Frigid in Fredericksburg

Six years ago Nancy and I stayed in Fredericksburg, Texas for a few days and thought it was a really cool place.  Established way back in 1845 by German immigrants, it still had evidence of German influence, especially in some of its restaurants.  By the time we first visited in 2012 it was the center of the Texas wine industry - although the wine we tried then was barely drinkable.  Friendly people, good restaurants, and Fredericksburg had one of the best museums I've ever walked through - the George W. Bush Museum of the War in the Pacific.

On our current trip we made it a point to revisit this town, which had charmed us back then.  As we approached Fredericksburg we were amazed by the number of wineries that lined the highway; it was almost like we were touring Sonoma or Paso Robles.  We hoped that the region's wine industry had grown up while we were gone.

Fredericksburg has expanded since we were here in 2012.  There are lots more interesting restaurants and shops along Main Street.  One evening we enjoyed alcoholic beverages at one of the more elegant establishments of my experience - The Bar - where there was a very good singer and some of the patrons wore ten-gallon hats.

The park on Main Street was a Christmas wonderland, with an ice skating rink, huge decorated trees, a manger scene, and a multi-story tower with animated characters.

Our RV park in Fredericksburg was not Shangri-la but it was a big improvement over the previous disaster.  We were told that the weather forecast was for unseasonably cold temperatures by New Years Eve.  And by that night the internet told us that temperatures would not rise above freezing for the next couple of days.  We bundled up to visit the town park's New Year's Eve celebration, but there was so much ice covering the windshield that we chickened out.  And even though the water hose we used was electrically heated, we were worried about the water supply within our motorhome because the park's supply pipes were unheated.  Would we be able to take showers, flush the toilet, and wash dishes?  And indeed when we woke up on New Years Day, turning on the faucets yielded .. nothing.