The LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, TX
Saturday, October 14, 2023: On our way to Fredericksburg, Texas from Austin, we stopped at the LBJ Ranch, part of the Lyndon Baines Johnson National Historical Park, about 50 miles (80 km) west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country. We took a self-guiding driving tour of the LBJ Ranch and walked around the grounds of the main house and property. Sadly the Airplane Hangar Visitor Center was closed and entrance to the house was prohibited since the park service was preparing to do a major renovation to the hangar and the house.
A mat at the front door of the Texas White House once read: “All the World is Welcome Here.” It was a welcoming and pleasant experience to walk around the ranch property with its cool breezes, shaded by giant gnarled trees. Besides that, we had the place all to ourselves. We loved the setting and could see why the Johnson family loved it so much.
The park protects the birthplace, home, ranch, and grave of Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th president of the United States. During Johnson’s administration, the LBJ Ranch was known as the Texas White House because the President spent approximately 20% of his time in office there. After the President’s death in 1973, Mrs. Johnson continued to live at the Ranch part time until her death in 2007.
The U.S. Secret Service Command Post, in a small white cottage, housed the electronic surveillance equipment that helped protect the president and his family.
In the Hangar was a Lockheed Jet-Star, one of five Jet-Star aircraft used at the ranch. Owing to its small size, President Johnson jokingly referred to this type of jet as “Air Force One-Half.”
We stopped at the Johnson Family Cemetery where generations of Johnsons are buried, including President and Lady Bird Johnson.
Nearby was the home of LBJ’s grandfather, Sam Early Johnson, Sr. We also saw the reconstructed LBJ Birthplace.
Finally we stopped at the one-room Junction School that Lyndon attended at age 4.
The Annular Solar Eclipse in Luckenbach, TX
We drove on to the charming ghost-like town of Luckenbach, where a crowd was gathering to watch the annular solar eclipse at 11:50 a.m. The town is known as a venue for country music and for its German-Texan heritage.
Its oldest building is a combination general store & saloon most likely opened in 1886 by Minnie Engel, whose father was an itinerant preacher from Germany. The community, first named Grape Creek, was later renamed after Engel’s husband, Carl Albert Luckenbach. Luckenbach was first established as a community trading post, one of a few that never broke a peace treaty with the Comanche Indians, with whom they traded.
The population grew to 492 in 1904, but by the 1960s it was almost a ghost town. A newspaper ad offered “town – pop. 3 – for sale.” Actor Gurch Koock and Hondo Crouch, a Texas rancher and folklorist, bought the town for $30,000 in 1970, in partnership with Kathy Morgan. The town has hosted unique festivals including the Luckenbach Women’s Chili Cook-off and some of Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July picnics in the 1990s. Today, the town maintains a ghost-town feel and a strong western aesthetic.
There’s a statue on the premises of Jerry Jeff Walker, who recorded his album Viva Terlingua! in Luckenbach’s famous dance hall in 1973, putting the destination on the map. The sculpture honors the singer, who died in 2020 at the age of 78, and Luckenbach founder Hondo Crouch. This statue was created 50 years after Viva Terlingua! and 45 years after Waylon Jennings had a #1 hit with the “Luckenbach TX” song.
We shopped at the general store where we bought graphic tee-shirts. At The Snail Creek Hat Co., I bought a Texas-style straw hat while Mike was off getting our snack fixings from the car. He was surprised when he came back to find me in a hat! Because we spent more than $100, we got a wooden nickel which we could use to get a free beer at the saloon. We settled at a picnic table and ate pimiento cheese crackers and watched the annular solar eclipse with our paper eclipse glasses, marveling at the ring of fire. Then, we found the coolest shadows from the eclipse in the doorway to the saloon. That was a super surprising phenomenon which gave us quite a thrill.
We shared a pulled pork mac-n-cheese from the Mac’n Wag’n food truck. The whole atmosphere was very festive and it was fun to be part of a group all peering at the sun with our paper glasses on! There was even a motorcycle gang there. We loved the whole experience.
Charming Fredericksburg, TX
When we were in Luckenbach, we overheard someone telling a couple which were the best wineries to visit. Fredericksburg is known for its many wineries and distilleries. Our eavesdropping paid off and we went to Texas Heritage Vineyard, where we sat out back on the patio. I had a glass of 2021 Fiore del Sol and Mike had the 2019 Estate Malbec. They had live music on the porch, first a singer named Jake somebody. We LOVED ShAnnie, a couple who named their 3-person group after their combined names of Shannon and Annie. They were fabulous singers and funny too. Annie told how she met Shannon, who was 18 years older than her. She knew he was older, maybe only by 10 years, but it was “awfully dark outside.” She said the next solar eclipse would be in 2046, at which time they could still play; Shannon would only be 93.
In the video below ShAnnie (Annie on the left, Shannon on the right) bookends another singer whose name I don’t know.
Anyway, they were great singers and songwriters and between the wine and the music, there were chill vibes all around.
We checked in at Wine Country Inn for our one night in Fredericksburg. The hotel was nothing special but we loved Fredericksburg!
When we arrived in Fredericksburg, we walked down the Main Street popping in and out of all the cool shops and boutiques. Mike and I both bought stuff. The town was bustling with families strolling up and down. A festive vibe permeated the crowds.
Fredericksburg was founded in 1846 and named after Prince Frederick of Prussia. Old-time German residents often referred to Fredericksburg as Fritztown, a nickname that sticks today. I thank the blogger Pit, of Pit’s Fritztown News, for bringing my attention to Fredericksburg. The city is known as the home of Texas German, a dialect spoken by the first generations of German settlers who initially refused to learn English.
We enjoyed a German dinner at Ausländer Biergarten. We shared “Old World Potato Soup,” topped with pumpernickel croutons and cheese, and German meatballs in beef gravy served over fresh spaetzle. We topped the meal off with apple strudel, made with sweet apples, sugared dates, and toasted pecans, served hot with ice cream, whipped cream and caramel. Yummy!
We stopped at H-E-B grocery store to pick up sandwich fixings and breakfast stuff for the next day’s journey to Big Bend National Park.
We really loved this area and wished we’d had a couple more days here.
Steps: 10,126; Miles 4.29. Drove 88.6 miles. Weather Hi 77°F, Lo 49°F.
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area
Sunday, October 15: Sunday morning before driving to Big Bend, we went to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area just north of Fredericksburg. We climbed to the summit, walking 1.66 miles for 1 1/2 hours.
What looks like two rocks, Enchanted Rock and Little Rock, are actually part of a larger mass known as a batholith. At over 1.1 billion years in age, and extending almost 12 miles to the northwest, the surface area of the Enchanted Rock Batholith is over 100 square miles, roughly the size of Amarillo, Texas.
Cracks in Enchanted Rock are evidence of weathering which has chipped and whittled away at layers of the granite domes. This begins with a process called exfoliation, where large pieces of granite separate themselves from the granite mass. The erosion of granite creates a unique soil environment that allows flora and fauna to thrive and grow in this otherwise dry and rocky landscape.
We could see crustose (growing like a crust) lichens painting the rocks neon green, black, bright orange and red. Sideoats grama grows along the trails in the park; it is the Texas State grass. Also here are Switchgrass, little bluestem, Indiangrass and big bluestem.
Enchanted Rock is home to a large number of fern species. Over 25 different ferns have been recorded here. One common is the fairy sword which grows in the more shaded east side of boulders and shelves where more moisture is available.
At the summit, we had 360 degree views of the Texas Hill Country. We also found, much to our delight, rare vernal pools, home to the delicate fairy shrimp and rock quillwort. We also found little oases of prickly pear and claret cup cacti, lichens painting the rocks, fairy sword ferns, and the “jumping” tasajillo cactus 🌵.
We drove back to Fredericksburg to get gas as we were running on fumes, and then headed west toward Big Bend National Park, the anchor destination of our entire trip.
~ wander.essence ~ 
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