We are back from our long weekend in Fredericksburg, TX for our first anniversary and get ready, there are lots of photos of food coming up. We initially wanted to do an out-of-state vacay to Key West but since I don’t have alot of vacation time at work still, we couldn’t stay as long as we would like to, and we love love love the hill country because it’s close, it’s gorgeous, and it is where we got married so it just felt right.
Of course we had to do a little detour to Luckenbach on the way. We could sit here all day, and almost did. Just a guy tellin’ stories and singin, a few people chillin’, and a cameo by three roosters crowing and chasing a hen through the “stage”…seriously. So awesome.
In Fredericksburg, we stayed at Hoffman Haus, a little B&B I’ve had my eye on since I was wedding planning. Just look at all their features on Style Me Pretty and the gorgeousness that has taken place here! It is a hugely popular venue and is usually booked up for weddings every weekend this time of year, and actually was when we first started planning this trip. I waited and waited on booking something then a few months later, some stars aligned and I checked their website, you know, just in case, and lo and behold it came open, even my favorite room, Ada’s Cottage was open! I hyperventilated called immediately and booked our three nights. This place is amazing, cause 1) no grandma’s-house here! It is quilt-free, figurine-free, brass-free, and wallpaper-free, 2) the grounds are gorgeous, clean, and quiet, 3) it is walking distance to Main Street, and 4) they bring you a hot breakfast in a basket to your door at 9am every day, whaaaaaa!?!? We will never stay at another place in Fred, ever.
Get ready for the most calming, sophisticated, and pretty B&B room ever!
The bed, bedding, curtains, and seating slipcovers were gorgeous white and natural linen and the TV credenza and little glass-front cabinet were the cutest shabby antique finds. The floors were stained concrete, the ceiling was beadboard with crown moulding, and the walls were an awesome greige similar to BM’s Revere Pewter. I have an email in asking them what color it is ;)
And then this happened every morning at 9.
Husband started the countdown about an hour before every.single.morning. I’ve never seen him so happy, this guy loves him some breakfast.
We had cream cheese french toast, a spinach quiche, and blueberry bread pudding during our stay, all with eggs, sausage, and fruit. It was all amazingly good and hot and fresh every time, very impressive!
Day 0.5
Once we got settled into the cottage after Luckenbach, it was NFL draft time! It was imperative we get to a good watching spot and post up for the evening with some beers and apps. Silver Creek Beer Garden & Grille it was! Ah, the romance :/ First things first for husband.
Day 1
Our first day was my girly day. We started off going to Wildseed Farms, an awesome native flower farm and nursery just east of town.
Aside from all the fields and beds of native wildflowers to get my plant-nerd on, the grounds, shops, and yummy cafe are gorgeous. You could spend the better part of a day hanging around this place but unfortunately ours was cut short by a good little thunderstorm rolling through. We did squeeze in some native-plant love as well as snacking on all kinds of preserves and sauces just in time to sit with a beer and watch the storm under their huge covered patio.
It is a little late in the season here for wildflowers but there were still an impressive few putting on their show, mainly the bachelor buttons, corn poppy, and larkspurs.
I would love to go back next year in it’s prime and get out into the 200 acres of fields they have. I did get a little crossvine for our pergola but unfortunately we don’t have the land to get all the good wildflowers. They sell all kinds of native flower and grass seed and you can even have custom seed packets made for events (I was too late to get some made for our wedding, grrrr).
Then our foodie tour began…
Lunch this day was at The Farm Haus, a cute little bistro at the Fredericksburg Herb Farm.
This place was very pretty and even has some cute B&B cottages on the property as well as an event venue. Matt got the chicken pot pie and I got the mushroom lasagna, both of which were amazing. There was some unique flavor in the pot pie that I couldn’t put my finger on but for sure inspired me to make one from scratch instead of the easy “cream-of” pot pie.
We then headed to Main Street for a little shoppin’. Most of the stores were a little too kitschy for me but it was nice just to stroll and people watch. And to appease the husband, we stopped in the Fredericksburg Brewery and did this:
He was even more satisfied to learn he can get a beer to go so off we went. Shopping is always more fun with a beverage in hand. The highlight of shopping here was by far this place, “red.”. So much so, it gets it’s own post on Friday :)
Dinner that night was at the Cabernet Grill located at the Cotton Gin Village B&B, but it was dark and crowded so I didn’t take any pics. The steak was to.die.for though!
Day 2
This was man day, hiking and drinking. A little breakfast at the door and we were off to Enchanted Rock.
We had both been to Enchanted Rock before but it had been years and years. This is such an amazing place and you can spend days out here exploring, especially for some biology-geeks like us.
Standard practice seems to be to hike to the top first, get your token I’m-at-the-top-of-E-rock pics, then wander your way around and down to the many trails around it. While getting to the top is amazing, it can really suck, especially for out of shape losers like me. I had to stop like four times, husband could have sprinted up the dang thing. Whatevs.
There are vernal pools and potholes all over the top which hold water and provide little microhabitats for all kinds of plant species and even little fairy shrimp. Makes for super cool photos. Totally geeked out up here.
After the top, we were ready to get away from all the annoying people and trek out on our own and do some birding. Painted buntings everywhere, summer tanagers everywhere, red-eyed vireos (one on a nest!), rufus-crowned sparrow, orchard orioles, and all sorts of cool lizards. We could have done it all day but hunger set in of course and we were hot as hell, so back to town we went.
Second trip to the Brewing Company, this time to get the scotch egg we saw on the menu the day before. I have always wanted to try one and it did not let me down! And oh man, the homemade spicy German mustard, ya-ummmm!
The rest of the afternoon was spent bar-hopping and patio-sittin’ till we did an early dinner at Otto’s German Bistro. Otto’s is more contemporary than the other places we’ve eaten at this trip but it is right up our alley. All the food is locally sourced which is something we feel very strongly about but don’t get the option of where we live now. I love the modern spin on the traditional German dishes. We got the Konigsberger Klopse (meatballs in dijon caper gravy) appetizer (but not a good picture of it) then Matt had the Duck Schnitzel and I had the Wurst Platte. The beet relish, spaetzle, and sweet pickled cucumbers were just as good as the meats. Spaetzle is going on my list of things to try to make, it’s like mac and cheese dumplings!
We were so full from dinner and tired/sore from E-Rock that we grabbed a movie from the office at the cottage (Tommy Boy to be exact) and passed out by about 10. Love it.
Day 3
Sunday we started our trek back south but stopped in Comfort for a quick lunch. A quick Texas Monthly restaurant search yielded High’s Cafe & Store. A quiet little downtown cafe with a huge patio, it seems all the locals go here which is always a good sign. I got the pimiento cheese sandwich and pickled veggies and Matt got the chicken salad sandwich with their soup of the day, some variation of chicken tortilla that I think had a hint of curry in it. We scarfed it down so fast, sans-picture, hence the empty plates in this pic. Also adding this to our list the next time we go through there, everything sounds so good I want to try more of it.
So, after eight thousand pictures, that is our trip! We couldn’t have had a better hill country experience and I love that we have a perfect lineup of places to eat and stay next time we go up. Please take a look at the websites of all these businesses and if you’re headed there anytime soon (if you aren’t, you should!) try to hit them up.
Back on Friday with details on Red, my new favorite store, like, ever. And next week will have the pergola unveiling and maybe….just maybe….a wainscoting unveiling.
6 thoughts on “Texas Hill Country Anniversary”
Great blog entry! I want to go spend a week now :)
This looks like so much fun Emily! That cream cheese french toast sounds sooooo good. Also I love that you went birding. My husband wants to get more into that.
Karen, dude, I think it even had a little apple in it or something. Ah-maz-ing. And you guys should definitely get into birding! Dorky as it sounds, it is amazing what’s out there when you actually start looking for them and some species are insanely beautiful. Such an easy way to spend time outdoors :)
Great blog entry! I want to go spend a week now :)
I’m going to copy and paste this mini-vacay! Looks like such a fun romantic time!
These places should pay you a commission or something
Haha, yeah! We do just love to share good places we find so that others can have a good time and good food too :)
This looks like so much fun Emily! That cream cheese french toast sounds sooooo good. Also I love that you went birding. My husband wants to get more into that.
Karen, dude, I think it even had a little apple in it or something. Ah-maz-ing. And you guys should definitely get into birding! Dorky as it sounds, it is amazing what’s out there when you actually start looking for them and some species are insanely beautiful. Such an easy way to spend time outdoors :)