An LBJ Weekend in the Texas Hill Country

The Texas Hill Country provides some very scenic countryside and makes for a very pleasant venue for driving and exploring. Highlights included Pedernales Falls State Park, the LBJ Ranch, and a walk through Fredericksburg.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

A car is definitely required.

While not strictly in Fredericksburg, the Hilltop Cafe is a very quick 10-mile drive north on Highway 87. Located in what appears to be a converted gas station, the restaurant appears to draw crowds from miles around with its eclectic decor and menu that is a mixture of Greek (spanakopita, flaming cheese, etc.) and Cajun, with a number of other "hybrid" dishes thrown in.

The quality of the food is very good overall, and the menu places an admirably high emphasis on locally raised produce. A good range of specials supplements a pretty extensive regular menu. I thought that my food was very well-prepared but nothing more extraordinary than anything I have eaten in other restaurants. I ordered Loin of Venison as an entree which came with mashed potatos and steamed vegetables. Although Venison can be a very strong and flavourful meat, there was something lacking in this preparation which would have taken it from "good" to "great". The potatoes, sad to say, were among the most mediocre that I have had in a restaurant for quite some time.

The restaurant also offers a broad range of desserts, and my blackberry pie was excellent.

Those expecting that the rather ramshackle premises and out of the way location will mean that the Hilltop Cafe's prices are suitably low will be surprised - the cost of the meal was equivalent to what I would pay in the big city.

Overall, this is an enjoyable place to visit and you will not go wrong by coming here. That being said, the quality of restaurants in the Hill Country must be somewhat poor if people trek from miles around to come to a place which, in my view, was only good, at best.

Just a few miles out of Johnson City, heading towards Austin is the very scenic Pedernales Falls State Park, home to some very attractive waterfalls as the Pedernales River spills over rocky outcroppings. While nowhere near the size of Niagara Falls (these falls are caused more by a gradual decline in the land rather than a sheer drop), the relevant portion of the Pedernales River is nestled in some very attractive countryside.

The Falls are a very short and leisurely walk from the parking facilities and access to the actual riverbank is very easy. The park also appears to provide camping and sporting facilities although I only visited the Falls themselves.

There is a user fee of 4 dollars per person to visit the park, but I considered that excellent value for what was a very plesant diversion for the trip from Johnson City to Austin.

The LBJ National Historic Park is actually divided into two sites - the LBJ Boyhood Home (and attached visitor centre) in Johnson City, TX, and the LBJ Ranch and birthplace site in Stonewall, about 10 miles west of Johnson City on Hwy. 290.

The Johnson City site provides a better introduction to the life and work of LBJ since the Visitor Centre contains a quite well laid out museum and theatre with a film about his life. Visitors can tour his boyhood home a short walk away.

Access to the LBJ ranch is provided only by a NPS tour bus (costs six dollars per person). The tour takes you to LBJ's birthplace (actually a reconstruction of the original), the Johnson family cemetery (in which LBJ is buried), the Texas White House and a barn area to view the LBJ ranch cattles and goats. As the main house is still occupied by the Johnson family, visitors only drive by the outside and see some of the outbuildings constructed when the ranch really did serve as the alternate White House.

The tour stops at two points: for a visit to the birthplace and cemetery and at the barn area to view the animals. I thought the latter stop was a little too lengthy and probably caters more to the younger members of tour groups. Nevertheless, the visit was fascinating and well worth making the trip out of Austin.