For Mother's Day Nate actually bought me a plane ticket to visit a sweet friend of mine in Chicago (she inspires me so so much) - but due to unforeseen family emergency, we had to cancel our plans for now - but one day I am so going to hug her again.
Nate had the time off anyways since he was going to stay with the kids, so he suggested that we take a little trip together, and leave the kids with his parents. They graciously agreed to keep them overnight.
That was such a big step for me and them (well mostly Hayleigh - Ian spend the night there a couple of months ago) - I have never left my kids with anyone overnight besides for Nate (and even then it was once before Hayleigh was even born and just after we moved to Texas for a night) - so basically it's a super duper big deal.
It was a super last minute decision to do this little overnight trip and we decided just two days and one night, so we wouldn't upset Hayleigh for life.
We settled on Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill Country. We have heard awesome things about this little town, and of course our love for most things German - it just made sense.
Fredricksburg is just one of the many Texas Hill Country Towns that was established in the mid 1800's by German immigrants. It was founded in 1846, and apparently 10% of the population speak a dialect called "Texas German" - hello culture mashup.
Most people would say that German culture is heavily apparent there - in my opinion it is extremely Americanized (to be expected, I guess) and touristy - but still fun.
We left early Saturday morning, and arrived in the cutest little town.
*** As usual - picture overload is about to go down ***
Since it was super last minute we just booked a hotel room at the Inn on Barron Creek (the owners are the parents from a girl in I know in town) - it was super nice and the location is perfect. The inn also had a spa attached to it and that was our back-up plan since it was suppose to rain.
We settled on the Auslander Restaurant & Biergarten.
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| Beer battered fried mushrooms. |
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| Jaeger schnitzel with German home fries and sauerkraut. |
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| I had to take a picture of the picture - because well we have been there. |
This made Nate so so so happy...
We spent the afternoon strolling along main street, popping in and out of the little shops, and also watching people.
The look of Main Street is super cute, but the little shops were just not our kind of shopping. We mainly went into the handful of antique stores, some food stores, and little wineries along the way.
It was a nice little stroll, also people watching is a much, because half the people walking around are pretty much tipsy (or lit as Nate likes to call them.)
This was my favourite little antique store, I could spend a bunch of time there.
This store was just seriously cute on the outside as well as the inside.
We visited a few more stores, just strolling around. I have to admit even though the majority of the stores didn't peek our interest, it was so nice to be able to just walk with getting things done, and also no whining from little people. They would have been seriously bored on this little trip.
I just loved all the jarred and pickled food, fudge, and chocolate. I didn't buy any of the jar or pickled food from Rustlin Rob's because it has way to many added additives, as well as food dyes (yes I am that person, and why is yellow food dye necessary in pickles?!?) never the less if you don't care it is a fun store, it was fun to walk around and see everything, you could also sample food, but stuff like that grosses Nate out because everyone can touch and sneeze on the bowl of crackers - lol!! It seems like we might have some issues.
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| Nate's spot. |
The Main Street is lined with an abundant of shops, boutiques, cafes, restaurants, tasting rooms, biergartens, art galleries, candy shops, and more. We pretty much just roamed around soaking in the scenery.
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| How could I not take a picture of the fire station? |
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| Peach bellini,since we were in peach country, |
We had dinner at Burger Burger since we weren't starving after a late lunch, and they make some pretty good burgers and shakes.
The highlight of our trip was breakfast at the Old German Bakery, this made up for the lunch disappointment. When we lived in Germany we had a little bakery just down the street from our house, and we use to visit it most Sunday mornings with the kids (it was magical) and we have missed it so much. Everything in this bakery was just as I remember it.
We also bought way to many loaves of bread for the freezer.
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| Ian and I use to get his nut roll all the time. |
It was fabulous, the lady who owns the store is elderly, but so lively, and classy (I love classy old woman) and she was super friendly, and well her little shop was to die for.
Our last stop was Wildseed Farm, how could we not. Nate is the best for walking around in a nursery with me pretty much all morning, and listening to mumble about gardening and plants. It was so beautiful and they had so many seeds and flower fields everywhere. So worth it.
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| We figured we should take on picture of us together - lol! |
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| Best fried pickles ever! |
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| Bartwurst with beer battered fries and onion rings. |
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| We of course had to get some beer to bring home. |
Since we were short on time, I would love to go back and just do the Wine Road. I think it is awesome because they have shuttles that take you from wine farm to wine farm, so no one has to drive. Gold star for them.
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All in all it was a fabulous overnight trip with Nate, just hanging out and having fun. We don't have that much time together with his work schedule, and then having time with the kids.
It was a much needed break for the both of us, and I can kind of kick my butt for waiting six and half years ;) we will definitely try to do this every few months, since the kids are getting older.
I am so lucky that I get to have the best adventures with Nate, and man have we had a few adventures together - it truly never gets old.
We also realized that it is time for us to kind of start living again, and to start traveling again, exploring, and getting out and about like we house to. I have been so bad the last two years - in becoming a complete homebody.
So we made a little and obtainable (for where we live) bucket list for this Summer with the kids, and I am so excited!
Happy Summer traveling!
** NOTE: some of the pictures are a little wacky - my trusty camera and travel companion of the last seven years is slowly starting to give out. Camera research is about to begin.
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