A fun weekend in Hill Country

This weekend was really fun. To recap, Gary finished Internal Medicine Shelf on Thursday, I taught piano lessons and had a choir practice.

Friday morning we left for San Antonio, where we spent the afternoon at the Riverwalk. Miss L was pretty excited, ran for about a mile of it, when we implemented a rule that she could walk or ride in the stroller. She had only one breakdown, but it was due to the fact she was hungry, which was momma's fault.



The landscaping around the Riverwalk was gorgeous, especially this little stairway.


We stayed the night in KOA in Kerrville, in a tiny cabin. We probably would've camped, but after this experience, I wasn't going to risk it. It was perfect other than the fact that the bathrooms were down the way, and of course I am pregnant and have to get up in the middle of the night. Miss L loved her bunk beds and kept sweeping our little cabin. We had a relaxing evening watch shows, takings showers, playing at the park, and watching Miss L eat a DQ dipped cone for the first time.

Kerrville was beautiful, with vacations home pushed up against the river. Very secluded and relaxing. We went here too. It is a replica of Stonehenge and Easter Island, We played a lot of hide and seek.

Nighttime was a little cold for Miss L and Gary, until we turned the heater on, which I would've but of course I was sleeping quite comfortably in my pregnant state with no blankets, so I did not recognize the need.

We finished our trip by hiking Enchanted Rock, which I thought would be no problem since it was only .6 miles to the top. But Gary had to carry everything including Miss L, so it was about all we could handle. I also I don't really have the maternity clothes to be and avid hiker, and I had to keep my heart rate down, which after my little scare a couple months ago, I am keenly aware of how I am doing. Unfortunately, I over estimated our food and water intake, so Gary had an extra load as well. We took it really slow to the top, and Gary hiked the cave at the top, and Miss L and I enjoyed the view.

We finished our little trip with a little walk down main street in Fredricksburg. It is a beautiful little German town with shops, German Bakeries, and Bed and Breakfasts lining the street. We had some Apfel Strudel, and headed for home.

Hill Country

Remember when I was researching this. Well funds from that expedition allowed us to have a very fun trip this weekend. Gary finished his marathon of two weeks of tests Thursday.

Friday, we headed up to Austin, and stopped at the Bluebell Ice Cream factory in Brenham for a tour and lots of ice cream. Lily really enjoyed that part.

When we were all stuffed full of ice cream we headed into Austin and camped here. It was a smaller park than I anticipated, but that means we got to see about everything we wanted to. We went swimming Friday in the waterfalls, which Lily badly needed. It was hot. There were lots of turtles, and I had to keep reminding myself that there are not alligators in Austin.

We camped in a primitive campsite, which means we had a to haul a lot of stuff about 100 yards, but it was right next to a river, very pretty. Friday night we went and looked at Gary's old home when he lived in Austin, which was quite close to our park. It was fun to see his old stomping ground, the high school he went to, and I think he was pretty excited about it. We came back to the camp and had delicious foil dinners, and Lily enjoyed staying up past dark.

Sleeping was kind of a disaster. We brought the pack' n play, but because L could see us, and she was not in a home, her orientation and mood were off. We finally evacuated her out of the campsite much to the satisfaction of our neighbors. Gary ended up driving around for a while until she was out cold. He brought her back to the tent, and we then we slept pretty peacefully, although I had to get up to go the bathroom once (which noone like to do camping) and it was a little cold.

The next morning we had nice hot showers and went into downtown Austin. We went to Zilker park, which is actually is gorgeous, and the weather was beautiful. Barton Springs is damned to form a giant swimming pool. We let L get out all her energy at the this giant playground, then we walked along the springs for a while. The area around Zilker park is set on rock cliffs overlooking the river. There are a lot of little outdoor restaurants and cantinas and we stopped for some breakfast burritos.

L was out at this point and to keep her out we decided to drive for a while. We went downtown and stopped at a farmer's market that was actually having a nice demonstration encouraging breast feeding and to support the local breast bank. I didn't even know there was such thing as a breast bank. I guess you learn something everyday. Lots of woman showed up to breastfeed at exactly 11 am, and Gary was fortunate to be there for the "unveiling". Kinda odd, but all a part of the experience.

We planned on going to the capitol and UT Austin and the LBJ library, but when we got downtown, we realized there was a football game that day, and the city was madness. There were tailgate parties everywhere. Who brings a big screen with them in the car to watch pregame? Crazy Longhorns. So we headed out of the city.

Our next stop allowed L to sleep along time, which was badly needed, considering the night before. But we ended up going here.


It is called Hamilton pool, and was absolutely gorgeous. The water was a unnatural jade, but it was very beautiful. We swam in the cold water, Lily wasn't happy about the temperature, but she did like playing in the waterfall, which surprisingly was very warm water.

Then we headed to the Salt Lick. Gary has been talking about this restaurant since I met him, and although in the middle of nowhere, it definitely was the best barbecue I have ever had. Just to give you an idea, at 3:40 the restaurant was packed. Everything was good. Their story was that a local man married a Japanese woman and started the Barbecue Restaurant. I think there is something to that Japanese influence. The sauce was the best sauce I have ever had, the meat was the best as well, and the sides weren't your ordinary sides. The cole slaw definitely had an Asian flare, (no mayonaise, yeah!) and the potato salad was also better than normal. The prices were very reasonable and we left with full stomachs and some take-out too.

Then we headed home. The weekend definitely boosted the family moral, which was good too. I think L needed a little parent time, and I definately needed some Gary time.