Trip to ATX continued

 It always surprises me when I'm driving along, and pull up to a red light to look over and see the State Capital.  There are SO many interesting things about this building, too many to list so you can check ten of them out here.

As I was saying last week.  We decided to take a vineyard tour in the Hill Country (wine grapes are grown in several areas of the state.)

We set out for Fredricksberg, Texas.  Jeff had asked me to pay his slip rent when I was in Austin so we took a little side trip out to Lake Travis.  It was a dreary looking day out at the lake and there was absolutely NO ONE at the marina.  This is Jeff's little sailboat (that's Jolea climbing aboard to check things out since Jeff hadn't been there in several weeks.)  Looks like he's been doing some sanding to prepare for painting in the Spring.

These are the stairs down to the water from the parking lot.  Crazy steep!  Talk about a work out.  We had to rest after we got back to the car before we started our road-trip to Fredricksberg.

We took a little side trip off the road to Fredricksberg to Luckenbach.  Jolea's friend Kristy (being from Chicago) had never heard of Luckenbach, Texas or the song.  I think she may be the only person I've ever met that hasn't.   We listened to a band doing a sound check for an afternoon concert, I don't know who they were, but they were pretty good.

I did a little KIP knitting in public.  Then we set off to find a Mexican Restaurant for lunch.  We stopped at a place that was packed to the gills with cars in the lot and people inside.  We had a waiting time of 20 minutes only to find we would be seated where the waitstaff not only hoisted trays of "very hot plates" over our heads on huge trays but also furniture.  The food sucked!  I was not a happy traveler. That old adage of a packed restaurant of locals doesn't always mean that the food is good, or at least it doesn't mean that in Fredricksberg.

We left Fredricksberg and headed back the way we'd come.  We'd passed about a dozen vineyards on the way, but we had no idea which one to choose.  We finally just turned down a semi-paved road toward Becker Vineyards and Lavender Farm.  We were not disappointed although I wish I'd bought some Lavender syrup.  After our tasting and tour we bought a bottle of our all around favorite and grabbed what was left of the cheese curds I'd bought at the funky grocery store that morning.  Next time I start to go on a vineyard tour I'll get more cheese AND crackers.   It was fun sitting on benches out on the beautiful lawn, enjoying the wine and company and the beautiful countryside.

 I also purchased a bottle of a 'reserve' wine that we were told could only be purchased at the vineyard.  Hmmm, I wonder why I found this wine at my local Total Wines store yesterday?  (I was going to save it for a special occasion, the snow days last week were perfect.)

It was early evening so we headed back to Luckenbach for the evening concert.  Slaid Cleaves was playing and we decided to hang around for that.   We ended up sitting across the table from a couple (teachers) from Pflugerville (no that's not a Dr. Seuss town) who were so sweet and shared their cheese, crackers, hummus and Tiny Bread with us during the band break.  The music was great and the atmosphere and kindness of strangers made it even better.

We spent our drive home through the Hill Country, entertaining Kristy with Country Music which she said she didn't really care for blaring from the speakers loud enough to scare any deer that may be on the sides of the road.   It was a great day!

The next day Jolea and I returned the rental car and went to the grocery store so she could stock up.  The nearest grocery store is a mile walk from her house and not on the bus route.  We then went to have lunch at Hopdoddy's, they deserve all those stars they have on their review.  If you ever go there.... share!  Your burger that is, those burgers are HUGE!

I headed home after lunch, only to find that I-35 was a parking lot.  The 4 hour drive turned into a 6 hour drive.  I was exhausted when I got home from clinching my steering wheel in fear that someone was going to rear-end me in the stop and go traffic. 

I got home to a nice warm cozy home, where Jody had been busy making etched charms and trinkets all weekend.  He made me this key chain fob.  It's so me.

Y'all have a good week.