Chopstork

Last Thursday, after Flagstaff and before the flat tire in Sulphur, we continued on from New Mexico to Austin. The first big city we passed through was El Paso. Damn, El Paso air is nasty. Everything around us looked like the pictures in the header of this blog because of the smog.

About an hour west of Austin, we stopped in Fredericksburg for dinner. All I knew about Fredericksburg, TX was that my insurance company is based there. Turns out it’s a pretty nice town (from the little we saw). Main Street has a whole bunch of “really cute shops” as girls would say, with a square and outdoor ice rink in the middle. Naturally the square was lit up with Christmas decorations. Texans sure like Texas (there’s supposed to be a picture here of christmas lights shaped like Texas, but I haven’t uploaded those yet). It was unfortunate that we got there too late to check out the stores and see more.

To avoid confusion, if you are ever in Virginia and pass through Fredericksburg—as you may well do on your drive from the airport when you visit us—do not get your hopes up for a nice quick stop there. Fredericksburg, Virginia is the armpit of Virginia. Let’s compare.

Fredericksburg, TX: Main roads to town are quiet country roads lined with trees, opening up to a quaint but lively Main Street as you enter the town, full of small local shops and restaurants.
Fredericksburg, VA: Road to town is a congested I-95. Butted up against the interstate is the Central Park shopping mall—not even a real mall, it is a mega strip-mall complex, known affectionately by some as the “Central Parking Lot.”
Fredericksburg, TX: Dining options include a lovely German restaurant and bar serving a variety of schnitzels and other tasty meals, with a full menu until at least 10 pm.
Fredericksburg, VA: Traits of local restaurants include: Inability to serve french fries because they are out of potatoes; Serving meals with hair in food; Banana splits without bananas because they don’t have bananas in stock; Disappearing waitress due to her making out with lesbian girlfriend in the kitchen. At different restaurants. On the same night.
Fredericksburg, TX: Worth stopping by if you’re in the area.
Fredericksburg, VA: Worth avoiding if you’re in the area. Good only as a marker for Rt 15, which takes you to Rt 29, which takes you to Charlottesville.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 6th, 2007 at 9:30 pm and is filed under Whatever. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.