Fredericksburg, Texas, Shopping, Eating, Winery, Brewery

So good to see this boy in the mornings. He gets up after I do but we wait patiently!

We had a tiny breakfast and headed out toward Fredericksburg, TX – the Hill Country as they call it. It’s about an hour away from the condo.

This was our first store- a kitchen store. Lots of old buildings here/ many repurposed for shops. Charming place and no shortage of people. It was briskly cold as the tail winds of the cold front swept through. We bundled up between shops and enjoyed the warmth each shop provided. I enjoyed getting a cup of coffee at the coffee bar in the kitchen shop.

I actually bought my first Christmas present for this year and found Moms Mother’s Day present!

Look at this Paella pan! How big that is! Who has an oven top big enough to hold it? lol

All bundled up for the stroller ride! He was really very good yesterday!

The shops here are amazing and fun to go through. Seeing the crowds and not wanting a repeat of the River Walk (long waits to eat), we opted for an early lunch. We chose this place. It had German food and was a brewery.

I had a little one. And got Schnitzel. We even got to sit by the fireplace.

Here’s Katy and Cody, my daughter and son in law!

Laughing at how bundled he is as he laid down at nap time.

Here’s a shot of some of the buildings now shops! Some are very unusual.

This shop actually asked me not to take photos inside. I’m always so shocked when that happens (it’s rare). I like to take pics of things for the blog. I just her it was unfortunate because I wanted to share and bring her more customers but she said people from China steal the artist’s ideas and copy them. Again, I said, that’s unfortunate. It actually made me both mad and embarrassed (hurt feelings etc) so I left the store immediately and didn’t buy anything. I think it far more hurts their business to make your customers feel put out than to worry about people from China. If they want to copy something they will lol. So when you buy something you can’t ever take a picture of it? Of course not. They will see it eventually. I’m sure there is a segment I don’t see so I respectfully quit taking pics for the few people that read my blog and quit shopping and didn’t buy anything. lol

Nuff said from me. That said, humorously I thought there are bears everywhere just looking to thwart your fun. An innocent tourist just taking pi’s because something was cute. I don’t even have slanted eyes. And am not a spy from China. But I left empty handed. On the bright side at another store, THIS bear was fun and didn’t swat it me for taking pics.

Again, Nuff said. I continued on and didn’t let “church lady” (think Saturday Night live here) get the best of me as continued on with my photo oops elsewhere.

Soon we were off to a winery as the sun came out and warmed the day. Such a beautiful place. We started with wine tasting. Becker Winery.

We enjoyed a bottle of wine between us all at the back area of the winery and in front of vineyard where where they also grew lavender.

It is here where we discussed our plans for retirement and probable move to Texas, and discussed Maine trip. All a very interesting conversation. That should motivate us to clean the basement. lol. Retirement for us two years away! And we would get to finish watching this fella grow up and be there for him. He was “pinch proof” for St Pats! lol

I could enjoy some big Texas sky! Here’s our ride…thankful for Cody driving us around.

Next up Alstadt Brewing! Yes everything IS bigger in Texas. The wineries, the breweries and the steak houses too.

We ate dinner here at the full service restaurant and it excellent! My beer was green! lol I got the kolsch.

My view at the restaurant!

We had an excellent dinner and arrived back at the condo after dark. We then all went to bed soon after. It’d been a busy day! But a fun one! One we won’t forget!