Day 170 - Fredericksburg, TX

(Click any photo to enlarge)

The Nimitz Hotel

Some like it hot!

I suppose it is most appropriate that I came from Frederick, MD, and ended up in Fredericksburg, TX, today.  Actually, there are quite a few characteristics that the two towns have in common, other than the name.  They both love tourists, they both have a great historic district with shops and restaurants, and they both celebrate the arts.  The streets are much wider in the TX town (to accommodate wagon trains and cattle herds, I suppose), but isn't everything supposed to be bigger in Texas?

Fredericksburg's German
heritage

My daughter Lauren and I headed for Fredericksburg today, which is in the heart of Texas hill country.  The hills are quite rocky, and not too large, and every now and then we'd see a magnificent home atop a hill.  The area is also known for wineries and peach orchards.

Fredericksburg was founded by Germans in 1846, and its German heritage is capitalized on today for tourists.  Apparently the original Germans refused to speak English, forming a Texas German dialect.  We saw German restaurants, German street signs (Main St. was also labeled Hauptstrasse), and lots of biergartens.  I'm sure that on weekend nights, they are full of patrons.  They were a little slow today, a Tuesday afternoon in February.

Keidel Hospital -- Now a
kitchen store & restaurant

We walked up one side of Main Street and down the other, from the Market Place to the Nimitz Hotel and back.   We went in and out of some of the shops, and ended with lunch in a restaurant that had a mixture of German and Tex-Mex.  I got the bratwurst with red cabbage and warm potato salad, and Lauren had the chili (no beans) and cornbread. 

I did not sample these...
They also had chocolate
covered bacon & pickles

There was so much more to do in Fredericksburg that we could have stayed in one of their famous b&b's and easily spent another day or two, just in town.  Alas, a day trip and a photo walk were all we had time for.  After all, the bulldogs were waiting at home for us to take them for their walk.

The Escape Plan

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Visit my photography show, "My Maryland," at the public library in Urbana, Maryland, on the lower level of the building.  It is there until the end of April.

Hurricane Sandy Relief: Donate to the Red Cross, and I will mail you a 5 x 7 print from any of the photos I have posted on my blog OR any photo on my website.

Forward to me via email a receipt for donating to the Red Cross. Tell me whether the photo is from the blog or the website, and Include its title along with a mailing address. The name on the receipt to the Red Cross must match the name of the mailing recipient. Send the receipt and the photo request to camscamerashots@gmail.com.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

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Visit my web site: camscamerashots.zenfolio.com
Follow me on Twitter: @camscamerashots
Email:  cam.miller@comcast.net

Cam's rules for the Daily Photo Walk:

1. walk every day
2. the walk must be in addition to any other planned activity for the day
3. post a photo every day
4. use my Nikon P7100 (it is a very convenient size and weight)
5. no weather excuses
6. walk only where it is safe to do so