Thursday, July 27, 2006
Day 9
July 27, my birthday! We woke up this morning at a very nice KOA Kampground in Fredericksburg, TX, in the Texas Hill Country. Fredericksburg looks like a nice town with a wonderful sense of its heritage. We watched a 9 minute video about the town and its people at the Visitors' Center. Unfortunately, we were in town too early to do much browsing--most shops didn't open until 10 and we had gotten an early start. We decided to start heading East toward Austin by way of Johnson City. We stopped by the LBJ Ranch outside of Johnson City which is now a state historical park. We didn't tour the ranch, but we did visit a working farm that is now a living history museum--The Sauer-Beckman Farm--which depicts farm life from 1900-1918. We had lunch at a cafe in Johnson City. It was a restored lumberyard; a glimpse of what Langford Mill might be.
We decided to avoid Austin; Ken does not like large Texas cities. Instead we drove from south of Austin toward College Station and Texas A & M. We found the Engineering School and the School of Architecture and took a few pictures.
We headed back to Houston and are back for an evening of birthday celebration with Meg, Jared and Jared's parents. I was even surprised by a birthday card from my sister Barbara who sent it to Meg and Jared's address in Houston so that it would arrive in time for my birthday!
After birthday gifts--thank you, Meg, Jared and Shiloh!--we headed to Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen where I feasted on cedar plank salmon. We all had wonderful desserts and my creme brule came complete with a candle and a serenade by the wait staff. I was serenaded again outside the restaurant when my family sang "Happy Birthday" to me. What a sweet way to end my special day!
I only have a few pictures of the day--one feeble attempt to capture the glory of the Texas Hill Country, a couple of photos of the Architecture School at Texas A & M, and my cedar plank salmon for my birthday dinner:
Texas Hill Country:
Texas A & M School of Architecture:
Cedar Plank Salmon:
We decided to avoid Austin; Ken does not like large Texas cities. Instead we drove from south of Austin toward College Station and Texas A & M. We found the Engineering School and the School of Architecture and took a few pictures.
We headed back to Houston and are back for an evening of birthday celebration with Meg, Jared and Jared's parents. I was even surprised by a birthday card from my sister Barbara who sent it to Meg and Jared's address in Houston so that it would arrive in time for my birthday!
After birthday gifts--thank you, Meg, Jared and Shiloh!--we headed to Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen where I feasted on cedar plank salmon. We all had wonderful desserts and my creme brule came complete with a candle and a serenade by the wait staff. I was serenaded again outside the restaurant when my family sang "Happy Birthday" to me. What a sweet way to end my special day!
I only have a few pictures of the day--one feeble attempt to capture the glory of the Texas Hill Country, a couple of photos of the Architecture School at Texas A & M, and my cedar plank salmon for my birthday dinner:
Texas Hill Country:
Texas A & M School of Architecture:
Cedar Plank Salmon:
