This year for our birthday’s the Barrs decided to send Travis and I on a mystery trip. We would have no clue to where we were going or what we would do while we were there. We were very excited about the much needed get away.

The trip started on Friday afternoon. Candace and Barry headed over to the house with a book full of envelopes. Each envelope was the address to the place we were going for the assigned part of the trip. Some reservations had been made, some were just fun places they wanted us to go. The book was full of about 20 envelopes. The first one instructed us to go I-10 West and exit Luling. We were very excited during that part of the leg. Still having no clue as to where we were going. After a short bit, we knew we were headed to the Hill Country, where we had predicted. We were correct. We were heading to Wimberley, Texas. Again, we had no clue what was there, or what there was to do, but we were still game.
About 9:00 that night, we pulled in to our house for the weekend. Artisans’ Inn, a little bed and breakfast next to Penny and Larry’s house. It was the cutest little thing ever. Very warm and inviting. There were lights, candles, wine, and cheesecake waiting for us when we arrived. It was so nice to be “home” after the long drive. After putting our stuff down, we headed to a restaurant right down the road (everything is right down the road in Wimberley). It was a German Brew House. We had some great German food and a small variety of beer. It was perfect.

Saturday morning we woke up to a knock at our door and our wonderful breakfast was delivered on the front porch. Spinach omelet, toast, potatoes, orange juice, water. It was delicious and just want we needed to get our day started. After breakfast we were off for stop #1. Bella Vista Ranch. We were on a tour of the only olive ranch in the state of Texas. Jack makes great olive oil with the trees planted on his land. It was so awesome to hear the history of the olive tree and how it goes through many weather hardships. Jack was a very educated and dedicated man. After a tour of the land, we headed inside the tasting room to taste olive oil. Yes, straight olive oil. It thought it was very weird, but I now know what to look/taste for in a good olive oil. We also had to swing by later in the weekend to buy more olive oil, cause we didn’t think we purchased enough. :0)

After Bella Vista, we were off to lunch at the Salt Lick. We were curious on what this was for the 50 minute wait in the middle of a non eating time (2:00), but once we got our food, we understood why. It was the best BBQ ever. Travis had a two meat plate and I had a chopped beef sandwich. YUMMY! After Salt Lick we headed to Spicewood Vineyard. We were headed out to taste some great Texas wine. This vineyard was beautiful. That night, Travis and I had a fancy dinner at The Blair Inn. This is another bed and breakfast that was right down the road from our B&B. It cooks themed dinners each Saturday night. This nights dinner was a German Theme Octoberfest night. It started with a potato cake and homemade applesauce, followed by a dumpling soup, then a butter salad, followed by Saurerbrat Roulade, then for dessert we had an apple-raisen strudel with rum sauce. It was delicious!

Sunday we woke to another yummy breakfast of french toast, sausage, herbed potatos, orange juice and water. Again, it was delicious. Penny and Larry make the best breakfasts ever. The best part is that it is delivered and we didn’t have a dish to clean. The B&B was great! After breakfast Travis and I put on our yucky clothes and headed to the place that I was the most curious about. IT WAS ZIPLINING! So cool. We would suit up and ride/hike up to the top of the mountains and zip down 8 different lines. It was the coolest and prettiest thing ever. It felt as if we were flying through the Hill Country. I made sure to look around and take in the surroundings. It was a beautiful day and you could see for miles. The sad part about this leg of the mystery trip is that I could have done the zip lines again and again and again. It was that awesome! I will definitely be doing that again. After the ziplining and cleaning up, Travis and I headed out for lunch at the Leaning Pear. This was a great meal because it was light and yummy. After lunch we headed out to Driftwood Vineyard. This was the prettiest view in all the area. The tasting room over looked the vineyard. At Driftwood you could sit under the trees, enjoy the live music and the beautiful view. I could have sat there for hours, especially on the beautiful day. After enjoying the view and tasting some great wine, we headed out to our last stop in Wimberley and on our mystery trip. We headed out to Mandola vineyard. This is the vineyard of one of the Carraba guys. This vineyard also had a beautiful area to sit and enjoy a glass or bottle of your favorite wine. We sat on a bench and enjoyed people watching and playing Bachi ball (you throw balls and try to get it closest to a little ball). Again, I could have sat for hours and enjoyed the peaceful surroundings. Sitting wasn’t long because we had to eat again. We stopped at the restaurant next to Mandola’s winery. They had delicious Italian food.
After another fun filled, busy day, Travis and I headed back to the B&B early and went to bed (craving breakfast already). It had been such a great day.

Monday morning, we didn’t want to wake up. We both realized that it was the end of our trip and we were headed back to the real word of work, children, dogs, laundry, the grocery store, etc. We laid in bed as long as we could before packing up and heading out. We did get out of bed to enjoy our last Penny breakfast. On the way home we stopped by Shiner Texas at the Shiner Brewery. We had to have a tasting and tour of the Brewery.

It was a great trip. One of the best I have ever been on. It was the best birthday present Travis and I could have ever asked for. Hopefully, we will get another one….one day! Enjoy the pictures below of all of our adventures. We do have videos of Travis and I zip lining and they will be posted soon.
Enjoy!