hill country day 2

We write this from our funky hotel room – an old motor court spiffed up a bit -  in Fredericksburg TX, having just watched The Alpinist, about solo climber Marc-André Leclerc. A haunting story that makes it hard to think about the rest of the day.
 
We started the day with breakfast at our inn, watching the white peacocks Leo and Luna outside the dining room window. 

Then Laura bought a new pair of hiking socks. It wasn’t the first thing we found we forgot to pack – Cathy mailed Ed’s EpiPens to Austin – and it undoubtedly won’t be the last. Then Pedernales State Park to see the falls and canyon. There was no water running over the falls and the canyon was meh. (Tho the rocks and woods were nice.) And it all took longer than expected. 

So we regrouped at Fat Boy Burgers in Johnson City and decided against the long drive to Enchanted Rock. Instead we visited the LBJ ranch. It reminded us that he accomplished so much before Vietnam brought down his presidency. We continued onto Fredericksburg, the heart of the Hill Country, settled by German immigrants in the 19th century (as we learned in Spying on the South). A note in our hotel room tells us that the innkeeper’s family came here from Germany over 150 years ago.

​A side note: the New York Times has instituted Spelling Bee Buddy, which makes it much easier to track what words you are missing. Laura still gets to Genius on her own, but the Buddy’s automated word and two letter distribution grid (and Ed) has helped her achieve Queen Bee three days in a row!