Hill Country Dreamin'

I love the hill country. Back when David and I first got married he always said he wanted to move to the Austin area/hill country and I thought "naaa not my thing". But we've made a trip annually the last few years for our anniversary to the area and I've changed my mind. Last year we drove down Hwy 16 from San Antonio to Fredricksburg. We made stops in Bandera, Kerrsville, and finally Fredericksburg before finding our way to back to San Antonio then to Austin to meet up with friends. I wish we had stopped in Medina at the Apple pie place. I was told we missed an awesome apple pie. Back in October we went to a wedding reception up in Blanco. Afterwards we traveled down the road to Wimberly and on to Canyon Lake to check out a few property sights. We're playing with the idea of buying property and build later. If nothing else it gives us an excuse to get away.



Cheers... Is this#2 or is it 3

A week ago we went to Boerne, TX just outside of San Antonio. They've grown together so that you don't know sometimes if you're in Boerne or San Antonio. Anyway we thought we'd drive up and check out the sights, a few wineries and a few properties. One of the things we do when we travel is avoid chain restaurants. We want to try out the local flavors.

Friday night the 8th we went to a place called the Scenic Loop Cafe on of course  Scenic Loop Road. There were lots of cars so that was a good sign that the food was edible. We parked in back and found an entrance on to the patio area where there were lots of tables and people. We were given the choice of eating out or inside. It was 93 out but the wind was blowing (no humidity) plus I noticed that the patio had big fans with mist, so we chose outside and were seated right then. It was great, live music by Gringo Suave', tasty cheese dip, tasty food and very tasty margaritas.   Found out later that the restaurant is owned by George Strait.

 Saturday we got up and headed into Boerne to check out the town. We hit the trade market and found me a hat, some hot sauce, some nice iron work, a father's day gift and a house warming gift. We missed a house warming party so hopefully they'll like the gift. Oh and finally some breakfast. All we wanted was a kolache or a donut. We couldn't find anything but at the market we grabbed a sausage taco and sat down for a few photo opts.

                                         

Well David stayed seated

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                                                             I stood.

After shopping we decided to check out some more of the country side and find a couple of wine tasting rooms somewhere. 

First stop was in Comfort, TX at the wine tasting room for .....Comfort Cellars

Tasted about 5 wines and found one we liked. We also bought a jalapeno wine. Yep jalapeno wine. The shop owner said to take a very small sip. Take a sip whoa I hadn't even got the glass up to my lips before the heat hit my nose. OMG I only touched it to my lips and the burn oh yeah burn. Okay so most people don't drink this wine they use it to cook with. Thank Goodness! Now there is one way to drink this wine.

1 part jalapeno wine to 2 parts Clamato juice. And viola you have a tasty Bloody Mary with a Bite. I'm not big on Bloody Mary's but it wasn't bad.

From Comfort we headed to the Sisterdale Winery in Sisterdale, TX.

More wine tasting, another bottle of wine and some bottle gift bags. I need to get busy and sew my own for the personal touch. After taking a quick self quide tour of the facility I happened to look down and saw this little bucket that said "Help yourself".... It was used wine corks. I grabbed the last 3 and brought them home to a quilter friend of mine who collects them. 

 

There's still time to play and see the scenery so we head off to development called Stone Oak "The street of Dreams" just outside Boerne.  Hmm

Yep that name should have been our 1st clue. The land and cost to build is in our dreams.  Holy crap batman. We took a tour of 5 homes. All of which were way out of our price range and way too big.  Now my question is "what do people do to live in houses like this. 


Get this - Each of the kids rooms had a small media room in one of the houses. Really! What about Family time and togetherness.

Now the big people gameroom had a full bar, pool table, couches, game table and a 65" flat screen. Someone actually lived in this house we toured. The rest of the houses were merely staged.

I'm not used to taking pictures of us while on trips but I'm gonna get better at it. David was not exactly happy with my camera snapping so he felt it only fair that he return the favor and turned the camera on me.

David got the bill. LOL

Actually I couldn't help myself and snapped another picture but he ducked.

Well Sunday arrived and it's time to head home. So once again we try to find a kolache but nothing. The Moon Bear or Bear Moon Bakery was open but it's not what we wanted so we decided to drive on down the road and stop for lunch later. Then there it is on a Hwy 46 "Kolaches" at a little restaurant called "Little Gretel".  So we pull in and have breakfast. After all that we end up eating eggs. I did order a kolache and brought it home for breakfast Monday. It was all very yummy. And we're On the Road Again.
As we travel down Hwy 46 toward New Braunsfels we decide to stop at another development called Cordillero. More sticker shock. The price of land and the cost to build a house are very pricey in the hill country. Ouch. This would be a view if you bought property here but our champagne taste and beer budget won't be seeing this anytime soon unless we win the lottery or we drive thru the development again.

 



Since we've been home I'm beginning to think a retirement home in the hill country may not happen. But then I got thinking maybe that's not so bad, I mean all our friends and family are here. Well not all my family but all of David's.  And my quilt shops. I know they have shops up there but......     Tonight I asked David "if you were to move there where would we go visit?" He said Houston. Great. Oh well we'll wait and see. But we can still go look around and dream right?

Until next blog............................ Be ware of chosing the road less traveled you may end up lost as hell!

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(¸.•´(¸ ;.•Carla.♥ 

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