Quick Wimberly Trip

David and I had a weekend planned to go to the Farm, stay at Pamela's house, go to Waco, visit Magnoila market, Hope to see Chip and Joanna Gaines at the Market from the Fixer Upper show, go back to the farm until it was time to head home but one of David's high school buddies shot out an email asking if anyone in the Bell Gang was interested in coming to their Wimberly place.  

Warning blog heavily loaded with photos.

So our plans changed. And we were off to Wimberly on Friday Morning. They live high on a hill with loads of beautiful views.




Billy & Cheryl opened their home and offered up some good ole hospitality.

Love their beautiful home and bright outdoor furniture.

Meet Billy Senior and Billy Junior. hehehe
They only had Billy Senior when we were here last hear.

We ate at some new places while visiting. For dinner Friday night we headed to a Pizza place that Billy and Cheryl raved about only to find that they had over a 2 hour wait time. So we ended up at Trudy's in Austin but just outside Dripping Springs.

Saturday we hung out and enjoyed their balcony and nature before heading into Wimberly and River Road and then to lunch

We were heading to car when Billy hollered for me to come see the Banana Spider. Okay I'm not into spiders but I was curious.

Look at this spider. It's huge and scary.

This thing was interesting but scary as heck. He moved once real quick and so did I. The above picture more accurately shows the size.
Supposedly they are mildly poisonous unless you have an allergic reaction to the venom but I didn't care to find out either way..

Aren't you glad I shared this with you.



After my fascination with the spider we headed into Wimberly. Billy drove us down River Road that runs beside Cypress Creek where homes, cabins and families were washed away during the recent continuous rains in June. Nothing could prepare you for the scene we saw. Now's when I wish I was a much better photographer. 
My photos don't even begin to share the devastation. River Road is a narrow road and no where to pull over so I shot some pictures out the car window as we drove down the road.

This use to be someone's home. 

100 year old Trees, Rocks and roots were just moved around like they weighed nothing.

Tree's were bent and twist 

and 

stripped clean of their bark. 
Most likely without the bark the trees will die.

Caught some people relaxing in the cool refreshing water. It did look really inviting. It was HOT Saturday. Hard to imagine that this same water in Cypress Creek in Wimberly raging and destroying everything in it's path.


You can hardly see the stairs just hanging there off the bluff on the right of the picture above. That last step would be a doosey. The river was something like 40 feet out of it's banks.  It's hard to image the water being that far out of it's banks and that high.


High above the river not even this house escaped damage. 

It's all boarded up.


Seeing all of the devastation put a lump in my throat. 

This was a house and this is all that's left.  Driving this path made me choke up. I just can't image the fear and the loss of life, homes and belongings. It tears at your heart.

We left here and headed to lunch at Salt Lic in Driftwood. Soooo Good! After that we all probably needed a nap but we headed to Wildseed Farms then Fredericksburg for some shopping.

No turquoise this time Pam Jackson but we did have a Jalapeno Margarita at Hondo's.



Sunday we got up hung out again on their awesome balcony. I did some bird watching. They were very distracting. LOL Kinda like the dog in "UP"...(squirrel) BIRD.  

Can you find them in my not so great photos. 

I need a bigger lens. These little guys were very skittish. 
They were so cute.

Cheryl and I were wanting a picture of this truck with the longhorns in front of it. We passed them going into Fredericksburg Saturday thinking we'd get a chance to snap a picture later but the Longhorns didn't cooperate. They were gone I took this picture in 2013 and it now hangs in my house. Maybe next trip I'll catch those longhorns out by the truck.

Did you do anything for Heather Von St James All or Nothing event on July 26. She's trying raise awareness for  Mesothelioma an asbestos disease.   She is a 10 year survivor.

I can't say I did anything totally crazy but David and I did relax all weekend and didn't leave the Hill Country until 3:30 Sunday. Normally we get up have breakfast and we hit the road for home by 12. We were in no hurry this time.  No rushing around. We got up Sunday as I said earlier and I did a little bird watching, visiting with Billy and Cheryl then headed into to town for brunch. We weren't disappointed. We ate at the Wimberly Cafe known for their awesome breakfast. Yum Yum

After brunch/breakfast we did some shopping. Hope y'all did something fantastic.

I'm sure you're tired now after reading all this so......

Until next blog.......The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley