We slept a little later this morning. It was 8 AM before we got up. Bob got on the phone right away to take care of some Co-op business and then we got a call from Glass America to say that they would be arriving in 10 minutes to fix the windshield chip.
The repairman arrived and proceeded to start fixing our windshield. He was here about 30 minutes and got it all fixed. We can’t even feel where it was and it was covered by insurance!
While he worked on that repair, I gave Auggie that needed bath. He was DIRTY, if the brown water was any indication of it.
After his bath in the shower stall, he likes to “air dry” himself by running around as fast as he can. That’s always fun to watch. We did a few more chores around the bus before eating lunch and heading off for a visit downtown. It was not as busy as on Tuesday the day we arrived, but we found out that a few shops are closed on Wednesday and the grey skies and cooler weather might have deterred some people. We parked by the Gillespie Courthouse and proceeded to walk down one side of the street. There were all kinds of shops and eateries to check out and signs of German influence all over.
This shop had German beer steins and Hummel figurines in the window.
There were many German restaurants to choose from.
Many of the buildings had these historical plaques displayed out front to tell the history of the buildings standing there.
The old historical buildings were built with limestone or they had tin panel siding on the exterior. Many of the buildings are very unique.
We stopped in at Rustlin’ Rob’s Texas Gourmet Foods. It’s known as “The Tasting Place”. It was filled with jars of all kinds of jams, jellies, dips, sauces, pickled vegetables, hot sauces, and more. There must have been 50+ opportunities to sample so many things. We got lost in all the different areas going from one sample to the next.
Here I caught Bob in the act. So many samples, so little time.
We probably spent a half hour there, at least, but came out with a jar of delicious strawberry rhubarb jam. Of course, we sampled it first. There was also a Western Texas influence in some of the stores from custom made cowboy boots to hats and this store had some interesting items.
Texas is an open carry state, so we saw a few of these signs in the bar windows. Alcohol and firearms don’t mix!
There were stores from various wineries with wine tasting and sampling available.
Another thing we found interesting was this sign that let us know we could walk down the street while enjoying an alcoholic beverage.
We got to the end of the shopping area on one side of the street and crossed the street to walk back down the other side. The highlight of the area is a Pacific WWII Memorial Museum and Admiral Nimitz Gallery now housed in the Nimitz Hotel which hosted frontier travelers and provided a home for the growing Nimitz family.
Admiral Nimitz was born in this home where he grew up to eventually command the greatest naval armada in history. He was selected as commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet after the attack on Pearl Harbor and signed the Japanese surrender documents in 1945. We learned a lot about Admiral Nimitz and what a wonderful humanitarian he was!
There is evidence in many places of the Nimitz influence in the town. We stopped to check out the Memorial Courtyard where this statue of Admiral Nimitz stood.
The Memorial Wall and Garden of Peace was built in memory of those who perished in military service of their country on December 7, 1945 at Pearl Harbor and their survivors who have died since then.
More than 2500 plaques are mounted on the 100 year old limestone walls of the Memorial Courtyard.
As we continued down the road, we saw this bar that was advertised as a “Husband Day Care Center” as seen by this sign. We got a laugh out of that.
One of my goals was to stop in for a beer at the Rathskeller—in the lower level.
It was a busy place, but we got a table and ordered a beer, of course.
On the menu. besides the typical German dishes, was Peach Bread Pudding which I really wanted to try. It was served warm with whipped cream and was delicious. With Texas peaches in season, it was perfect!
This building nearby was used as a hospital and the second picture shows a jail with bars on the windows.
Here was another eye-catching sign in front of a bar. Somebody has a sense of humor.
This shop called the Dogologie had everything and anything dog-related about every breed of dog. We found lots of dachshund stuff. It was a fun shop!
We finished our shopping expedition of 10 blocks—5 blocks up and 5 blocks back, so we headed back to the Jeep. Bob wanted to check out the HEB store which he had read about, but I had never heard of.
For those of you who are reading this from back home in Palmetto, it was like a Detweilers Market on steroids. For everybody else, imagine your favorite grocery–bakery–deli–and health food store rolled into one, but times 10. We went there for a lettuce (they were all out at Walmart) and came out with lettuce, asparagus, and Frio Beer. It was as close to Bob’s Natural Ice brand of beer that he likes and was recommended to Bob by a woman in the store who said her husband loves it.
From there, we came back to the campground where Auggie got a haircut and a nail trimming. Afterward, he and I sat outside with a cocktail (just me) and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. Bob took care of some Co-op business. It warmed up to 86 today and the sun popped out while we were still in town, but it clouded up again and the breeze made it very comfortable. Rain is predicted for tomorrow, so we might visit a winery and do some laundry, but not necessarily in that order. We’ll see what the weather brings. We had dinner and got some rain later in the evening. We really enjoyed our day in town and definitely got some exercise!
I would love to tour this town too.
You would love it if you like historical things.