I have a meeting for several days in San Antonio in January and given that it will be cold and rainy here in San Francisco, I am thinking of extending the trip for the week to have a vacation where it is likely to be warm and sunny since I am there. I unfortunately know almost nothing about Texas. Is there some good vacation-like place within a few hours drive of San Antonio? Thinking of something outdoors or not too much city, though if it were the southwest I would pick Taos or Santa Fe as an example of an interesting place with restaurants, galleries etc. and some beautiful scenery. I heard of Cibolo Creek Ranch a long while back and it looks very nice, but it is too far and hard to get to. Any ideas?

You could just stay in Austin and the Hill Country and have a very lovely time between the scenery, the town and the restaurants.

Here in Central TX the good weather is hit or miss during the winter. It might be warm and sunny in Jan then it might be cold.

In either case I recommend Fredericksburg in the Hill Country. Fredericksburg is a beautiful German town with lots of good German food and great scenery. If you are fortunate enough to get warm sunny weather you might enjoy a hike up Enchanted Rock. You will also find wineries near F'burg, although not exactly the CA wine country. ;-)

Another suggestion is a stop at the LBJ ranch just outside of Fredericksburg. Even if you don't like or remember LBJ it's still in intetersing and inexpensive place to visit. On the ranch you will find a little village that looks like a TX homestead from 100 years ago.


http://www.fredericksburg-texas.com/visitor/index.asp

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/f...don_b_johnson/

Not sure what constitutes a vacation for you. If you have not been to San Antonio before, there is much to see.
http://www.visitsanantonio.com/index.aspx

http://sanantoniotxcoc.weblinkconnec...ages/visitors/

Fredricksburg is quaint as well as the rest of the Hill Country if you like to drive from town to town.

Austin has some great history at the Capitol and the Bullock Museum. And of course the music scene is touted although it's not for me.

The temperatures will not be as warm as Miami and Phoenix (50-60's?). Might be warmer on the coast (Galveston, Corpus Christi).

You may not get a lot of our San Antonio fodorites responding as some of them are leaving town due to Hurricane Ike.

My sister stayed at Cibolo Creek. Yes, it is away from everything and if remoteness & rugged beauty is what you are looking for you may like it. She absolutely loved it for those reasons.