St. Mary's.

The tree between the two St. Mary's.

St. Mary's Parrish dates back to 1846 and originally was made out of logs. 

This building was completed in 1863 and served until the 

larger St. Mary's could be built in 1906.

On Friday, while hubby was working, Tim and I went downtown to do some exploring. We stopped at Old German Bakery and bought a pretzel and a cinnamon roll for hubby. We walked some more, and I saw the library. I noticed it had an historical marker on it, so I wanted to see what it was before it became a library. It was the first Gillespie County Courthouse. Built from 1881-1882. It is built from native limestone. It served as the courthouse until 1939. As a community gift from Mr. and Mrs. Eugene McDermott, the courthouse was restored and converted into the library in 1967.

The Library.

 After hubby was off from work, we went to the Augusta Vin Winery. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful place to visit. The winery sits on 60 acres and makes some of their wine from their own grapes. "Age is just a number. It's totally irrelevant, of course, you happen to be a bottle of wine." Joan Collins

Needed a picture of the sign.

Even hubby did a wine tasting with us.

Afterwards we sat outside, they had a band playing

 and we enjoyed God's beauty.

A very important event happened on Friday as well. My mom turned 80 years old. My brother and his family took her out to a Japanese Restaurant, and it looks like they had a lot of fun! Tim was with us, so we made a video telling her happy birthday and sent it to her Frameo. Tressa and Andrew made one as well and so I sent that to her. Tara and the boys made one also that I sent to her. She really loved seeing everyone and hearing them say happy birthday to her.

Happy birthday, mom! We love you!!

I love eating at places like this.

Saturday, we went to breakfast and then Tim left to go back to Houston. Hubby and I chilled after all the site seeing from the past couple of days. I am going to look up some more sites for next week and see if there is more to explore. I saw a sign for Enchanted Rock and need to do some follow-up to see if it is a place to go.

I don't really have a "keeping it real" this week, except for the fact that it is hard to go for such a long time without seeing my family and friends.

If there is something special you would like me to take a picture of, please let me know!

 
Drop a comment for me and let me know your thoughts on the blog.

God, the RV & me...