In 2000 I began what ultimately developed into twice yearly visits to San Antonio in connection with work related trainings. From 2008 until I retired in 2014 I went every March and August to San Antonio to week long training workshops where I served as a faculty member. But my first trip to Texas in 2000 was as a participant in a training program and that trip involved renting a car in San Antonio after the program concluded. I drove north into the Hill Country with my husband in search of good BBQ and the “real” Lyndon Johnson. While I have much to say about San Antonio and enjoyed my time there immensely, it is the Hill Country around Fredericksburg that pleased me the most, especially since I first went there in the Spring when the blue bonnets were in full bloom and the lavender spread across the fields.
For my husband and me, children of the 1960’s, LBJ was an arch villian, the architect of the Vietnam War and the person we blamed for the carnage in Southeast Asia. It was not until our visit to the LBJ ranch and museum that we began to understand the man and the complexities of the world he faced. LBJ wanted his legacy to be his civil rights work and the legislation he shepherded through Congress that went so far in remedying the injustices wrought after the end of Reconstruction and the emergence of Jim Crow laws and other forms of discrimination. Yet the man was haunted by the war he had inherited and which he could not end. The photograph taken of him in 1973 shortly before his death, with long hair and an incredibly sad face, forever more defined my view of the man. The museum and ranch presented a whole different picture of the LBJ who I thought I detested. According to some he grew his hair long to define himself as someone other than the Nixonian SOBs who then populated the White House. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/lbj-long-hair-photo/568447/
LBJ loved his ranch in the Hill Country and the river that ran through it. We drove all through the ranch and toured the surrounding countryside. We even saw Lady Bird standing on the veranda as she happened to be visiting the ranch when we were there. LBJ felt his time spent on the cattle ranches of his youth on and around the Pedernales River was the essential part of his character. He was a Texan through and through and he understood that only a southern Democrat would be able to marshal the forces necessary to enact the civil rights reforms so desperately needed if America were ever to fulfill its promise of equality and justice under the law. https://www.nps.gov/places/000/a-river-runs-through-pedernales-river.htm After spending time at the ranch and coming to better understand the man, both my husband and I found our view of him softened and while the memory of the Vietnam War remains bitter and divisive, we came to understand that there was much more to the man.
No trip to the Hill Country is complete without visiting Fredericksburg and Austin. Fredericksburg is a delightful town, rich with a heritage of German immigrant farmers. On one of our trips to the Hill Country my daughter, husband and I rented a “Sunday house” for our stay. The farmers/ranchers in the outlying areas would build a small simple house in town and they would come into town to buy their weekly provisions and attend church services, hence the name developed. Many of these structures survive in the historic district of town and some reproductions have even been erected. https://www.visitfredericksburgtx.com/listing/the-cottages-at-hill-country-herb-garden/871/ It is very easy to pass a few days in the Fredericksburg area, exploring the many herb gardens, including the famous lavender farms, the beer gardens, and naval war museum dedicated to Admiral Nimitz, who was born in Fredericksburg. https://www.visitfredericksburgtx.com/things-to-do/museums-history/national-museum-of-the-pacific-war/
A trip to the Hill Country is bound to eventually wind up in Austin, the capitol of Texas and a city with a vibrant music scene and downtown area. Austin never did too much for me, but I am glad to have visited there once. The Texas city where I spent of most of my time was San Antonio and specifically on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. When I wasn’t in class my San Antonio time was spent eating and drinking on the Riverwalk. I never fell into the river, in spite of spending an inordinate amount of time at an establishment called Mad Dogs and Englishmen that dubbed itself a “traditional” English pub. I have spent considerable time in British pubs. This place was no pub in the traditional sense. https://www.maddogs.net/?fbclid=IwAR2Dy7e02uJBvU0uESTRaLRxs3THVMI3NUZzRtieRlAMpmK4khbTyKOvKFo However, it was there that I learned to drink the michelada, a drink which takes beer to a whole new level. Think of a bloody mary with beer instead of vodka. Some call it the national drink of Mexico. On a hot August evening in San Antonio it is the most thirst quenching drink you can find. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michelada-recipe6-2112050 It is funny now almost a dozen years after my last trip to San Antonio my most vivid memory is sitting in that bar in the twilight drinking a michelada. We visited many bars and restaurants along the Riverwalk and it was a fun place to spend an evening, but that one bar sticks in my mind more than any of the other places we visited. I made good friends who also taught in the program and we would enjoy our evenings on the Riverwalk eating and drinking — it was good people and good times.
Texas is a big state. In spite of having visited there many times I saw only a very small part of it. If I ever go back to Texas I would hope to visit the desert country along the RIo Grande in the western part of the state. https://www.nationalparks.org/connect/explore-parks/guadalupe-mountains-national-park Guadalupe Mountains National Park has always intrigued me. There is nothing else about Texas that I long to explore. In fact Texas is one state I would rather stay away from at this point in time. I do not view it as a hospitable landscape in spite of my fondness for the Hill Country. Perhaps in time and with changing demographics the fondness for guns and right wing extremism will fade and Texas can once again become a place I would like to visit. Until then I am glad to say “Adios.”
Memories - A Second Chance at Happiness 