Sunday House

Although everywhere in Central Texas remains hot and dry, late July was a good time to take a staycation in Fredericksburg, one of our favorite Hill Country towns.

I went with Linda to this very German place for a miniature family reunion and to conduct tour research. My 89-year-old Uncle Elmore resides in Fbg in an assisted-living center, so it was easier to go to him than vice-versa. My mom came north from Corpus with sister Rose, who otherwise lives in Munich. Sister Carol drove from Houston with her husband, Salty the photographer, and 10-year-old son, Aidan.

queen-sized Dietzel Motel room

For lodging, we chose the locally owned and operated Dietzel Motel, located on Fbg’s west end where US 87 and 290 split. The rooms are clean and recently remodeled, and windows look out on a large, open green space behind the building. The lack of wifi was a plus to me, as easily distracted as I am. From the parking lot, we could see the transmitting tower of radio station KNAF, where I’d done my first broadcasting in 1974.

We all arrived by late afternoon and, after a swim, brief nap, and short visit with our uncle, we went together downtown for supper. Our feast was had in the ever-popular Fbg Brewing Company front room in sight of their fermentation tanks behind the bar. The ales and lagers are named for the area’s heritage, and the German food was true to form. I enjoyed the Pioneer Porter and Uberbachen Schweinsnitzel. Almost everyone enjoyed the meal, but I recommend against the fish tacos.

suds for every taste

While there, I was keen to show sister Rose the fanciful murals that adorn the back room biergarten, which resembles a village street scene in  southern Germany, replete with lederhosen-clad herren and stein-toting frauen. Upstairs is the Bed and Brew for accommodations close to this elbow-bending spot, and this same proprietor also owns the whimsical Hangar Hotel out by the airport.

That evening after our repast, we did a bit of window shopping along Hauptstrasse, then returned to the Dietzel. A program on the History Channel, Life After People, ran late into the night. It’s based on the book The World Without Us, postulating what would happen if humans suddenly vanished. It made me muse on our transience.

Stone, Timber, Sands of Time

Wednesday morning was the time set aside to visit Elmore again. It was a fun time talking about days gone by, current events, and future plans. Then, we headed back to the heart of town and strolled shops, galleries, and eateries. I rekindled an interest in Fachwerk, the German version of half-timbering. Fine examples stand here and in other Teutonic Texas settlements, such as Comfort. I also love the ubiquitous Sunday Houses. Linda and I spend a few quiet moments in the Japanese Garden of Peace back of the National Museum of the Pacific War on the old Nimitz Hotel property.

Berkman Books

Wandering alone, I happened upon Berkman Books. Even though I’m running out of shelves, bound volumes always lure me. With an assuredly homey atmosphere, the store also features two shop cats, Emily and Waldo. Combing the Texana section, I gleaned a biography of Jean Lafitte, a picture book called Austin Then and Now, and a hardcover by Boyce House, an almost-forgotten humor columnist from San Antonio in the mid-40s.

Since I live near Berkman Drive in Austin, I asked the store staff about any coincidence. Sure enough, the book-selling Berkmans had come from the Capital City and are distantly related to the dairy farmer whose land became my neighborhood. Only in Texas!

Hilly Henge 'n' Head

More people are discovering that a second Stonehenge exists right here in the Lone Star State. On our way south towards San Antonio from Fbg, sister Carol’s family, Linda, and I traced the Guadalupe River upstream to Hunt, then followed the North Fork a short way to this amazing replica. About two-thirds scale, the monumental circle was built over several years beginning in the late 80s in a broad pasture just off Ranch Road 1340. The exhibit’s newest additions are two Easter Island heads, standing 13 feet tall a respectable distance from the Druidic piece.

We had just enough time to make a quick circle through Comfort before entering IH 10 and continuing to the Alamo Café in San Antonio. Here we met cousins Johnny and Helen. With the abundant portions, no one left hungry.

This trip proved that you don’t need to drive far to get away, and that something new awaits around the next bend.

Linda Anderson and Howie Richey at Heritage Haus

After a busy holiday season from All Hallow’s Eve on, which consisted of many walking tours, drives, and celebrations, this year’s end found us exploring an area 60 miles due east of Austin. My wife, Linda, had discovered Carmine on an arts retreat last March and wished me to enjoy it, too. The journey opened possibilities for a new tour offering.

We headed east on US 290 around noon on December 30, a cool, clear, and calm Tuesday. This was our first road trip together in her new blue Hyundai, nicknamed Twinka. At Paige, we veered northeast on TX 21 (oldest thoroughfare in the state), turning east for a lunch stop at Dime Box. This off-main-road hamlet is famed as the launch point of FDR’s March of Dimes campaign in the 1940s. A Texas-sized dime peeks from inside a translucent Plexiglas cube.

Brother, Can You Spare A . . . or Stand By Your Span

Other than the rusting truss and SPJST Hall, this tiny town’s lack of public rest rooms seemed unwelcoming to visitors.

Continuing eastward along Lake Somerville’s edge, I was gratified to see the soils and rocks change color from reds and oranges to white and brown. The lost pines finally faded away in favor of more live oaks. Rolling, low hills offered great panoramas of this green countryside.

Cotton Up to This

Next stop was Burton, home of the nation’s only operating original-equipment cotton gin. Here also are century-old storefronts and accommodations on a rise of land above Indian Creek. Scenic Road 309, along the venerable La Bahia route, would have taken us to Independence, but perhaps later. In fact, 309 is along the Texas Independence Trail. By now, thanks to place names, we realized this area’s prominent German influence.

Haus It Going?

Another seven minutes brought us to Carmine, our overnight destination. About halfway between Houston and Austin, this 230-person place boasts 11 antique stores, a basketball museum, and three bed and breakfast establishments. Our reservations were at Heritage Haus, a 94-year-old two-story cottage run by the much younger Deb Taylor and Matt Hager. After we unloaded, our hosts escorted us across the street to their “art bodega,” a former grocery store that serves as their project and workshop space. Deb makes assemblages to sell, while Matt collects and preserves old audio equipment and recordings (sound familiar?).

Sights and Sounds

Dusk was fast approaching when Linda and I drove south to La Grange for our evening meal at a bistro suggested by D&M. We found the place just off the courthouse square, but it was closed. Instead, we crossed the Colorado to dine at La Marina, an archetypal Texas roadside grill. I ate fish, Linda a relleno. Back at the bodega, we shared cheesecake and a bottle of Hill Country wine with our innkeepers and talked art and audio long into the night.

Matt’s Collections

Quilt Room and Sitting

December 31: The splendid breakfast after bed consisted of Deb’s fruitcake muffins, yam frittata, coffee, blue-cranberry juice, grits, whole-wheat toast, and fruit yogurt. With many promises to stay in touch and reluctant good-byes, Linda and I set out to further explore the vicinity.

Like Waters Seeking Sea

Texas 237 took us south again to the International Festival Institute at Round Top. Part of The University of Texas, this sprawling compound features restored Victorian mansions, Roman-style ruins, fountains, chapel, and folk architecture situated around an enormous music performance space.

Festival Hall interior

This whole property brims with concerts throughout the year as well as weddings, seminars, conferences, retreats, classes, and special events. The spacious grounds are immaculately kept, with each bend in the path leading to unexpected discoveries, such as pavilions, olive trees, spewing green men, and stacked-stone bridges.

Missed Messages

Onward with a back-roads trip to a functioning iron bridge, this over Cummins Creek, the main local stream. Apparently, locals leave wishes here on papers stuck into the structure. We found none, but Linda wrote good words on a rolled-up slip.

Fayetteville Precinct Courthouse

Over and across Rek Hill, Fayetteville remains proud of its Czech heritage. A cute precinct courthouse sits in the middle of the town square, flanked by several taverns and guest houses. My friend John Troesser operates one of the best online Texas travel magazines from this fine town.

Lewis Stagecoach Inn, front and rear

Winedale brings Shakespeare to East Central Texas. Also UT-owned, this former village presents plays and performances during the warm months. Historic buildings include the dogrun-style Lewis House and the Menke Mansion. The scenes and acts happen in the timber-reinforced barn.

Think Globe, Act Bard

A few bends in the lane later, we once again found ourselves in Round Top, which becomes an antique capital twice a year, spring and fall. Here’s another precinct courthouse plus many historic homes, churches, and pubs. Everywhere are signs of old furniture shops, flea markets, and exhibitions that draw thousands in April and October. Many businesses, including the Heritage Haus, gear their whole fiscal survival around these biannual events.

After another quick look around Burton, we set our faces steadfastly towards the Capital City, where New Year’s Eve revels awaited us. With the info and experience gleaned from this fascinating foray, it won’t be long until we go back. Check the Texpert Tours website soon for new excursion called “Shakespeare and Gin.”

Happy 2009!

Rare Texas Madrone Tree

This month began with a newcomer-to-be excursion. My assignment was to help convince this client to move to Austin with his relocating company. You’d think that this city would be self-selling, but lots of folks still harbor doubts and misgivings about life in Texas. Summer heat is always an issue until I display its remedy: Barton Springs Pool. The vastly conservative population in most parts of the Lone Star State also puts many folks off until I explain just how different Austin believes and behaves. To demonstrate such liberal attitudes, we visited several Keep Austin Weird destinations, of course, but also a less-well-known place: the Texas Music Museum. More on this in future posts, and I’ll let you know if I accomplished my mission of persuasion.

One of my many pleasures in this touring business is connecting with other industry providers. A group of colleagues is the Austin Guest Services Association. They are concierges, front desk managers, and information specialists who work in hotels, restaurants, condominiums, and resorts. I served on their executive committee for a period, helping to craft bylaws. We get together at least once a month in one of the city’s better eateries to feast on fabulous food and bask in each other’s good company and best wishes. Z’Tejas in 6th Street’s West End hosted us this time. I heartily recommend the pork tenderloin.

I also got to sing Austin’s praises to another mother-daughter-friend trio, this trek beginning from a rendezvous at Eastside Café. This restaurant contributes mightily to the burgeoning local food movement: it bases many of its menu items on veggies and herbs organically grown on site. Flowers from the garden adorn the tables, and scraps get composted and returned to the adjacent soil. The park-like atmosphere of the property invites relaxation.

Another group that I’m even more involved with is the Austin Tour Guide Association, as referenced last April. We’re a cadre of professional trip leaders who work for destination managers, meeting planners, visitor centers, and the general public. This group also meets monthly to share info and skills and to learn more about our trade and significant sites. In September, we strolled the Capitol Grounds to identify native trees. Our October meeting happened in the newly restored St. Mary Cathedral downtown.

The association’s major function is training and certifying new guides, for which task we hold classes yearly. Yours truly helped train roughly half of the some two dozen current members. I’m now the group’s vice-president and am campaigning for the top slot. I promise no negative ads!

Downtown walking tours continue apace, remarkably so when I led a youth orchestra from Zwickau, Germany, composer Robert Schumann’s home town. Thank goodness they brought a translator—otherwise, the outing would have been purely incoherent comedy. My Austin Close-Up class continues through October with indoor sessions and out-and-about field trips. We’ve visited Mount Bonnell, Laguna Gloria, Mayfield Park and Preserve, the Capitol, French Legation, and State Cemetery. Still to come are the LBJ Library and UT Campus.

Camp Patchouli Lonesome

On yet another trip to Quiet Valley Ranch, I was honored to lead a dialog about the novel Ishmael to the Kerrmaculture design course there. Permaculture is a philosophy and practice for sustainable human living. Daniel Quinn’s writings give us a new way to think about our present ecological predicament and begin to craft next steps. Relatedly, I screened What a Way to Go, a sobering documentary about life at the end of empire. Too, we walked the beautiful property to identify indigenous biota and processes in the cool Hill Country autumn morning.

Here’s your link to another project that occupies my hours these days. I’m building an exhibit based on my late father’s collection of vintage audio equipment. There, as well, you’ll be connected to my thematic party pages.

Bevo's Cousins

July may have been giant, but September surpassed.

A sleepy August saw me in front of walking tours, exposing the Alamo City, and presenting a talk, Secrets of the Capitol, at Querencia of Barton Creek. On the cusp of month-change, however, was the excellent Kerrville Wine and Music Festival, affectionately known as “little folk.” Again, the award-winning Camp Patchouli stood its ground on Quiet Valley Ranch with guitar and vocal accompaniment from some of my most talented friends. The wines from nearby vineyards rolled across our pallets and into a great gastric experience, also entertaining.

On the second Wednesday of the ninth month, I began teaching another “Austin Close-Up” class for the Lifetime Learning Institute. It’s a complete overview of our fair city’s history, geography, entertainment, and culture in four indoor lectures and as many field trips. So far we’ve explored Austin’s physical setting, deep past, and prominent personalities.

As the weather cooled somewhat, things heated up in the guiding business on Tuesday the 23rd, when I got to show the scenic Hill Country to two conferees from North Carolina. These gentlemen were involved with municipal water systems, so we were able to converse about the Edwards Aquifer and interbasin transfer. They, like other newcomers to Central Texas, were surprised by the beauty of this topography.

On Wednesday, it was my pleasure to escort two British folks to the LBJ Ranch. The park service is slowly opening rooms in the Texas White House, so we went through the President’s office. On the way back east, we feasted on lunch at Johnson City’s Silver K Café, bought wine at Texas Hills Vineyards, and traipsed the trails at Lady Bird’s Wildflower Center.

Shrine of Texas Liberty

Another pair of people, this time from Toronto, went to the Alamo City with me on Thursday. Friday saw me stepping aboard a huge motorcoach to reveal the hills’ cultural and topographic charms to the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services. They marveled at Blanco County’s Peyton Colony, a post-Civil War freedmen’s community, the old court house in Blanco proper, fabled Luckenbach, and German Fredericksburg in its brewery.

Topping off this month of my birth was the 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival, where I reveled in the music of Spiritualized, Erykah Badu, John Fogerty, and Allison Kraus and Robert Plant. Despite the dust, it was fab and fantastic ear fun.

Posters Galore

Traveling back and forth for the four weekends of Kerrville left little time for leading tours in June, but I did manage to conduct a couple private strolls through the venerable Driskill Hotel in downtown Austin. These are an outgrowth of the Congress Avenue walking tours I perform for the ACVB. Soon enough, June came to its chronological conclusion, just in time for the next turn of the calendar.

July happened to be Texpert Tours‘ most successful month to date. Beginning slowly with a first Saturday drive for an Indian family, things really heated up on Monday the 14th when I conveyed a Welsh woman to San Antonio. A great advantage to meeting people from other lands is that I get to hear about their homes and histories. All I had known about Wales was Tom Jones, coal mining, and few vowels. In many ways, the Welsh were the original British before Romans and Normans arrived. I also learned about that area’s topography.

Tuesday was a grand morning to lead a hike up the Barton Creek Greenbelt. This I did for PRA destination management, whose clients were award-winning insurance sales people. The group was large enough for me to bring along Mike Powers, land manager of Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, as associate guide. Together, Mike and I covered the last 70 million years of Hill Country geology and its recent human habitation. We found precious little water in the deeper holes, but the white rocks’ smooth surface recalled days of rushing current. After presenting the always-stunning Barton Springs Pool, we crossed the road to Zilker Botanical Gardens so the gang could stop and smell the roses. Lunch was in a nearby Mexican-food restaurant.

On Wednesday, I returned to Zilker to meet the CAST Party. Otherwise known as the Cousins’ Annual Seasonal Trip, this was an multigenerational family seeing Central Texas from a 15-passenger van. At first I tried being the driver, but the kids in the back couldn’t hear my commentary. Instead, the patriarch, Mr. Waring, drove while I voiced my remarks from a rear seat. This worked out quite well, and for about four hours the merry crew reveled in city stories, facts, and legends. In addition to seeing the Capitol’s insides, we stopped in the Texas State History Museum, where they got full of Bullock. After enjoying the LBJ Library, the group couldn’t wait to motor back to our point of beginning and jump into Barton Springs.

Thurs morning after my downtown walk, I collected a Hawaiian architect and his local sister from the Visitor Center on 6th Street. Their custom excursion included the French Legation (by all accounts the city’s oldest residence), but not LBJ. I dropped them off at the funky Austin Motel.

Then came Friday and a trip for a husband-and-wife ministerial team who were lodging at the Intercontinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel. Each a self-described beatnik or hippie, they wished to experience this town’s more bizarre side and the roots of our live music. Henry Gonzales filled them in at the South Austin Museum of Popular Culture, and they truly dug Planet K next door. Read their glowing review at the top of my testimonials page.

The hits just kept on coming: more walking tours got interspersed with a couple from Torrence, CA, a pair from Houston, and a mother and daughter from the Northeast. Huzzah for the Capital City!

In the merry month of May, most of our mindfulness merges on migrating toward the Kerrville Folk Festival. I’ve been attending since 1979, and am fortunate to lend my several talents to the fest’s fun. For instance, I lead a nature walk around the 20-acre campground every Sunday. As a radio personality, I produced and participated in several news reports and documentaries about the event. Additionally, yours truly participates in numerous workshops and seminars held throughout the year at the scenic property.

I’m also the official Kerr-tographer, having distributed to-scale paper maps of Quiet Valley Ranch since 1992. In 2005, at the behest of Javier Cortez, my artist-wife, Linda, and I collaborated on a cloth version of the chart in blue bandanna form. This “Map Kerr-Chief” sold well enough that we updated and reprinted them this year on three colors: goldenrod, natural, and yellow.

2008 QVR Map Kerr-Chief peek

This handsomely designed item makes a great souvenir with dozens of practical uses to boot. Campers frequently draw their own setups on the fabric, and dyed-in-the-wool Kerrverts collect all hues. Folks who missed the fest can get their Kerr-Chiefs at Austin’s Work Clothes and More.

One of the activities many guides enjoy is assuming the identity of historical personages. I’ve been lucky to do this twice in the last two months. In March, during our Austin Tour Guide Association’s annual gala, I became August Scholz, the German immigrant who founded Scholz Bier Garten in Austin in 1866. This guise was appropriate for two reasons: the ATGA has always held its yearly party at Scholz, by all accounts Texas’ oldest continuously operated business. The other connection is that my great-grandfather, Claus Henry Frick, came from Germany to Central Texas about the same time as Herr Scholz. I’ve also dressed up as my relative and preformed portions of his autobiography.

It’s getting to be quite a habit: For San Jacinto Day, I became Jesse Billingsley, veteran of the battle, for a hotel and tourism conference. Here’s how I appeared:

Credited with originating the victory cry of “Remember the Alamo,” Captain Billingsley had come to Mexican colonial Texas from Tennessee, a neighbor of David Crockett. Settled near Bastrop, he joined the Sam Houston’s army as part of Edward Burleson’s First Regiment. After the Revolution, this early Texan served as a congressman and representative.

During these attire-base adventures, I learned the difference between mere costumes and replica clothing. Those that don such period pieces are truly serious about authenticity. Thanks to such inspiring examples and the thunderous response I received, I’ve now added full-regalia presentations to my slate of tour offerings. Look for August or Jesse on Austin’s streets again soon!

-HR

Spring is beginning to show itself on many a limb here in Austin and, thanks to with fine weather, these are excellent days to be on foot. The Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) has hosted free downtown walking tours for years, and they begin in March after taking a winter break. It’s a way to tell city history by looking at buildings and learning about the personalities behind the facades.

In times past, people could simply show up at the rendezvous point at a designated hour and get a tour. This season, the CVB institutes a reservation system so that interested folks can sign up ahead of time. Also new this year, the tours are led by certified members of the Austin Tour Guide Association, including yours truly.

The Congress Avenue/Sixth Street walk covers innkeepers, merchants, bankers, architects, surveyors, builders, governors, ranchers, presidents, and restaurateurs who’ve played leading roles in the Capital City’s development. Eras include the Republic period, early statehood, Civil War and Reconstruction, later statehood, and contemporary times. As a geographer, I also generously sprinkle in tidbits about trees, flowers, topography, and climate. Plus, guests get enticements about my Texpert Tour offerings. The 90-minute stroll starts on the statehouse south steps and concludes at the Visitor Center on Old Pecan Street.

Please join me for fun, elucidation, and good exercise on the Main Street of Texas.

-HR

A wide range of visitors have come to Austin this cold season, and many of them now know more about Central Texas because they rode with the Texpert. Some of my clients came from Sweden, others from Philadelphia, Maryland, Dallas, the Midwest, and even Leander, Texas. Some were couples, others bus-loads.

At least three of these touring folks were new arrivals to the area or soon would be. Because each outing is customized, I’m able to answer the specific questions of my customers and cater to their individual needs. For instance, newcomers want to see more neighborhoods, local government facilities, and service centers than regular travelers do. All, however, get quite an earful about how Austin got here and what makes it this special.

In a previous entry, I told about a pair from London whom I took to the Alamo City and back. The gentleman is a full-fledged barrister of some renown in England. Imagine my surprise when I was appointed to tour another lawyer from the UK a little over a week later. What are the chances? This second fellow enjoyed a Hill Country drive, which included sweeping panoramas, wildlife, and a winery stop. Read his comments on the Texpert Tours recommendations page.

Weather has been wild these last many weeks, but even now, we’re seeing signs of impending spring. On the Capitol grounds and elsewhere, the redbuds are showing their lavender blooms. Ash trees and Spanish Oaks are also beginning to bud. These are, indeed, great days to see the Lone Star State.

-HR

One Tuesday earlier this month was a gorgeous day to experience San Antonio’s cultural and historic treasures. My clients were a legal scholar and his wife from London. We enjoyed great conversations about Blackstone’s law commentaries whilst steering past longhorns grazing and llamas guarding on the scenic Hill Country route west and south. At our crossing of the beautiful Guadalupe River, I had to explain what an inner tube is and its popular use on this particular stretch of stream.

Mission Concepción made an excellent first stop, wherein these Brits got a fine overview of Spain’s eighteenth century colonizing efforts in this remote spot far from their southern centers of power. Here my clients got a close look at both a mesquite tree and an anaqua. They also were introduced to the Virgin of Guadalupe, matron goddess of the Americas, whose image is everywhere.

A short drive along Mission Road took us to the heart of the old city, where we set off on foot across the river to the Alamo. The sign out front implores “Gentlemen, remove your hats,” and hints the sacredness and esteem in which Lone Star State natives hold the Shrine of Texas Liberty. With my detailed explanation of events leading to the renowned battle in 1836, my clients better appreciated the chapel, relics, exhibits, and haunting ambiance of the venerated site. By far, the best representation of that fateful day is the hand-crafted scale model inside the gift shop.

Our historical respects paid, we strolled down the cascading waterfall steps to Paseo del Rio, San Antonio’s lovely River Walk. Even in winter with the cypress trees bare of needles, this is the city’s showplace of shops, galleries, cruise boats, and other people. Our scrumptious lunch was had at the Original Mexican Restaurant under a colorful umbrella on the water’s edge, my travelers treating me to an enchilada plate while they enjoyed flautas and salad. We then concluded our pedestrian adventure with visits to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and through La Villita.

Heading back north in the mighty ‘Burb, I had so wanted to show Sunken Gardens, but it remains closed for restoration. But Brackenridge Park remains an impressive public space with its woodsy picnic areas, hiking trails, miniature train, and young, swift-flowing river. Up onto the freeway, we were soon on our way towards the Capital City.

But another attraction beckoned our attention. New Braunfels is about as German a town as you’ll find anywhere in Texas, and I wanted my clients to behold a feature that’s not as big as Texas. The Comal River is purportedly the shortest in the world, flowing only two and a half miles to the Guadalupe. Comal is a Spanish word for griddle or shallow pan, and the name makes sense when one visits Landa Park to see the bank of springs that issue forth from the limestone cliffs here and form the sudden river. Would you believe 355 million gallons of pure water daily?! Next door is the Wursthalle, site of Wurstfest, this town’s annual salute to all things Teutonic: sausage, beer, lederhosen, dirndels, polka dancing, and Gemütlichkeit, or good fellowship in the German manner.

With all this to take in and remember, we found ourselves once again in Austin at the Folk House, where we bid a reluctant good-bye.

- HR