KERRVILLE, TX (Day 2).  Today we drove to the James Avery headquarters here in Kerrville.  It is just outside town on several beautiful acres.  They have a retail store and museum in one building.  Betty's mother used to order Christian jewelry from them years ago, so Betty wanted to stop by to see the headquarters.

Avery Jewelry Museum

After that we traveled to Ingram to see an RV park that I had heard about a couple years ago.  We thought that it was here in Kerrville, so mistakenly made reservations for where we are staying now, but it really is a few miles away, where several beautiful acres of pecan trees on lush grassy land is home to a large herd of Axis deer.  They only come out in low light, so we did not see them, but were nevertheless very impressed with the park.  Consistent with everything else we have seen in this part of Texas, the owners of that park and the manager are serious outspoken evangelical Christians.  If there is a Bible Belt in this country, it is here in Texas as much or more than anywhere else.

From there we drove to The Coming King Sculpture Prayer Garden in Kerrville, something Betty found out about online.  It is located on a tall hill just outside town near the intersection of I-10 and SR 16. The theme running through it is prayer, giving you rocks on which you can write out prayers with a Sharpie to place in the prayer garden, but other themes are also present, including the Second Coming of Christ, the Great Commission, washing one another's feet, and being fishers of men, with much imagery about Israel, including the Star of David in many places, including at the feet of Jesus.  A lion depicting the Lion of Judah (also looking like Aslan in C. S. Lewis' Narnia Chronicles) is also present.  A sort of Dispensational theological element runs through it, which is probably a conviction shared by the members of the foundation that built this garden.  Some nice sculpture is there, though.

The Great Commission

Jesus Consoles a Young Mother While Holding Her Child

Jesus Commissions Us to be Fishers of Men

Star of David at Jesus' Feet

Lion of Judah

Star of David with Spikes in It to Form a Cross

The Coming King Riding His White Horse

Huge Cross Can Be Seen from I-10 and SR 16

Wash Each Other's Feet

From there we drove to Fredericksburg, a town that I had read about online a few months ago.  It was within easy driving distance, so while in the area, why not drive on out there?  It is a nice little town with a history of German settlers in the nineteenth century.  There is a section of downtown named Marketplatz, with an historic church founded by these settlers.  It had just closed when we arrived, so this was not available for us to see.  We could read plaques that memorialized people and events of that time.  There is a plaque recognizing Admiral Nimitz of World War II fame who came from this town.  Ironic that a man of German heritage was fighting with the Allied Forces in that war.  Historic buildings in town have been converted into stores to sell items to tourists.  Once again we found shopkeepers who were outspoken Christians who had signs around their stores with scripture verses and talked openly about their faith.  Perhaps most memorable to me was a malt shop in town, named Clear River, Ice Cream, Bakery, Deli.  It is set up like a malt shop from the 1950s with a large screen TV showing the movie, Grease, with outtakes from the old movies saying to visit the concession stand for popcorn, etc.  It was quite a flashback, but most amazing to me was that it was around 4:30 pm and during the after school time for the local high school, with the kids flocking into this malt shop like it was the 1950s.  You would think they would consider it a place where aging baby boomers hang out and avoid it like the plague, but they loved it there.  The whole town is sort of like that, a blast from the past.

We drove back to Kerrville, ate supper, then went for a walk down by the Guadalupe River, a very nice river.  The cabins in the park are rather spartan, but each has a nice stone stairway behind it leading down to a path along the river.  A couple of them have swings attached to tree limbs along the bank for kids to swing out over the river to drop in.  This is a great park for the local families.

Tomorrow we leave for another town in the hill country, Concan.  It will be a short 1 1/2 hour drive from here.