CRUISING the Hill Country with Friends

This is another co-worker of mine named Cassie. She's very photogenic. She doesn't get to come out with us very often or hang out so I decided I'd take a picture of her hard at work. She was feeling left out. Can't have that. 





So this year we skipped making our usual trip to Austin or where ever for our anniversary because it's always so hot and decided we'd wait to see if we could catch some cooler weather and meet up with our friends the Jackson's. We did celebrate our anniversary back in September but just didn't travel. Anyway, wow did we luck out! We had beautiful cooler weather all weekend. We had a great time and lots of laughs.
Friday the 21st we got up and headed to Bryan to drop Lilley off at Pamela's to spend the weekend. 

When we got there the first thing she did was run in the back yard straight to Pamela new landscaping that will get mulch today. I just had her groomed the day before and she was just prancing around like a princess.
She is kinda pretty if I say so myself. Her and Sophie will be playing hard all weekend.
From there David and I drove to Sisterdale and we might have stopped at a winery. I might have bought a couple of bottles of wine and David bought a couple too. We went a different way and saw some pretty countryside and homes.  After a few sips of wine and our purchase we headed on down the road to Kerrville. The Jackson's arrive an hour and a half later. David took a nap and I worked on a quilt that's a gift. 
By the time the Jackson's got there we were all hungry and we headed to a place called the Pint and Plow. They brewed craft beer and made homemade pizza. Sounded like a good combination. I actually drank tea so I couldn't tell you how the beer was but I can tell you the pizza was delicious. We all had left overs. Thank goodness for the mini fridge in the hotel. 
Our next mission was to find a pub/bar that had TV's so that we could go watch the Aggie game and have some beer while doing so.
This is Kevin. We're at Wilson's. Like in the movie Castaway. Tom Hanks.. Wilson. It took us a while to make the 
connection. David noticed the picture on the wall and said I know that picture from something. That's when Pam or Kevin made the connection between the picture and the name of the bar.... Wilson's. It did have at least one TV so this place was an option. The place before this was way too smoky. We had seen another spot we were gonna try out but wow before we knew it it was 11pm and we wanted to get up in the morning and drive to Bandera for breakfast.
We got up Saturday morning and headed to breakfast in Bandera at the OST Restaraunt. So yummy good. Pam and I had egg enchiladas which consisted of ground beef, onions and eggs in a tortila covered with chili and cheese. 

While in Bandera we shopped the big antique warehouse and some other cute shops. We even stopped and watched several gun fights of how it was back in the 1800's. It's was loud and smoky. Made me jump a few times when they shot their guns.
The boys decided they didn't want to go into the one of the shops and sat outside. 
David amazed Kevin with his knowledge of all the different plants.

Kevin says it's a green plant with blue flowers and David told him he was close. 
It's called a blue plumbago. 



We made a quick stop at the 11th Street Cowboy Bar just down the way but it was getting close to game time and they didn't have any TV's on. 
The boys ran down the street to check out a couple other places while I drug Pam into Gone Quilting quilt shop. Poor girl was overwhelmed by the fabric choices. She's a Quilt store virgin but she was finally able to pick out 2 pieces of fabric out for me to sew up Bed Pockets for her Mom's bed. I may have to make some for me too. I always have too much debris on my night stand.

picture from chikin coop website

We ended up at a place called the Chikin Coop that had several TV's and David and I already knew the food was pretty tasty.
The gals there were willing to change the channels to the Aggie game so for the next couple of hours we ate, drank and suffered through the game. This was not the prettiest game we've played. Slight loss against Alabama. Grrrr. Pam and I tried to make the best of it. As you can see we were really having a bad time. Not. 



After the game was over we left Bandera and headed to Comfort to hit the Hill Country Distillery where I get my jalapeno moonshine to make my Bloody Shiners/Marys. David joined me in a Bloody Shiner while there this time except he skipped the dashes of Tabasco.
Yum. We sat outside at one of the table and ate pecans. They were everywhere. Finished our drinks in search of food back in Kerrville.  Mexican Food.  Someone got a Corona-Rita...You know a margarita with a beer stick in it. I got tea. Surprise I know. That some was rather tipsy by the time dinner was over. LoL never fear all is good.
Sunday we woke up and we all decided to head to Lost Maples State Park just on chance we'd see some leaf color change. This was one of the views we saw on our drive. We must have crossed the Guadalupe River 20 times or more on our drive.  It was a beautiful drive. Our last stop before going our separate ways was back to Bandera to have some BBQ. 

So our drive home was fun. Yep real fun. We only had to travel 15 miles on I 35 to get to San Marcus but lucky us it was the longest 15 miles ever. There was 2 wrecks ahead of us and they had closed a section of the freeway. Awesome. It was an hour and a half sit at least. By the time we got to Pamela's to pick up Lilley we were tired and hungry. Well David was actually exhausted. 

When we got home Lilley was happy to be at her own home. It didn't take long for her to crash out. 2 days of playing with Sophie wears her out. Our sweet girl. 

This weekend was the Vintage Market Days at the Waller County Fairgrounds. David and I went 2 years ago but this year Pamela asked if we could go. So she met me at the Fairgrounds to browse the market. It was a little bigger than when David and I went. Sorry I'm slacking I didn't take any pictures to show you of the market. But I can tell you there was lots of pretty's to look at and buy if you're inclined. I might have bought something. LOL. You see

David posted this cute little miniature donkey on my facebook timeline knowing I would want it. Yep he was right I did. It was cute and cuddly looking. So since he said no I thought this was a 
good substitute. What do you think? I got plenty of comments walking though the market with him. Everyone thought he was adorable and he is but he's not so cuddly.  LOL

and I got a rustic tree that I hope to use for Christmas on the front porch. Maybe I won't kill it like I did the tree last year. I need to figure out how to fix it up. Pamela bought one too and she's already got ideas. She's such a smartie. She's good at all this crafty stuff.

That's it for now.

Until next blog....“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight; and never stop fighting”

- E.E. Cummings