Schnitzel, Rain, and War

Stewart's 33rd birthday was this past Sunday.  I had been planning a getaway for his birthday for several weeks and it looked like it wouldn't work out when a) he told me that he really wanted to ride a horse and b) caught a nasty cold that had him sleeping for absurd amounts of time.  So in line with the horse themed birthday, he saw War Horse and we went to the rodeo.  I began searching for places to ride horses and found we were in luck as Fredericksburg (where I was planning on taking him) had THREE ranches that offered horseback riding.  We held off on making lodging reservations because of Stewart's cold knowing that there was a possibility we would have to postpone our trip until he felt better.  Luckily, his cold seemed to be getting much better by Friday night. Saturday we made phone calls to the different ranches and, by the end of it, I wanted to pull my hair out and scream.  These people seemed to be the most flaky people I have ever encountered and makes me question how their businesses even make money.  Ranch A told Stewart they would call him back about times but they could take him.  Ranch B told Stewart they could take him and gave him two options but then said to tell Ranch A that he had talked to Ranch B and to go with Ranch A unless they said to go with Ranch B but in either case probably go with Ranch A (did that make any sense to you?). After those phone calls we were really confused as to which Ranch we were supposed to go with.  Ranch A never called back on Saturday.

Sunday morning, we woke up early and hurried through our cereal breakfast so we could hit the road and have a full day in Fredericksburg.  We still hadn't made any reservations online as Stewart told me that he wanted to wait until we got there and see if we could check out the places in person.  We were staying in a bed & breakfast, and I'm not a fan.  At all.  I find them super creepy.  I had done some research online and found stand alone guesthouses.  I was hoping we could get El Jefe's because I liked the privacy of the courtyard.  When we got to the lodging office, they had all of the properties listed on the walls with a lot more photos than we saw online.  We immediately agreed that we wanted to stay in Eden's Gate.  The pictures online did absolutely no justice to the place.  There is a fireplace at the foot of the bed and a MASSIVE copper soaking tub.  The room wasn't ready so we set out to walk around Main Street.  Stewart called Ranch A and left a message that we were in town and wondering what time he could ride (since they told us he would ride on Sunday!).  Right next door to the lodging office was the Old German Bakery & Restaurant. The pastries looked delicious!  So we ducked in and got a peach pastry to tide us over until lunch.  We headed over to the Pacific War Museum which is made up of the Admiral Nimitz Museum and the George W. Bush Museum.  Tickets were good for two days and multiple entries so we bought our tickets and then headed over to the Fredericksburg Brewery for lunch.  At this point, I made a comment about how much I love German food to which Stewart responded that he did not like it and what was the deal with red cabbage?  Who eats that stuff?  We sat down for lunch and I was so excited to see that they had German food!  So of course I ordered Jager Schnitzel, German potato salad, and .... red cabbage.  I love that stuff!  After lunch, we headed back to the lodging office to see if our room was ready.  On the way there, we checked out the old buildings.  A lot of them dated back to the early 1900s/late 1800s.  It was really neat to see the old architecture.  We also called Ranch C who never called back.  We did get in touch with Ranch A who told Stewart that one way or another, he'd be on a horse on Monday.

We found out our room was ready and headed over to check it out.  It was amazing!  We definitely made the right choice.  I just had to take a picture in the MASSIVE soaking tub because I couldn't get over how big it was!  I'm 6' and can't remember the last time I fit in a tub.  This was nice.  We were a little tired from all the walking so we took a quick nap and woke up in time to head over to the Pacific Combat Zone part of the museum for the guided tour.  It was pretty interesting.  We were the last tour of the day and there were only four people so the guide let us get up close to some of the different exhibits.  It was pretty cool to be standing right behind the wing of an actual torpedo bomber from the war and be within inches of touching it.  I love history and am so glad Stewart does too.  After the tour ended, we headed back to the room as there was no way we were nearly hungry enough for dinner!  I told Stewart that I needed to run a quick errand and would be right back.  He tried to come with me but I told him he had to stay.  Even though we weren't home on his birthday, he still needed a birthday cake!  I went down to the Clear River Pecan Co. and picked up a slice of carrot cake which would easily feed two!  While I was gone, Stewart was checking out the different restaurants in the area.  We hung around the room for a bit playing Scrabble.  I had packed all of the cards that Stewart had gotten in the mail and brought them with me.  Stewart decided that he couldn't wait until after dinner to open them.  So we did gifts and cards and then headed over to the Silver Creek Beer Garden.  We loved that the restaurant was in an old home.  We sat in one of the rooms by a fireplace and browsed the menu.  Everything looked so good!  And then Stewart surprised me by ordering sauerbraten short ribs which came with spatzle (he didn't even know what that was!).  I had a prime rib.  Both of our dinners were fantastic.  Turns out, Stewart is a big fan of spatzle and sauerbraten.  When Stewart got up from the table at the beginning of our meal, I told the waitress that it was his birthday and she said "don't worry, I've got this".  I was excited because most places say they don't do anything.  And then she asked if he liked chocolate.  I felt my excitement leave.  No, my husband does not like chocolate.  It didn't seem to phase her though as she offered carrot cake as the alternative.  Yes, that would work (secretly wishing I hadn't gone to the bakery and bought some!).  Stewart even asked if I had asked the waitress if they did anything and I told him I didn't ask - given my aversion to talking to strangers, he didn't even question it.  So he was very surprised at the end of the meal when she came out with a huge slice of cake with a candle on it!

On Monday we woke up and found out that it had been raining.  Ugh.  That put a damper on our day.  The room came with bakery coupons so we headed down to Rathskeller Hill Country Bistro for breakfast. It was a fun little place in the basement of what used to be the hospital.  The whole building was very small though.  I ordered eggs benedict while Stewart had what he calls a standard breakfast - two eggs, hash browns, toast, and bacon.  My portion was huge and there was no way I could finish it all ... especially since I was still full from the day before.  During breakfast, Stewart decided that maybe Ranch A just didn't like to talk on the phone so he texted her.  He said This is Stewart ... and then she annoyed us by responding Hi Stuart.  Really?  You want business?  She said it was raining out at the ranch and maybe he could ride in the afternoon.  We went back to the room so I could get ready (Stewart was afraid we'd miss breakfast so I didn't have a chance to brush my teeth or hair) before heading to the museum.  While I was getting ready, Stewart sat out on the balcony and enjoyed his coffee in the misting weather.  At least it wasn't as cold as it was the day before.

We headed over to the museum which was amazingly large.  There was a memorial garden that was dedicated to all those who had ever served with or under Admiral Nimitz (little known fact: Stewart's great-uncle served with Nimitz, and I believe he knew him).  The museum ended up being some kind of time trap because before we knew it, it was 3 pm and we were starving.  Luckily, we could come and go as we pleased and the museum had a great set up.  There were doors to the lobby with letters on them so that if you left, you could just reenter where you left off without having to walk through the whole thing again.  We decided that we were in the mood for BBQ.  The first two places we tried ended up being closed on Mondays so we settled for David's Old Fashioned Pit BBQ.  The place was a bit ridiculous.  Stewart and I like pit BBQ and try and eat at Hard 8's in Brady when possible.  This place charged us for BBQ sauce!  They're going to serve BBQ without sauce and then make you pay for it?  If we end up in Fredericksburg again, we will not be eating here.  We headed back to the museum and finished looking at everything.  There was so much information to take in!  I'm sure that I took away a lot of new information but I couldn't even tell you anything right now.  It was a bit overwhelming.  On our way back to the room, we stopped at Fredericksburg Pie Company for two slices of apple pie.  If we had been home for Stewart's birthday, I was going to make one for him so I didn't want him to miss out.  When we got to the room, we realized that we were still incredibly full and didn't even think we'd be hungry for dinner.  Stewart suggested just eating the pie for dinner but I told him it was too sweet for me to just eat that.  We decided to wait a bit before eating so I took a nap while Stewart played Scrabble.  We decided to head over to Silver Creek again and order a caesar salad and some soup to split.  There was no way we could have eaten another full meal.  We had a picnic in our room which was the perfect ending to the day.

We got up early this morning ... correction - Stewart got up early this morning and started getting everything packed up and taking things down to the car.  I got up about 30 minutes later.  We stopped at the Old German Bakery for breakfast on our way out of town at 7.  I am not much a breakfast person, especially as soon as I wake up but I also knew that there weren't any stops along the drive home.  We split a ham, egg, and cheese croissant.  Stewart ate the hash browns and I ordered two pastries to go.  The sandwich was really good and an amazing deal.  We were both full and it only cost $8!  Texas portions are way too big!  We got home a couple of hours ago and Stewart's already back at work.  I had one of the pastries and am about to eat the other for the rest of my lunch!

Despite never getting to ride a horse, we had a great weekend.  It was so nice to get away from the stress of moving and never knowing when we're leaving.  Even though the weather was rainy yesterday, the museum was great.  We had a fantastic time in Fredericksburg.