Ahhhhh the hill country!!!

Finally a change in scenery..... Just what I was looking forward too. There is something about the hill country that makes you relax. We are on our way to Fredericksburg Tx!!!!

We took the back roads.... Hwy 281 was slow but worth it! Looking at these small towns was great fun. We were hungry by the time we made it to Lampasses, so we made a stop for lunch. A cute little place called the YUMM Cafe, a cute little place. We ate outside under a huge oak tree! They had a spring mattress hanging in one tree and had other metal things hanging from it for decoration. I give them an A for creativity!

My favorite of course was the big metal rooster!!

After we have driven for about 2 1/2 hours I finally see it... the changes.... the road turns and over the hill I see the beginning of the hills!

There are 2 main areas of Texas tht are really beautifull, the east texas pines and the south texas hill country. There are cool things to see in the hill country. There is a place called "the slab" in marble falls. The ground in this area is solid granite and some of it is a river bed. Then there is the enchanted rock.....another solid piece of granite, except its a small mountain. Rock climbers climb it, but any one (well with good knees) can walk up it with out a rope. Its very impressive!

Anyhow along our way to Fredericksburg it was the hills this time that I was looking forward too.

Even though we went through some weather, the drive on the way down was really nice.

There were some leaves trying to change so I got some pictures of those, for Texas its almost to early for pretty leaves.

So we got to Fredericksburg in about 6 hours ...thats what happens when you take the back roads. But it was worth it...

What I realized when we got to town is that I forgot any information about the hotel, no phone numbers or address!! this was soooo funny and so out of character for me. I usually have some information about the place I am going to stay at. I would have stopped at a gas station, but no not my husband.... what is it about guys asking for directions? What we ended up doing is stopping by the visitors bureau....which is a smart idea, but they were closed..lol So the next thing we saw was a map out by the street setup like a historical marker. SHAZZAMM there it was! we found the airport and thus found the hanger hotel. I think Alex and I would be great on the amazing race.... This hotel was fashioned after the 40's so there are many antique's around.

This old chevy is a small look at the old stuff......

Since this hotel sits right on the airport we had the luxury of watching airplanes, that my husband and kids love to do. We think there was a club of retiree's that flew there altogether so they gave us some plane watching to do. This hotel has a balcony on the second floor that faces the air strip so anytime you want to go out for fresh air or watch for airplanes you could.

So pic's of the airplanes I will put in the slide show on the side bar.

On the day that it was not raining we drove out to the wild seed farms. I think this place is a mix between an auboretum and a nursery...perhaps a little zoo since it had a "butterfly haus". I guess the butterfly's were German too..lol

What we learned about the wild seed farms is that

they grow their own flowers and allow them to seed and take the seeds and package them. Then you have some really fresh seeds! Soooo of course I bought some! This is lady bird territory so I got some flowers named after her. Beautiful sights there of course... I could live in a place like this! Butterflies are every where. The monarchs are migrating to Mexico right now, and the wildseed farms are good about having the plants there available for them to eat on their way.

It was really neat to see the butterflies crawl into the flowers to get nector and fly out.

After the widseed farms, we went to sisters creek winery and did a wine making tour and then of course tasted their own blend of wine. Of course I found my favorite! On the way back to town we saw a sign for Luckenbach, so we turned because we have all heard the song about waylon and willie and the boys singing there.... well we got a really good laugh! Luckenbach consist of one dance hall which had no glass in the windows so only natural air conditioning and a post office.... I guess you have to consider it being a town since it has a post office. Only 2 buidlings in the big town of Luckenbach Texas!

Well they also have a nice sign! I always figured the town was small, but I have never seen one this small....

At dusk we went to a place that bats come out when they are ready to feed. There is an old train tunnel that is no longer used and they have set up house there. So the State parks and recreation people built some seating on the edge of a drop off for bat watching. There was a strange odor, they blamed it on the bats I suppose thats possible since I have not read up on bats. So we ended our vacation with bats and deer. On this road we took to see the bats was also busy with dear out grazing.

On the way home we did cloud watching since we were in and out of the rain the whole way....

So this was our trip in a nut shell.... can't wait for the next excursion! For more pictures click below....
Fredericksburg Texas