R&R: From German Beers to the Beach

We left on our winter RV trip the second week of February, making a beeline south to Fredericksburg, Texas. Situated in the Texas Hill Country, Fredericksburg was settled by German immigrants in the mid-19th century and it retains much of it’s original character in it’s collection of historical buildings and beautiful churches. We had visited there together four years ago and had been looking forward to returning for quite some time since we both loved walking the streets and taking in the architecture, but to be clear the lure of authentic German beer (and in Tom’s case, German food) was also something that factored into our decision to start our trip there. We also both enjoyed staying again at the Lady Bird Johnson County Park which has plenty of space to walk, some nice short hiking trails, and lovely picturesque live oak and pecan trees.

I didn’t end up taking many photos on our walks in town since this was Allie’s first time walking around so many people and I was managing her on the leash; I had hoped that I might just link my post from 2018 but it looks like I didn’t do a great job of taking photos then either. Clearly we’ll have to return so I can do better. But in any case, we definitely enjoyed our two afternoons there and we even found a restaurant that had a dog-friendly heated patio AND a vegan hummus plate for me to munch on while we sipped our German beers and Tom had his fill of schnitzel and potato salad. Big shoutout to The Auslander.

From Fredericksburg we continued with the theme of rest and relaxation by heading to Padre Island National Seashore, another place that we’ve both visited before. Besides the obvious allure of camping on the beach and listening to the woosh of the waves 24/7, we love the solitude and the fact that less than a half mile from the campground you can walk for hours without seeing another person. Also a huge plus is the lack of phone service which gave me an excuse to read for hours and hours a day between walks; I averaged a book and half a day during our time there, all of which were read while I was lulled by the crashing of the surf.

Allie not surprisingly enjoyed the new experiences of the beach though regrettably we all discovered her love of seafood which resulted in multiple rinse-offs under the spigot after rolling in dead crustacean and more than one incidence of vomited crab. She did love frolicking on the sand as well though and watching all the birds fly overhead however despite her disinterest in actually getting too far into the water.