San Antonio/Hill Country trip report
 

My husband and I just got back last night from San Antonio. He was there for a week-long business conference and I flew in on Wed. night. We stayed at the Westin on Riverwalk - very nice. I've been to SA 3-4 times before, but not for over 10 years. I had forgotten how beautiful it is! The only thing new I did was we had lunch at the Guenther House - which was good. Not great ambience inside, but good food.
Since I've done the SA touristy things before, I was intent on seeing Texas Hill Country after reading postings about it on this site. On Thursday, while my husband was in the conference, I drove up to New Braunfels and Gruene (pronounced Green). It's only about 25-30 min from SA. The weather was nice and I had a great day looking in the shops (oldest hardware store and bakery in Texas is in New Braunfels!)then on to Gruene where I stopped & had a glass of wine at The Gristmill outside on the deck overlooking the Guadalupe river. It was beautiful! It was so nice that when my husband and eight others wanted ideas for dinner that night, I suggested The Gristmill and everybody loved it. Delicious and affordable ($10-$15)! After dinner we all headed over to Gruene Hall and listened to the live music. (Found out that this is where the dancehall scene from the movie "Michael" was filmed.)
Next day we stopped at a few wineries (There's a bunch of them in Hill Country!!) and did some wine tasting and headed over to Boerne (pronounced Bernie). Cute shops in the historic district in town, lots of antique stores, best one was the outside junk sale/antique sale on the edge of town, fed the ducks along the river (that come running up to you to be fed as soon as you get out of the car or swimming up along the bank). Stopped at two restaurants in town - Daily Grind and Dodging Duck and would never recommend either.
We stopped in Comfort the next day --my favorite place--very quiet, laid back, 5-6 antique shops, cute candy store, old grocery store and the Comfort Cellars Winery where we got had the best wine tasting and service.

Then up to Fredericks where we spent Sat. night. Had appetizers at the Fredericksburg Brewery - liked it - had the sausage and cheese appetizer ($4.95)which was a meal in itself. Then had a very nice dinner at the Cotton Gin at the end of town- friendly service/good meal. Fredericksburg was very busy, lots of cute shops, but higher priced. I found two junk shops behind the main shops that I liked - have to dig a little--but good stuff. I guess it was my least favorite of the places we went.

We stayed at Abbi's Cottage on Milam St.- I booked it late, less than a week in advance and it was one of the few that I could get without renting it for 2 nights. We drove up and it looked darling from the front, however, it was on a busy street, lots of car noise. The inside was equally cute and there was a hot tub in the private backyard.
But the Bed! it had a very nice quilt on it and throw pillows, but old, dingy, threadbare sheets and the HARDEST pillows-like sleeping on flour sacks. And the bed was like sleeping on a rock-extremely firm. I got very little sleep that night. My husband had a cold and had taken some medicine to make him drousy, maybe I should have too.... But he agreed that the sheets and pillows were terrible. The only thing that distracted me from my aching back was the constant roar of the cars going by. We rented it from Main St. Bed & Breakfast-who have a ton of properties they rent out. Maybe it's best to go to a regular B&B.

On the way back to SA, we swung by Canyon Lake -- didn't have much time to look around, but wished that I maybe had booked a cabin on the lake for our last night instead - that would have been nice.

All in all, had a great time, loved the Hill Country, even little Luckenbach, and plan on going back again, except with a pickup so I can buy and bring back more stuff!

Wow, hollifitz, you really got around! Good for you!! Glad you enjoyed your trips to the hill country. Next time you're in Boerne try eating at the Peach Tree or the bakery on Main Street--I can't remember the name of the bakery even though it is my personal favorite! And there is nothing worse than a bad bed on vacation, imo--so sorry that happened!

The best B&B we ever stayed at we found just driving by and they had an open suite. I was skeptical, you always think the good ones are taken, but this was a little gem and the room was beautiful. We had complimentary fruit, crackers, cheese and wine in our room and the bed was heavenly! After 5 years, I still think back on what a wonderful bed that was - like sleeping on a cloud.
I forgot to mention that my husband really liked Schilos for breakfast in San Antonio. And the Sisterdale vineyard was very nice and quaint also. (I do like to give credit where credit is due.)
On the country road from Fredericksburg to Luckenbach (had to say we went there!) we also saw two armadillos! We're from MN, so that was a novelty. We stopped and I got about 5 feet away from the one before it ran off.
Yes, we did get around as much as we could - but travel time was never more than about a 1/2 hour between places, so it was pretty easy.

It's so sad, we've lived in San Antonio going on 17 years this summer and I have yet to see an armadillo anywhere in Texas in a full, upright postion :-(

Forgot to mention that I enjoyed reading your report! :-)

I have lived in Texas since 1981 and have never seen a live armadillo!

I can tell I need to have a GTG at my house. I've got a whole family of armadillos living under my deck!!

kopp, I'll trade you for a skunk! No one thinks it's funny but me that we have a skunk living under our deck and the neighbors now refer to the skunk as "our skunk". He is beautiful and not terribly odiferous when left alone ;-)

Sounds like a good trip. Glad you had a good time. Who did you see at Gruene Hall?

Better an armadillo than a possum. Not sure about a skunk. Somebody here has to have a racoon.

Glad you enjoyed Gruene and the Grist Mill restaurant. A hot summer night dancing at the dance hall is my favorite memory of Texas - and one of my favorite memories of all! I just love the Hill Country. I drove down every weekend I could when I lived in Dallas.

Oh, LD - now those 'coons are nasty, for sure. About a year ago, my next-door neighbor's BIG dog starts barking like crazy in the middle of the night. Wakes up the whole street.

They went out back to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out the dog and raccoon were in a real "to the death" fight. Neighbor decides there's nothing he can do, so he goes back inside. About 10 minutes later the barking stops, but what's the result?

At the crack of dawn, neighbor finds dog lying exhausted, beat up, in his doghouse.

Oh, the raccoon? Vultures had quite a feast later that day!

Yep, we've got'em all here in Austin - armadillos, possum, deer, coyotes, and 'coons! A virtual animal park at times.

Speaking of deer - had a baby born on my property last spring. So cute!

Texas - it's a whole 'nother country!

Happy travels, y'all!

(Oh, good report hollifitz - didn't mean to hijack!)

Yeah, when we were driving down the road, I kept saying to my husband, "Watch for armadillos on the side of the road now" and he kept saying, "yeah, I bet I'll see one next to one of those 'jackalopes'." (I didn't know if he thought the armadillos were fake or the jackalopes were real...)
I'm not sure who it was at Gruene Hall - just a small group - 1 woman and 2 men playing guitar & singing -- very good! I fell in love with Hill Country, even more than San Antonio, I kept thinking "I could live here.." Or at least spend 3-4 months out of the year there.
But I tell you, no matter where we go, there's always beautiful things and beautiful people -- sometimes you have to dig a little, or perhaps wipe off a coat of dust - but they're out there!

Great report, I'm glad you enjoyed your visit to Central TX. I think it's funny how we must provide a phoenetical translation for the names of our towns, but it really is necessary. :-))

I have lived in Austin for 25 years now. I never thought of it until this very moment, but of the hundreds of armadillos I've seen over the years, I don't recall ever seeing a live one. I think they hide away when they have the will to live, then they come to the road when they are ready to die. :-(

Y'all come back now ya hear?

Wow - you really used your time to good advantage. We should forward your trip report to the convention and visitors bureau!
So, kopp, when is the GTG??? ;-)

Reminds me of a joke by a West Texas friend.

Friend - Ya wanna hear my impression of an West Texas armidillo

Me - sure

Friend - (sound of car on highway) SPLAT!