Radar love at the Hangar Hotel

We adore Fredericksburg, Texas, with its charming shops and art galleries, outstanding restaurants, wineries, and historic attractions, from its German heritage spotlighted at the Pioneer Museum Complex to the National Museum of the Pacific War. 

But here’s one reason that makes us take flight — the Hangar Hotel.

The hotel resembles a true plane hangar (above left), mainly because it’s located at the Gillespie County Airport. But it only mimics a World War II-era building, because inside there’s a delightful boutique hotel. You’ll find 1940s music playing when you enter the lobby, decorated with period posters, antique luggage, and nods to Hill Country war heroes. Rooms contain period art pieces as well, including rotary phones, subway tiled bathrooms — and our favorite — comfy armchairs constructed from old leather bomber jackets. And at night, electric candles burn in the window in remembrance of those fighting far away.

The hotel’s only minutes from downtown Fredericksburg, but do visit the charming Airport Diner that resembles a train car and the Officer’s Club with its leather chairs, fireplace, grand piano and bar, the perfect spot for a late-night cocktail or conversing with friends.

Naturally, you can fly in, park your plane and enjoy a weekend away. We didn’t have the luxury of a private plane, but we loved every minute spent at the Hangar Hotel.

Save the world with beer!

Dave Rathkamp

In Marble Falls, Texas, Dave and Quynh Rathkamp are attempting to save the world, one mug of beer at a time.

The couple, who met at Tulane during their medical residency, spent vacation time visiting impoverished areas of the world. Dave loved to brew beer and Quynh loved to donate to charities so the two left medicine behind and started Save the World Brewing Company.

The makeup of Marble Falls, Texas, water is akin to Belgium, so Dave creates Belgium-style beer. Since both have a Christian calling, the beers reflect Latin names such as Agnus Dei Witbier, a wheat beer with orange and coriander hints that means “Lamb of God” and the Humilus Filius (“The Humble Son”) pale ale, what Rathkamp calls his “meat and potatoes beer.”

Visitors are welcome in the brewery’s tasting room on Fridays and Saturdays to enjoy standard and seasonal brews. Profits help Food for the Hungry, Habitat for Humanity and Meals on Wheels and the couple works hard to maintain a small carbon footprint. There are solar panels on the roof, they recapture greywater from the brewing process to use in irrigation, recycle about 40 percent of the breweries’ waste and use LED lighting. Grains used in the brewing process are donated to local farmers for livestock feed.

Want to read more? I wrote a story about the couple in Louisiana Road Trips magazine this month. Read it here.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is a food and travel writer living in South Louisiana who is the author of several Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire and the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.