April 5-9 Texas Hill Country Getaway

"Spring: a lovely reminder of how beautiful change can truly be." -Tracy McMillan

We kept our Pennsylvania grands in October while Kyle and Brytanie took a much needed vacation. As a thank you for our nannie serves they gave us a gift card for the Sage Hill Inn & Spa near Kyle, Texas. We decided we'd save our getaway until spring, so we could enjoy the spring weather and the wonderful wildflowers Texas has to offer in April. The Inn sits atop a hill on 88 acres above Onion Creek, with sweeping views of the Hill Country to the West.

It's been years since we've spent time in the Texas Hill Country so this little get away was a lot of fun and the weather couldn't have been any better. It was truly a little piece of paradise.

The Texas Hill Country sits upon the Edwards Plateau and stretches from Austin to San Antonio on the east and Concan to Junction on the west. It covers over 10,000 square miles of beautiful rolling hills, grasslands bathed in bluebonnets, expansive lakes, quaint cities and small towns. For the last 20 years, the Texas Hill Country has been one of America's fastest-growing wine regions. It boasts over 100 wineries, vineyards, and tasting rooms...we drove by quite a few and walked by even more in Fredericksburg, but we didn't try any on this trip. 

The main house of the Sage Hill and Inn.

Dining room and library in the main building

The pool had a wonderful view.

Juniper Cottage was our home for two nights.

We had a gas fire pit that we enjoyed both evenings.

Since it was such a beautiful day we decided to spend it in Wimberley. We did a little shopping, a little hiking, had a great lunch, found Jacob's Well, walked along Cypress Creek and sat in a tree house and enjoyed a cocktail at Cypress Creek Reserve Rum Distillery.

Wimberley started a program in 2014 called Bootiful Wimberley as a way to highlight the arts in town. There are 32 boots scattered throughout town that were sponsored and painted by area artists.

We spent quite a few summer vacations in Wimberley when our boys were young...we loved playing in Cypress Creek and floating down the Blanco River.

Jacob's Well is one of the longest underwater caves in Texas and is the headwaters to Cypress Creek that flows through Wimberley into Blue hole and then to the Blanco River. The 12-foot opening of the spring depends vertically for about 23 feet, then continues at an angle until it reaches its maximum depth of 140 feet. From here a cave system starts that is approximately 4,500 feet long. The water temperature stays a constant 68°F.

Cypress Creek Reserve Rum is made totally on sight at a little property near Wimberley. Water from Cypress Creek is used to ferment and cut the rum. After a tasting of the three rums they make we sat in their tree and enjoyed the afternoon with one of their rum cocktails. 

After two days at the Inn, we moved to Fredericksburg. Neither of us could even remember the last time we had visited this cute little town. On our way to Fredericksburg we stopped in Luckenback. Not a lot to see there but we did take the obligatory picture in front of the post office/general store.

Our second stop on our way to Fredericksburg was the Wildseed Farms...their Bluebonnet field was spectacular.

The historic town of Fredericksburg was founded in 1846 by German immigrants. It's home to over 50 wineries, more than 150 shops and boutiques, antiques shops and art galleries. We spent our first day wandering through town, mostly doing a little window shopping, then relaxing by the pool and soaking in the beautiful warm sunshine. Our second day was spent hiking at Enchanted Rock. I'll do a second post on what we saw there.

Our best meal...by far on this trip was at Pasta Bella. Both our meals were delicious. If you go here...go early. They stay very busy.

The highlight of our little vacation was catching up with an old friend of mine. A friend I used to go to camp with in junior and senior high school. We haven't seen each other in over 40 years, although we have stayed in touch through letters and the internet. It was so much fun!

Stephen, Marilyn, Susie and Stan