Day 3, Bilbrey Tour to San Antonio

Activity Date: Sunday, November 25, 2018

After another good, filling breakfast at the Drury, we all boarded the bus at 9:15, and soon our driver, Rudy, made his way through the streets of San Antonio heading towards Fredericksburg. We made a short stop in Comfort at Love's for necessities, then made our way the last few miles to Fredericksburg, a town Donna and I know well.

Lobby of the Drury. Breakfast and supper are served on second floor, as seen above. Look carefully and you will see Miss Donna sitting lower-right center with other members of our tour group.

Our first stop of the day was the Peddler Show, held at the Gillespie County Fairgrounds on the southern edge of Fredericksburg. The Peddler Show is a collection of vendors and artisans spread out in 3 buildings. Although this is not something Donna and I would normally attend, we did enjoy our time there and we even picked up some Christmas presents. It was a rather cool day, though, and those old fairground buildings were a bit breezy. We were glad to get back on the bus.

Some of the vendors at the Peddler Show

More Peddler Show vendors.

Next stop was a chocolate shop in town appropriately named Chocolat. Our tour group squeezed into this small shop along Main Street just west of the courthouse for a brief tour of the shop, then we were each provided a sample of the liquid filled chocolates made there. I do love good chocolate, and this is some really good chocolate.

Lecia Duke, owner/operator of Chocolat in Fredericksburg

We were then able to check in to our hotel, the Inn on Barons Creek. Donna and I stayed here on a recent trip, and we really enjoyed the place. Not only are the rooms nice, but the complimentary breakfast is quite good, and it is located close to the shops we enjoy on Main Street .

After checking in to our rooms, we then climbed aboard the bus once again and headed east to Johnson City. Supper that evening was at the East Main Grill. After supper, the bus took us a few blocks south to the Pedernales Electric Co-op to view the Christmas lights there. Fantastic! I think you'd really have to see these lights to truly appreciate their beauty. More than 1.3 million lights adorn the oak trees clustering the property. We also drove by the beautifully decorated town square.

Beautiful scene at Pedernales Electric Co-op

Over 1.3 million lights in these trees.

Visitors viewing the lights.

Another look at the lights.

Square in Johnson City

Blanco County Courthouse, with tractor pulling trailer loaded with people in foreground.

Rudy, our bus driver, did a great job the entire trip.

Then it was back to the hotel. It had been a long day, and it was good to finally crawl into bed.