Kennedy's Loose in Fredericksburg.

 This foursome of friends decided we needed to take a trip to Fredericksburg and check out the wineries and distillers in the area. John and Kelli hadn't been in 9 years so they were in for a big surprise at how much the area had grown. Every year I go there's at least 3 new wineries built if not more.

Wednesday (11/29) morning we all met up at the Kennel to board our overgrown lap dogs for a couple of nights. Dropped off the dogs and we were off. Our first stop was at a Buc-cees for a potty and snack break till we got The Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood. 

It's been a couple of years since we'd been to Salt Lick so there were several changes. They even had their own winery right next door.  The outdoor area had changed up and enlarged. To get there my google maps took us on the back roads to avoid where 290 ends and stacks up so bad. Kelli was worried we were lost and in the middle of nowhere. Lol. We did made to Salt Lick. If you wanted wine with your lunch we would have to walk over to order and come back to the dining table so for now we passed. We had plenty of wine in our future. LOL.  Kelli took a picture of her food. Rib plate.  John had brisket and sausage, and so did David and I. We shared the plate. It wasn't bad but not as good as I remembered. Darn it. That's okay we sat there and discussed our next couple of stops.  With our tummies full we headed off to our first tasting of wine in Hye.

We spent a fair amount of time at Ron Yates Winery. Our first wine stop. John and Kelli did a wine tasting and David ordered a glass of Amalgamation and I asked for water. The wine is a little drier than I like. 

Then Daniel our host put a glass in front of me and said try this. It was a Merlot. I'm like I don't know but I did and wow I actually liked it so I got a glass. Daniel is a fun guy and made sure we enjoyed our time. He told me he thought I might like the Merlot because it fruit forward.. He was right. LOL 

From here we had to stop at the Rhinory Winery. Say that 3 times real fast. We didn't do a tasting but Kelli wanted to get a video of Blake the Rhino. 

Once Kelli got her video of this guy we headed just down the road to Untamed just outside Johnson City. A new place that Pamela and the nurses found when they were in town in November.  Pamela told me to try their Pinot Grigio that I would like it. And she was right.   The others did a tasting. Kelli couldn't eat much of her ribs because they hadn't removed silver skin off so she was still hungry and she ordered the pizza that Pamela told us was so good.  Kudos to Pamela. Kelli said the pizza was great. Before leaving we took pictures in front of the Christmas Tree.

Oh what fun it is to save wine today🎵🎵

Our next stop was Fiesta Winery and then to Hondo's in downtown Fredericksburg for a bite to eat.  After filling our tummies we headed to Kerrville to our hotel. 

Time to call it a day and start over tomorrow.

Thursday 11/30, we got up and went to Hilda's for breakfast. David and I split the miga's. The portions are very generous. David loves this place and I think John and Kelli liked it. We now have energy to start the day off. We stopped downtown to go to Ruslin' Bob's Texas Spices. And who should be at the front door to greet us but Mr and Mrs Claus. Kelli and I got to sit with them for a pictures. We're just big kids. Right?! 

Next we went to Luckenbach Texas. Hung out here for a while. 

We had to comply

From here we were headed to what was called Luckenbach Distillers but is now called 1693. On our way I spied an old rusted truck that asked me to take its picture. I couldn't pass it up. 

1693 Distillers is all outside and a pretty cool place but by this time next year they'll probably be part of a bigger plan and inside. They have a nice set up but developers of the land have a different plan. It'll be a big complex with a Salt Lick BBQ restaurant and other shopping and eateries. Should make traffic a nightmare in that area.

We all enjoyed this stop.

 David and I are trying to take John and Kelli to places that we feel they would like. It's been 9 years since they had last been to Fredericksburg so we wanted them to enjoy.

We headed to Pedernales Cellars next. I figured they might enjoy the wines and the views off the deck.  The deck that was being rebuilt so we took a table beyond where deck is being rebuilt. LOL

Kathy K. if you're reading this. Check out the earrings. The ones you made me. Love them.

Our next stop was Narrow Path. It was just cool enough outside we sat inside. Nice Wine and view over the valley. 

We thought we'd take them to Williams Chris vineyard but when we got there the guy that greeted us, who talked like Serg in Beverly Hills Cop. At first I thought it was a joke but I don't think so. Anyway he asked if we had reservations which we didn't but there was no one inside and he goes that will be $32.50 each. Wait all of us don't want to do a tasting and told us we'd have to wait. Very snobbish so we left. I didn't like their wine anyway.

Our final stop was at Altstadt Brewery for a drink. They have a yummy sangria. I don't/can't drink beer. David and John enjoyed the beer. 

We almost stayed there for dinner but we'd told them about Alamo Springs Cafe so once we finished our drinks we headed on to Alamo Springs. We got there about 50 minutes before they closed. We asked if it was too late and they told us no please come on in.

I was disappointed in the food this time and I think it was because we got there so late. The fried green beans and onion rings weren't their usual quality or flavor. Darn it. Didn't make a good impression on John and Kelli. Maybe they'll give it another chance if we go back again. 

After dinner it was back to the hotel for the night. All that driving and exploring makes one tired.

Friday 12/1, It's John's birthday. For his birthday breakfast we headed to the Sunset Grill. The food was good. And we're off to save some more wine from the bottle.

We tried somewhere new for even me. Alexander Vineyards. I shared a tasting with David but for the most part it was his because I'm not a dry wine drinker. While everyone was doing their tasting the hostess gave me a tasting of a wine of my own think it might like it and I did.  Surprise. Then she gave each of us a bit of creamy blue cheese to try with the next tasting. Creamy blue cheese has a bite but it was good and it brought out the flavors of the next wine that you didn't detect before the blue cheese.  A nice place.

I made a reservation for Augusta Vin. Our last place before leaving town and heading home. While there Kelli and I got a chocolate truffle. Yum. Chocolate and wine go well together. The boys missed out. 

A toast to John for his birthday.

      

We took a different route home through San Saba and stopped at the Wedding Oak Winery in town.  We each had a glass on the patio.

So David found horns and then wood. No Comment. He had plenty of comments.

Only my husband.

We left here and headed to where else .... Dead Fish Grill on Lake Belton. Then home.

Great food as usual. Kelli is ready to go back. It was dusk when we got there so they didn't get to enjoy the view of the lake so we'll have to go back during the day.

My thought was Fredericksburg survived the Kennedy's and we survived Fredericksburg.

A great trip with friends.

Until the next blog post...