Pedernales Falls (Austin, Johnson City: shops, bars, places to eat)

[Phisch]

Well, instead of being practical and preparing for Thursday, we are playing hookey from Thanksgiving Day duties and plan to head out to explore Pedernales Falls. We will have a map and directions to get to the state park, but do any PF veterans have any tips on what we have to see while we're there?

Nice places to eat lunch in Johnson City or is Fredricksburg nicer?

[Moonlady]

Phisch actually spelled it right. Considering everyone says per-den-alleys, most folks don't get the spelling right.

I'm partial to Fredricksburg- lots of fun little places to see like Dooley's 5 & 10. If you're not going on Thursday itself (everything will likely be closed), I'd recommend The Fredricksburg Brewing Co. They have some traditional German fare along with a pretty good selection of dishes. It's right there on Main - hard to miss.

[tanyagail]

Wow, Phish! We must think alike. My husband, two kids, and I are planning on doing the exact same thing at Pedernales Falls. And I thought we were being original!

We are going to pack turkey sandwiches with cranberry relish (pick up some smoked turkey from a local BBQ joint of course), corn bread, and pumpkin bars for the picnic while hiking.

Maybe we'll see you on the trails!

[Phisch]

Hehe...Tanyagail, wave at any mom, dad and two boys groups you see. One could be us. But with a park that size, and it being Wednesday, I hope it won't be too crowded.

Our oldest is on a special diet but we'll say goodbye to it for today (and deal with it later). I'll bring snacks but am hoping to experience a fun new place to eat. So, thanks for the recommendations, Moonlady, I'm writing them down. We drove through Fredricksburg when we moved out here to Austin and I agree, I like it. Very quaint, lots of little cafes (coffeeeee!) and shops.

Yeah PEH-der-NAH-les. The parks web site has a video about Pedernales and the video host said something about people saying PERdenales because of fmr. Pres. Johnson. I thought that was kind of fun trivia.

[tanyagail]

Phish--Let us know how it was and if you have any tips for families with youngsters--ages 7 and 5. We are actually going tomorrow on Thanksgiving (hence the turkey sandwiches) so will have missed you on the trails!

Tanya

[Phisch]

Ahh...went today, but weren't there long.

Bring your food in or go early. We left really late. We hit some traffic at the Y going out, and in retrospect we should have taken Slaughter to 1824 to 290 W. It wasn't bad traffic, but since we were in Circle C, it would have made more sense.

It was hot out there today (80s) and our boys were red Water is good, of course. There are lots of places with picnic benches and tables so no worries there. But bring swimming gear. We hit the part of the park that was a designated swimming area (complete with a small beach) and were missing out on enjoying the water because it wasn't as cold as we thought it would be. So bring swimming gear. We hope to go back soon! There's a lot we didn't get to see.

We found our way in to the park from Johnson City itself, but that's only because we missed the exit from the 290 to 3232. I'm sure that if I weren't knitting, we would have seen it. But there is only one sign and 3232 is not a big road and so easy to miss. Next time we go we'll keep our eyes out for it. When you drive into the park, there's a fork in the road and one of those forks heads to Johnson City so if you wanted to eat there, that's the quick way if you enter Pedernales from 3232.

After walking a bit, we headed out to Johnson City, didn't see anything interesting and headed to Fredricksburg. We at at a place that had a sign that said "voted best burgers in town" which sounded better than the other place that was called Best Burgers in Town. Both places had burger plates that averaged at $8. Ouch.

We went to the War of the Pacific museum after lunch. I loved it, hubby loved it but the boys, well...didn't. They just couldn't appreciate the fact that mommy's grandpa was in The War so had to indulge herself.

[Phisch]

We took lots of pictures. Well, hubby did:

Pedernales Falls State park and Fredricksburg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thephisch/sets/72157603259733996/ - broken link)

[case44]

Even after the Thanksgiving season, I still would like to check that place out. I might do that one on a road trip next year.

[texastea]

Love the pictures, Phisch, but did you take any of the falls? The trees along the river look pretty sad because of the flood...that's where tire came from, too, I guess

[Phisch]

Texastea, we didn't actually make it to the falls. We have a habit of just driving and not paying attention to the signs. It's ok, though, since the sights we did make it to were gorgeous enough. And it's just another reason to go back soon