Back to the Hill Country

This past weekend my lovely bride and I enjoyed another getaway to the Texas Hill Country for a belated celebration of our 30th wedding anniversary. It was a great trip. We toured the only commercial olive grove in Texas. They do samplings of their olive oil just like a winery. We toured a couple of wineries, too, and had dinner at one in their excellent Italian restaurant.

While we were there we stayed at a wonderful B&B in the Canyon Lake area called Biscuit Hill Bed & Breakfast. The food was delicious and the owners were very friendly and hospitable. Most of the weekend was cloudy, but on the last day we were treated to beautiful blue skies that showcased the natural beauty of the area. Here's a picture of the B&B and another picture of the view from our private second story deck:



Canyon Lake was formed by damming the Guadalupe River in central Texas. The rocky limestone terrain ensures that the water is a beautiful blue color, unlike the muddy, sediment-filled lakes of East Texas. You can see the lake in the distance in the picture above. A closer shot is shown below, along with a shot of the earthen dam:



Behind the dam is a spillway and a small hydroelectric plant:



Just across the bank from the spillway I took this picture of a small tree clinging to the last leaves of fall, brilliantly lit by the midday sun. The yellow leaves were positively luminous. I wish my cheap digital camera did the scene justice:


The water from the spillway feeds the lower Guadalupe River. It is known around Texas as a beautiful place for tubing, white-water rafting, and fly fishing. Here is the view just downstream:



It was a great weekend to get away and enjoy a change of pace. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful wife, and doubly blessed because she has put up with me for the past thirty years. Even better, she shows no signs of kicking me out anytime soon!

Hill Country Getaway

Sorry for the long break. I haven't posted since Sunday because my lovely wife and I were on a short getaway vacation in the Texas Hill Country. We took Number One Son back to college Sunday and then drove on to spend three nights at the Meyer Bed and Breakfast in Comfort, TX. (Number Two Son was at a church retreat.) Here's a picture of the Meyer B&B:


The Meyer family built the house in the foreground in 1857. They built the building in back right in 1893 as a hotel and it has been operating continuously since. The building we stayed in is on the back left. It was built in 1920 as an expansion of the hotel. The hotel is on 25 acres and backs up to Cypress Creek:


During our stay we visited briefly at Garner State Park, which is located on the Frio River:


We also did some hiking in Lost Maples State Park. We hiked along the creek that flows through the park. It is famous for its isolated stand of maple trees. In the picture below, they're the ones with bare branches. :-)


Alas, it was gray and overcast the day we took all these pictures, so the colors are not as bright as they were in person.

We also spent a day in Fredericksburg shopping in all the quaint shops, but being a guy I didn't find that memorable enough to take a picture. Don't feel sorry for me being dragged to look at a bunch of knick-knacks, though, because we had plenty of delicious meals of country cooking and good German cuisine. On the way back home we made a pact to restart the South Beach diet. It was fun while it lasted!