Texas, y’all. May I personally welcome you to our great state and say that I hope you have a warm and welcome time. If you aren’t hip to the Texas Hill Country, let me just open your eyes to an affordable, beautiful, and fabulous location for your next getaway. Whether you’re here for romance or girl time, you are in for a treat.
The “Hill Country” generally refers to the area in Central and South Texas known for its gorgeous landscape of hills and rocks. We don’t get a ton of that in the state so it holds a special place for us. This area has a wide variety of things to do and see from vineyards to wildflowers to hiking trails – not to mention nearby Austin, which has just about everything you could ever want. Seriously, there’s live music, great food, and some of the best vibes in the South. (I am biased. University of Texas Class of 2010. Hook ‘Em Horns!) There is a lot to see so let’s get going!
FRIDAY: Let’s Hit The Road
9:00 AM: Depart Dallas for our drive down the infamous I-35. If you’re arriving by air may I suggest San Antonio (SAT) or Austin (AUS), both about an hour and a half drive to Fredericksburg? Oh, yeah. You’ll need a car (or truck if you’re in the Texas spirit) to get around.
10:00 AM: First obligatory stop in West, TX for kolaches. This is a must if you’re heading down from Dallas. West is a Czech-settled small town known for pretty much one thing – baked goods! Most people will send you to The Czech Stop, but I am not most people and I will send you down the street to Gerik’s Ole Czech Bakery. Gerik’s is smaller, better, and has that vibe you want from your small-town snack stop (old men sitting around chatting and lot’s “how are you, honey” type greetings). Go for fruit or meat kolaches, you won’t be disappointed. I also like to get cookies – I’m a rebel that way.
11:00 AM: Second obligatory stop at… wait for it… a giant gas station. Yes, indeed Buc-ee’s is a Texas institution and icon. It’s clean, it’s enormous and envelops all the Texas stereotypes so well. Grab something (anything!) to eat and use the nicest gas station bathroom you will ever see, I promise. Follow the billboards, you can’t miss it.
12:00 PM: Lunch in Austin! Austin is its own entire post which I will save for another day. We stopped at El Arroyo today for margaritas on the patio.
El Arroyo serves up some decent tex-mex and is most known usually funny, sometimes snarky, marquee out front. Be sure to get that insta content in front of it! Choose any Tex-Mex in the city and you’re set. Some favorites of mine include Chuy’s and Tacodeli.
1:00 PM: Arrive at our rental house. We’ve got a decent-sized group and this place was perfect and well located! We head over to H-E-B to pick up breakfast and snack foods for the house. H-E-B is another weird thing we Texans take pride in. It’s a grocery store local to South Texas and we just think it’s better, okay? I don’t know why.
6:00 PM: After resting and freshening up we head to dinner at The Fredericksburg Herb Farm. This is a good spot for a very quaint dinner with good wine and fresh-from-the-garden ingredients. If you are looking to go bigger or harder, check out any of the spots along Main Street. There you will get more of a party-vibe with live music and beer gardens (Fredericksburg is a German-settled town and quite proud – catching the theme here?).
SATURDAY: Wine Day!
9:00 AM: Breakfast at the house. Great time to relax on the patio and get ready for a long day of drinking!
10:45 AM: We are picked up by our fabulous luxury “party bus” from Reserved Wine Tours. They are the only tours in town using this kind of bus and I cannot recommend Austin and his crew enough. They were stellar! We went with the “Vintage” level tour which included lunch and three winery stops. Austin helped me select which vineyards worked best for our group (there are dozens around) and he didn’t lead us astray.
We are wined and toured all around the area. My two favorites of the day were 4.0 Cellars and Kuhlman Cellars. Kuhlman in particular has a lovely tasting room and paired each wine with a snack. They really have an excellent operation and a beautiful facility.
5:00 PM: Our wine day is done but the fun has just begun! (I just couldn’t resist that rhyme, forgive me) We opt for a Lingerie Party at the house with tacos and margaritas but there are plenty of options around town to explore. Might I recommend:
You can walk with alcohol in public in Fredericksburg so grab some beer and peruse Main Street until your heart’s content or sauced, your call.
SUNDAY: One Last Adventure
9:00 AM: Another easy morning at the house but we have one more activity that will set us right for the workweek – a hike! This is a gentle hike (and pet friendly) on Enchanted Rock. You will be rewarded with lovely Hill Country views and work off the food and wine of days past.
If you’d like to grab a great coffee on your way out stop by Caliche Coffee Bar. This place has great atmosphere and freshly roasted coffee.
12:00 PM: Time to go home! We get cleaned up, grab a quick bite, and head out to where we came from. If you’re really hungry, definitely grab lunch at Old German Bakery. It’s the perfect sendoff from your new favorite Texas town. For me, this area of Texas is special in many ways. It’s where my family comes from, it’s where I went to school, it’s the culture that shaped much of who I am today.
A trip down south never disappoints and I’m always ready to go back. But until then, y’all be safe now. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support us in creating more content like this consider subscribing!
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