Hubs and I took a break from Footlights to celebrate his return to walking without a stick after knee replacement surgery.
Shads had a mind to join us,
but he really doesn’t think much of traveling in a car.
The little hill country town of Fredericksburg was bustling in preparation for October Fest the following weekend and we congratulated ourselves on our perfect timing! We explored antique shops (lots of German memorabilia, including swastikas and iron crosses) and the surrounding countryside, forgot about our phones and felt relaxed and re-charged after four days.
We were staying in an airbnb with a kitchenette so cooked a couple of meals to eat on the patio with a good selection of local wine bought from the H.E.B.
Bur first things first!
Everything tastes better once it’s been digitally captured!
In town we stumbled upon a winery and distillery where we lingered, perhaps a little long, over cocktails and snacks.
After the initial wallet wrenching episode we became regulars at The Elk Store once the sun started to go down!
A friendly waitress at breakfast made a couple of suggestions had she been visiting,
“Enchanted Rock and Wildseed Farms would be two places I’d definitely go…”
So, off we went to a State Natural Area for those outdoorsy types, and took a short hike to get as close as we could to the pink granite monolith, mysterious named Enchanted Rock.
It is the largest granite monadnock (what a bodacious word, almost screams typo!!) in America and has an elevation of 1825 feet. Legend has it that the local Indian tribes ascribed magical and spiritual powers to it, thus its name, and was even revered by some as a holy portal to other worlds.
Love those ‘holy portals to other worlds’.
Hubs, after showing off his new found agility for a few thousand feet, wisely returned to a shady spot to read when the going got rough and left me to soldier onwards and upwards – alone!
When I took a moment to chat with my rock climbing son later he told me he’d bouldered on Enchanted Rock while he was at A&M (that’s what we were really paying for huh?!).
I was quite content to stick to the trail.
We then headed for Wildseed Farms,
where I walked the pathways between the beds and photographed Santa Fe Sunflowers,
that all turned camera shy as I clicked so the puff ball appearance of these happy blooms is lost!
Brightly coloured Zinna, row upon row of them,
and dense clusters of delicate Cosmos.
I snapped a few benches tucked away under bowers covered with climbing vines,
and my dream of a retreat at Footlights re-emerged.
When my A&M son asked me if I’d bought any seeds while I was at the seed farm I had to admit I hadn’t!
“I already grow all those flowers at Footlights…” And I do, only not in such vast quantities.
At the end of the day Hubs and I looked at each other,
“Shall we?”
With a nod we made a bee-line for our new, favorite watering hole and ordered a cocktail and a side of champagne.
“The sky’s the limit!” Hubs proclaimed as we chinked glassses.
Fredericksburg a perfect place to wind-down after a frantic summer in the country…
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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2018-11-08 22:37:35
‘Twas Wonderful!
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