Our first year of marriage was a breeze. Oh sure, we had our typical disagreements about how much to spend on groceries and how to best attend to each other's "love languages" and all that, but for the most part it was a sweet, simple, easy year.
The tough times hit us in year number two. After our whirlwind tour of Europe, real life hit us like a ton of bricks. Jonathan had left a great job at the state capitol building in Oklahoma City in order for me to attend graduate school, and he was stuck pounding the pavement of Waco in search of a new job. He found one quickly enough, but it was an auditing position at a local bank, and he didn't love it.
On the other hand, I jumped headlong into my graduate program; an academic at heart, I immersed myself in my studies and in the demands of my assistantship with Student Organizations. When I wasn't at a student activity, I was meeting friends for study groups or working on a project at home. Either way, Jonathan was stuck in a new town with a job he hated, as I fell passionately in love with my calling of working with college students. We struggled through being in such different places, refined our communication skills, and refreshed our priorities. And we made it.
When our second anniversary rolled around that summer, the celebration was that much sweeter because we had worked for it. We hit the road for a long weekend in the Texas Hill Country, just a couple of hours from Waco, west of Austin. We kicked off our trip with a jaunt through Gruene (pronounced "Green"), a little town famous for it's Gristmill restaurant and Gruene Hall, the perfect spot to enjoy country music and dancing.
We also checked out Boerne (pronounced "Bernie"), which has quaint little shops and a great brewery, and New Braunfels. We spent our evenings in the little town of Comfort, at the Comfort Inn Bed and Breakfast. Here we are enjoying a sunset from our balcony. Each morning, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast on the patio as we watched deer feeding in the woods across the creek.
So relaxing and peaceful!
On the second day of our trip, we headed toward Kerrville and on to Hunt, where I spent a summer in college working at Camp Waldemar. Jonathan had spent that same summer in Maine, so he never got to visit me at Waldemar. I couldn't wait to show him this magical place on the Guadalupe River! Camp Waldemar was like The Parent Trap on speed. An all-girls camp, there are three tribes that are much like sororities, and the girls attend for a month every summer from age 9-16. When a woman who grew up at Waldemar finds out she is having a baby girl, she puts her unborn baby's name on the waiting list. I'm not making this up, people! The place is a little crazy in a wonderful way, and it is stunningly gorgeous.
The summer I worked at Waldemar, I would drive 10 minutes to the nearest pay phone on the weekends just to call Jonathan at his camp in Maine. Here I am by the infamous Hunt Store payphone!
The Texas Hill Country has some great wineries, so Jonathan and I took part in one of our favorite vacation pastimes, wine tasting. We hit up Dry Comal Creek, and my favorite, Becker Vineyards, which also has a lavender farm. And I LOVE lavender!
We also took a hop off the beaten path to visit Luckenbach, a little postal stop and bar made famous by Willy Nelson's hit song. It is a popular stop for bikers and country music lovers, so we preppies looked a little out of place and got some funny looks!
After some shopping in Fredericksburg, we hit the road back to Waco, but made time to stop in Marble Falls at the Blue Bonnet Cafe. They are famous for pie, and it sure did not disappoint! Their meringue was sky-high, just the way I like it!
The great thing about a Texas Hill Country vacation is that it is close for all my TX/OK friends, drivable, affordable, and has a wide variety of things to enjoy. It was a perfect way to cap off another wonderful, but hard-earned year of marriage!
3 comments:
I was kind of whining that we probably won't go on a big vacation this summer, and you just reminded me that we live less than an hour's drive from some wonderful places. Yes I've been to most of those, but sometimes we forget to enjoy what is right in our own backyards. :)
Sometimes staying local is the best adventure. Looks like a great trip!
I've spent time in Gruene and Fredericksburg, but it looks like we're going to have to check out some of these other towns too! I've heard great things about both Kerrville and Comfort.
Post a Comment