Anniversary Trip Post 5

  THURSDAY, 8/6/15  

Here we are, the post about our last day of our vacation! It was a great one too! We started with breakfast at the hotel, and then we packed up our stuff and checked out. Farewell, Best Western!! You were good to us!

From there, we decided that we wanted to check out a location about an hour away, that my grandma had informed us about. She had found an article in one of her magazines, about things to do around Fredericksburg. Hamilton Pool was listed in the article, and we had never heard of it. Upon doing some research, we learned that it is a natural body of water -- the photos were gorgeous! We couldn't wait to see it for ourselves! (Thanks, Granny, for the info, we never would have known about this!!!)

The drive was about an hour, and it took us out into the middle of nowhere. It was a pretty drive through winding hills. Then we saw the sign, and we had arrived!!! We paid our $15 to enter the park, and found a parking spot. Because of recent heavy rains, the water levels were too high and the bacteria levels too high for swimming. But we were excited to see it. We followed the .25 mile trail that took us to the pool, and we were honestly in awe when we came upon it. This beautiful natural wonder, right there in hot, dry Texas! So crazy! It was so gorgeous, and these photos don't really do it any justice...but take a look!

We crossed over this creek on the way to the trail...very pretty too!

This was our first glimpse of the pool -- look at that gorgeous green water!!!

There was even a waterfall falling into the pool! Such an incredible sight!

The pool was contained within a natural cove, covered with a rock overhang...we were
able to walk around the whole outer arc from one side to the other. Nature is really amazing!

A view of the upper rocks

I couldn't get over the color of this water!

The Babers in all the beauty! A nice teen girl offered to take our photo.

I was in love with this incredible wall of GREEN!!!! Lush!

Mossy green goodness, in soft reflected sunlight

This is a panoramic photo I took with my phone...it turned out pretty well
to give an idea of the vastness...we were in the dark under the rock cove,
so it was brighter out ahead...thus the white out in the middle. But you
get the idea! If you click on this to make it bigger, it should enlarge for you!

It was HOT HOT HOT...to be sure! We were quite sweaty by the time we hiked back to the truck! It was very worth it though, we really enjoyed our time at this natural phenomenon!

We made the hour drive back to Fredericksburg, and decided to have a final lunch at -- yes -- The Brewery! :) One final hurrah ha! It was just as good the third time! Then, we got on the road to home. With a stop at Dairy Queen for Blizzards (yummmm), we finally made it home around 6:00 pm and were so happy to see our pups!!! Our vacation was absolutely wonderful. So relaxing, and so fun to try so many new things in our favorite town. Loved it all -- we are so blessed!!!

Thank you for reading along! I had fun reliving it all :)

** Update on Chris! His surgery went well today, and he is home now, recovering...I will be posting more about it, but thank you for your prayers!!

Anniversary Trip Post 4

  WEDNESDAY, 8/5/15  

We woke up Wednesday morning and had breakfast at the hotel...and then we met our tour bus out front of the hotel at 10:00 am!!

Our driver's name was Garrett, and he was a sweet kid. He took good care of us all day! We were his first pick up, and then we stopped to get Jenn and Dan (a young couple who lives in separate cities and doesn't see each other often = all over each other!), and Janet and Lauren (a mother/21 year old daughter). The six of us headed to two wineries for tastings, and had lunch at the second one. Then we headed back in to pick up two additional groups -- Shelley and Josh (another couple) and Taylor and her friend (two recent college graduate girls, one recently engaged). Then out we headed to hit three more wineries! Annnnnd we talked Garrett into stopping at Grape Creek at the very end, he was very sweet to oblige us!! :) It wasn't part of the tour, so we had to pay there...but that's ok! (And we are members there, so we get a free glass every time we go anyway!)

Our Texas Wine Tours van got us safely to and from :) Front door service, can't
beat that. Garrett and Chris had some good conversations throughout the day, and when we
were the last people on the van on the way back, we all held hands and Chris prayed
for Garrett and his future. It was a pretty special moment!

Our first winery was 4.0 -- we have been here before, but we had never
done the tasting. It was a good start to our tour. This was after attempting
to visit Alexander Vineyard, which ended up being nothing but a trailer house in
the middle of nowhere....hm! So plan B, we started with 4.0!

Our second stop was Torre di Pietra -- we went here many years ago, so we were
excited to head back! The tasting here was fun too, led by a young skinny skater kid.
Kind of an odd mix! But he knew his stuff! After our tasting, we headed out to the patio
near the vines, and enjoyed a yummy boxed lunch that Garrett brought for us.
This winery had a cat (I'm not a cat person, so not sharing the photo) and her name was
Harriet Potter -- I thought that was pretty cute and clever!

After a stop at Fiesta to do a tasting, we then headed to Becker Vineyards. It's been
years since we've been here as well, so it was good to head back. The tasting was
good, and we were able to go down into the cellar and see the barrels, too.

The tasting at the Becker wine bar; that's our whole group on the right!

On the way out of Becker, we talked Garrett into stopping at the vines to get
some photos! He was even cool enough to get a photo taken with us :)

Down in the Becker cellar with the barrels

After Becker, we stopped at Pedernales and then Grape Creek...and then on our
way back in to town, I asked Garrett to get a photo of our whole group in the van!
Lauren/Janet/Us/Shelley/Josh/Taylor/Friend/Jenn/Dan

Once back, we freshened up a bit and then headed to Tubby's for dinner.
This is a new little restaurant in town, and it was pretty delicious! We ordered
at the window and then ate at one of these little tables.

One thing I really wanted all week was a snow cone from this adorable place...and we finally
got one, after our dinner at Tubby's!! It was yummy! I got mango, yum yum!

Here's the neat thing...after spending all day with a van full of strangers,
we all decided to meet back up later that evening at Silver Creek bar -- they have live
music there and a fun atmosphere. We got there and were so pleased to see that
everyone was there!! Kind of crazy! It's so fun to connect with strangers
and have some fun together, making memories!

So, this was our last full day/night in Fredericksburg! Tomorrow's post will be about our last activities in town before we headed home...stay tuned!! Awesome pics to come!

** In real time, please say some prayers!! Chris is having his surgery tomorrow morning at 8:15 (Thursday). He's having his sports hernia repaired (basically the ab wall has gotten weak from the stress of running, and needs to be repaired). It will be an outpatient procedure, so he'll be coming home tomorrow afterwards. Please pray for the surgeon's skill and for Chris' speedy recovery!!

Anniversary Trip Post 3

  TUESDAY, 8/4/15  

Our 8th anniversary!!! We had a VERY full, wonderful day!

Chris told me that we had plans at 9:00 am, and that we needed to make a stop on the way...hmmm! So we headed out, and our first stop was to Java Ranch -- frappachinos, a scone, and a few kolaches. Then we headed to our destination, which ended up being an Art Gallery on Main Street!

Chris had been conversing back and forth with the owner, via email, for weeks! He had arranged for us to arrive at the gallery before it opened, and to eat our breakfast on their back patio in the courtyard! It was so fun to have the gallery all to ourselves! We enjoyed our breakfast, and then moved inside to browse through the beautiful artwork. The traditional gifts for the 8th anniversary are pottery, bronze, and tourmaline (a pink gem)...so we were here to find us some amazing pottery!!! We had so much fun looking at everything and deciding what to purchase...we are very happy with our choices!!! What a fun morning, getting the VIP treatment at an art gallery! A very creative gift from my hubby, as always!

The art gallery on Main Street

The patio where we had our breakfast

A beautiful prayer tower -- we love this! We can put a tea light inside
and it will light up through the windows too...so cool!

We bought this gorgeous flat bowl to place on our ottoman in the
living room -- the colors match our custom painting perfectly!

A cute heart trinket to put on our shelf in our bedroom

I really love this one! We found it right at the end; I had another bowl picked out
but this one I just had to have! Love the colors and the design. Also matches our painting.

Chris and I on the patio, enjoying our breakfast in the cool morning shade

We packed up our goodies and got on the road, headed to a little town nearby called Hye. We started there at a winery called William Chris. They are a cute establishment, with a nice deck overlooking a beautiful view. We enjoyed a glass of wine here, and took in the peace and quiet.

The tasting room at William Chris

Chris with the William Chris view behind him...

From here, we headed across the street to Hye Market -- we had never been there before, but had heard good things. It is a tiny, historic post office (still in operation), but it has also been converted into a small restaurant and tasting room for exotic beers and wines. Fun! We had a delicious lunch there, and Chris did a tasting. The owner was very outgoing and spent a lot of time with us during the tasting, which made the experience very nice. We greatly enjoyed our time here!

The Hye Market and historic Post Office

Loved these growlers...we bought two small ones. One filled with
jalapeno beer, and one with a crisp cider that I actually liked!

The historic post office

#8 for our anniversary!

On our way back into town, we stopped at another new-to-us winery called Woodrose Winery. We were the only visitors there, and we received some one-on-one service during the tasting there. The wines here were just ok...but it was fun to try something new! The tasting was fun and different, we sat at a table and she served us there (most tastings take place standing, at the wine bar).

The Woodrose Winery tasting room

We enjoyed meeting their winery dog, Cork! He was very sweet!

Another stop was a new winery to town, called Fat Ass Ranch & Winery! Donkeys, hello! We had to stop!! We shopped their shop, tasted some wines (a very good, sweet peach wine), and she gave us a wine shot to celebrate our anniversary too! Fun place! We got a glass and sat on their patio to enjoy it, and then I discovered that a little ways out, they had a donkey in a pen!!! Yippie!

What a fun place!

This is Frito! He wasn't too social really -- he let
us pet him, but wasn't interested in us at all. Boo.

I found this fun souvenier! :)

Enjoying our peach wine shots!

When we got back to our hotel, we decided that we needed to have a swim to cool down! So hot out there whew!! We enjoyed our time in the pool and then we went inside to get ready for our anniversary dinner at August E's!!!

But first, we opened gifts!

This was kind of a selfish gift on my part, because I love
these and really wanted Chris to have some!! :) He may or may not
wear them, so I may send them back...but it was worth a try ha ha!!!

In the spirit of the BRONZE gift theme, I found these awesome cuff links for Chris!!
They have little maps of Fredericksburg TX under glass domes, within a bronze casing.
Perfect, since Fredericksburg is the place where we married!

Chris presented me with this beautiful pair of tourmaline earrings!!
They are such a gorgeous color, I love them!!!

I gave Chris one additional gift as well -- a winery tour on a bus for the following day! A chauffeur, a few other couples, five wineries...just a nice, relaxing day together. We were looking forward to it!

So...dinner! August E's is a swanky place, and we love going there for our anniversary! They have the most amazing, fresh sushi there! Chris made the reservations online, and he requested that they put gerber daisies (my fave) on the table!!! This was so thoughtful, and we love that the restaurant actually did it! Every other table in the restaurant had the same boring single flower arrangement, except for our table! Loved this!

We shared a bottle of Mumm's champagne, and had a lovely toast to 8 years!

Us (with the gerber daisies) after a very delicious meal!! And after 8 wonderful years!

We ate ourselves silly! We had cream cheese eggrolls and a fried crab appetizer, three different sushi rolls, and delicious 5 cheese mac and cheese. We could barely move when we got done!! It was such a lovely evening of celebration! Here's to us!!

Anniversary Trip Post 2

  MONDAY, 8/3/15  

We started the day with the continental breakfast at our hotel...biscuits and danish and cereal and sausage and eggs, etc. Tea and coffee. Mmmm! From there, we moved out to the porch and the rocking chairs, and did a little more reading. This was very unlike Chris, and I loved it!!! I know it only occurred because he had reading due for his meeting, but that's ok! I'll take it! After a bit, we decided to go swimming -- this was so refreshing in the 100 degree Texas heat. Fun fun! And then, finally, we decided to leave the hotel :)

Beautiful glass sculpture on Main Street

We headed to Main Street, and we decided that we wanted to eat at the Brewery again! It really is our favorite place in town (to eat), and we tried a few new things this time. It was all yummy! They make the absolute best cheddar ale soup that I have ever had, we lick the bowl clean!! Mmm.

After lunch, we headed back to Grape Creek...our time the day before was more social and fun with Shaylee and Austin, so we wanted to have a relaxing time this journey. Being a Monday, it was fairly quiet at the winery, so we bought a bottle of wine and sat outside. We were the only ones on the Member Patio, and that was soooo relaxing. We talked, we did more reading, it was wonderful!

Grape Creek vines and a beautiful Wine Country sky

Chris, enjoying his wine and reading on the Kindle

Proof -- not a soul on the patio! :) Loved it!

We spent quite a bit of time at Grape Creek, and then headed out to have a fun evening at Luckenbach! They had a Picker's Circle, where people sing, play guitar, say poems, etc. There was a good sized crowd, and the entertainment was fun! It wasn't dancing music, unfortunately -- but we still enjoyed it!! Everyone needs to go to Luckenbach at least once...it is quite the experience! Population: 3! And about as "country" as it gets.

This guy -- as country as it gets!! He presented original poems, and they were
pretty funny! His voice cracked me up...and look at that face!!

This one!! He was an Asian Elvis / Wayne Newton!! So funny to see!
He was pretty entertaining, quite campy. We enjoyed him.

We have been to Luckenbach before, but we had never crossed over the little wooden bridge there. It opened up a whole new world to us! Luckenbach is dry and dirt and little wood buildings. The bridge crossed a dry creek. Then, up a hill, we came upon a nice little lake and some beautiful, lush hanging ivy. Crazy!! We had fun taking some photos here! (Of course!)

And of course, a pre-anniversary kiss selfie! :) I love my man and the wonderful life that we share together! Life is never perfect...certainly ours isn't...we even had a little spat later in the evening, but we always move on and keep loving one another. We are so blessed to have one another!!

Annnnnnnd just for fun!! I'm not sure if I am yelling in his ear, or trying to bite it!! But it's pretty typical ha ha! Kind of love this one!!

We finished off our evening with West End Pizza (yum, soooo good!) and then called it an early night...another great one in the books!!