Fredericksburg, Texas...

On Saturday, we made a day trip to Frederickburg Tx.  It's a gorgeous quaint little town about 2 1/2 hours south of us that was settled in the 1700-1800's by German immigrants. I have always loved this little town, but haven't been able to visit in about 12-13 years. 

Wow! The town has flourished and there are sooooo many amazing shops to visit. I think that, quite honestly, I was a bit overwhelmed because when I looked back at my photos, I really only took photos in one place (albeit, it was the MOST AMAZING store as you will see.)

We started out the day at an incredible German restaurant...no photos, but that is probably good. I don't really need photographic evidence of my weeks worth of points that I ate at this ONE MEAL...LOL!

Kat & I had a fabulous time shopping in this darling little bead shop that had...get this....a pet rooster in the shop. No photos and Kat even petted the rooster?!?! What was I thinking...oh yeah, Ben took off down the street and he was the one with the camera at this point in the day.

An amazing scrapbook store which I knew was going to be good when I walked up and all the new Graphic45 lines were in the window. Fantastic store!! and to make it even more perfect...there is a totally male bookstore on the back half of the store so the guys loved being there too. Perfection!!!  We will definitely be going back there esp. since the owner said that they have tons of new CHA goodies coming in over the next month. BUT you guess it...no photos! Although I do have a photo of my supplies that I bought at the end of the post. ;o)

There also was an amazing coffee shop decorated in western decor that had the most gorgeous mural on the wall with a working windmill built into the mural. Complete with shotgun shell lights over the tin roofed counter...it was a beautiful place...No photos!

Ben and I did a wine tasting for Grape Creek wineries in this beautiful little art gallery while Kat created art and Jacob checked out the museum just down the block. No photos although we do have some really good wine and even better port now (absolutely the best port I have ever had- Grape Creek wineries.)

We were almost through walking through the town (and only visited a couple of the shops out of the hundred there) when an arched gate caught my eye. 

I was taking photos of it when I realized that it led into this close that was filled with architectural salvage for sale. I love taking photos of architectural details so I whipped out my camera and started going down this little path (much to Jacob's chagrin...he was sure that we weren't supposed to be back there.)

This pathway led into this beautiful courtyard filled with this fountain and TONS of gorgeous architectural salvage. 

The kids are looking at the huge goldfish in this pond back in this courtyard.

The courtyard was enclosed by this great stone wall with these really old arched doors. I would say all of this was easily original and 100-200 years old and so beautiful!

Just playing with my photography and solar flare here....

The doorway above was on one side and then this double doorway below was on another side.

The detail on these doors was incredible! (Can you tell I have a thing for doors??)

Heart shaped lock...

Even the bar that went into the ground to hold the gate in place was incredibly ornate and detailed...

The lanterns on the walls mounted next to the arched doorways.

Then we went inside. Keep in mind that we went into this store from basically the back door so I had NO IDEA what visual treasures awaited us. The backside of the store was basically a storeroom for architectural salvage and then things really started getting beautiful...

This store was also incredibly huge (another thing that we didn't realize going in...we just kept following the rooms where there were more and more goodies for us to drool over...)

Love these flowers made from sewing pattern tissue paper...

I think that I need a polkadot loveseat...

And then we went through this archway and came to the main part of the store (check out that ceiling!???!!!)

3 stories of amazing antiques filled this gorgeous store. I have no idea what the store was originally, but it was gasp-worthy without all the incredible decor in it and it was HUGE!!

Wood floors, tin ceiling, and OMG...LOOK at this staircase...

And then finally we came to the front of the store (which we saw last...hehe!) The store is called Homestead and if you are ever in Fredericksburg, you simply must spend an hour or two in there. I took 75 photos in this store alone and I could have taken so many more. It's an amazing store with a fantastic inventory.

This photo is still from Homestead...just some of the porch detail.

And that is it for my photos from Fredericksburg...LOL! I promise to have more variety the next time we go. ;o)

One of the things that I love is architecture. It makes me so sad to see amazing homesteads that have been abandoned, so over the years we have tried to document some of them. On the drive home, we took some photos of a couple of them that were along the road that looked like maybe they had been abandoned.

Look at this beauty just outside of Mason, Tx. I am not sure that she was abandoned, but she sure could use some work and upkeep. I would LOVE to see the inside!

This was a quaint little house (below) also on the outside of Mason that had a for sale sign on it. It looks like it may have been open to the public at one point in time, so I am hoping to find some history on it. The details on it are incredible.

This little cabin(below) had a phone number in front of it so I think that maybe it might be for rent. I am thinking that this might be fun for a weekend....

And then I had to post this...

Think that we wore them out? LOL! I need to note that they both told me not to post this on Facebook (yes, Kat says that now too everytime I take her photo) but you can note that this is my blog and NOT Facebook. ;o)

And then a final photo....my new scrapbook goodies from Journey Lane (the scrapbook store in Fredericksburg.) LOVE!

Well worth the visit!!!