Pre-10 Year Trip for Us AND the Kids!

This post has not been proof-read or even re-read... proceed with caution!

So, Justin and I are coming up on our 10 year wedding anniversary... hold the phone! How has it been 10 years... feels like 20... I kid. It feels just short of 9. Or maybe 8. I don't know, but I'm glad we've made it here... to the pre-10 mark. And I am even more glad we decided to take the plunge and do something a little out of our ordinary to celebrate. 

Naturally, we tried to plan this trip several times, but we have a hard time planning... picking, deciding. But one weekend a rush of decisiveness came over us and we booked it. Got the g-rents on schedule and that was that.

We picked Fredericksburg... and it was a good choice.

Which will encourage on future trip decisions to go with our gut... because we were right on! :)

On a Wednesday, I loaded up the kiddos after lunch and headed to San Antonio to meet KK half-way for the official grandchild swap! I didn't get any children, but I did get some peace and quiet on my side of the swap... and KK... well she got two kids and none of the other. Bless her. She loved every minute of it. 

It was a tearless goodbye... Thank you, thank you!

After getting back home I finished up some packing and met my best friend for a quiet dinner on the couch. And then we made a late night (past 8pm) run to CVS for candy... we were gearing up for a few days living on the wild side. And if you think a late night trip to CVS is wild, you've seen nothing... what we bought was even wilder... and even more... that we ate what we bought... the wildest. Triple Stuffed Oreos and 100 Grand Bars. Our respective favorite indulgences. WILD!

The next morning we loaded up and grabbed a Starbucks on the way out of town and headed West to Fred! Once we arrived we started shopping! In and out of the various shops, enjoying the uncharacteristically cool weather that morning. And it just so happened that fate had its eye on us when we stumbled upon the PERFECT gift for our 10 year. We bought the socially appropriate and traditional gift for a 10 year anniversary... a piece of TIN... or iron... in the form of a green and gold Sic 'Em! Our walk on the wild side continued... It is now proudly hanging on our back porch! :) And we love it! It will be even better come fall... when we LIGHT it up in honor of our Bears! 

Moving on.

After LOTS more shopping, both the real kind of the "we're just looking" kind, we settled in at a local joint for lunch. We ate at Charlie's which was supposedly the best burger in town. While good we found the BEST the next day at Hondo's, but we are still glad we tried out a lesser known spot.

After lunch we hit Main Street again to get the last of our shops in. We were waiting for our little cabin in the woods to be ready and you better believe as soon as the clock rang 2:45 we were out of downtown and headed to our home away from home for a prompt 3pm check in.

We LOVE Home Away and have had previous success renting a home this way, so it is ALWAYS the first thing I check. While I do enjoy a good hotel, there is something extra special about having the conveniences of home without being AT home. We found the perfect little spot online and prayed it would be just as it seemed... and it wasn't JUST as it seemed... it was better. Even better. The cabin was billed as a romantic spot and as cheesy as we both think that sounds, we found it to be quite wonderful and void of a doilies of any kind, which is clearly important. The cabin had a private hot tub and a beautiful front porch with a couch and swing. We spent the majority of our weekend outside and again... the weather, what a treasure it was. In June we were chilly at times and it that was a TREAT!

Our first night we hit a spot recommended to us by both friends and family for dinner. The Navajo Grill. It was fabulous! Since it was Thursday, the town was quiet and the restaurant followed suit with the exception of a terribly rude man who made quite the scene and nearly made our waitress up and quiet her job. Okay, maybe not quite that bad, but he was hateful. I have never witnessed such a thing in my life. My heart hurt, so Justin and I had an especially fun time trying to brighten the evening of our waitress the rest of the evening. 

I had a wonderful Chardonnay that evening that was new to me. So I snapped a pic... and have yet to track it down. In fact, I hadn't remembered to do so until now. The perks of blogging are endless.

After a scrumptious dinner we retired to the patio to sit a spell and finish up our drinks. I was feeling artsy so I did this... 

Not bad... it's amazing what a little get-away can inspire... :)

There's my man... in plaid... a button-down... his next 10 years look... it suits him! :)

The next morning we had BIG plans to do some hiking! And now I am realizing that my pictures are out of order... nothing more frustrating to me. But in these next ten years of marriage I am going to embrace my limits... and going back and rearranging photos now it past them. I feel alive.

Okay, now moving on.

We grabbed a quick bite for breakfast... pictures to come later... and then we headed out to Enchanted Rock before most of the other Fred visitors had even gotten out of their robes... and that was the point. Beat the people and beat the heat. We achieved both!

I have always wanted to hike Enchanted Rock and knew that our opportunities were still years away if we brought the kids, so part of our motivation in picking Fred is so we could be close enough to doing something else we love... 

The rock formations are something that you can't quite understand but can certainly appreciate. We had our route all mapped out. We'd do the loop to the base of Enchanted Rock, cutting through this canyon trail and then up we'd go!

And Justin took "up we go" at every turn... and flexed his muscles to let me know that I had indeed found myself a man! 

And also, I had found myself a man who is the master of the selfie! And has long arms, which is no way aids his ability to take those stellar selfies... the art is from the heart. 

We had fun snapping pictures of our scenery throughout our hike!

The weather once again was phenomenal for hiking. We were having a wonderful time...

And then we got to the LOOP Trail... 

This was the part where we were going to cut through the canyon to get to the base of Enchanted Rock rather then traipse another 2 miles back around to complete the 4 mile loop.

Here's where Echo Canyon Trail begins... innocent enough. It had flowers around the sign... no big.

And a beautiful pond where I imagined that my ancestors, the Native Americans once bathed, fished and washed their loin cloths. Jokes aside, it really was breathtaking. 

And then the trail kind of ended... uh...

Did we go the wrong way?

Map?

Testing? 1... 2...

Map?

No we have to go over that... up it... through it... down the other side... 

We'll get there.

Justin says all of this calmly, anticipatory of the adventure ahead. 

Okay, I've hiked plenty! I've got this. Granted I've never hiked a spot like this as a mom... and while in some ways being a mom has made me brave, in many ways it has made me afraid, because you know I've got people. People who expect their "grown-up to come back," just like Daniel Tiger sings. What if I fall off a cliff, or get bit by a rattlesnake... or a mountain lion? Sky's the limit on the many ways in which I was picturing my demise. 

And then I saw a black squirrel pop straight out from the rock I had stepped on... the same set of rocks I was SURE a poisonous snake was hiding under with my name on its kill list. And I screamed. I thought it was a skunk, but then Justin assured me with his VAST knowledge of critters that it was in fact a black squirrel... I had no idea God's squirrel were so diverse... good for him!

So I kept going... then an IGUANA popped out just inches... above the place where I put my hand to PULL myself UP the cliff... SCREAM! Maybe even an expletive... my self-control was gone.

So I cried. Said I was not going any further. NOT ANY! Justin thought about getting mad, but remembered a few critical things he's learned over our almost 10 years. 

I was crying.

That was GREAT news.

So he said. If you want to go, let's go back. I'm ready when you are.

Before he knew it I had sucked it up, gotten my big girl panties out of my satchel, strapped them on and got the HELL out of dodge.

Which left him to take OH SO flattering pictures of me moving up the rocks, praying VERY LOUDLY in the bold name of Jesus as I climbed!

And after a few more rocky passages of Hades... the Lord picked us up and put us on a cloud of pink granite...

We had made it to Summit Trail! 

And the ANGELS all took a deep breath and went back to worrying about the rest of the world. I had everyone working overtime! Bless their hearts!

So energized and full of the adrenaline that comes after conquering something TERRIFYING, we motored up the rock... until I realized that my body was not meant to motor quite like my brain was pushing it to do... so we stopped for a quick rest while my heart came back to its baseline pound.

AND THEN...

WE GOT THERE!

TO THE TOP!

THE SUMMIT!

And it was gorgeous!!

And so...

The Selfie Master with the long arms that in NO way impact his artistic abilities... snapped a selfie!

Lord of Mercy! We did it! I DID IT!

And not Enchanted Rock... I did Echo Canyon! 

And I'll never do it again.

Until Heaven... and made I'll live there for a few hundred years.

That night we treated ourselves to another nice meal in town!!

THE NEST!

And we Toasted to Ten!

And then we got a bit out of order with the pics...

But we'll keep going... 

This was the view in panorama from our porch... 

 Ah...

And here... the random breakfast spot we found before our hike.

We learned we are awkward in pictures in the morning... with crappy coffee in our hands! :)

So I tried again... and channeled my inner-Caden!

Nailed it!

Okay...

Post hike...

We did a hot tub soak... obvi.

And a LUNCH of NACHOS and CHEESE FRIES!

Don't judge! Anxiety burns lots of calories...

Or so they say... I should be MUCH thinner!

This was the BEST burger... in Justin's mind... at Hondo's. It was the perfect re-fuel after our morning adventures!

Friday was the day I was excited about... the hike! :) Oh the irony... although despite our more adventurous take on the whole hike thing, I truly did enjoy the result... very much!

And Justin's was Saturday. We took a wine tour!

Waiting on our driver to pick us up!

That day happened to be part of a bigger event... in which most of the wineries along the 290 route were participating. 

Many years ago we dreamed of going to Napa for our 10 year, so getting to do the wine tour in Texas was icing on the cake! And it was really so so fun! We hit four wineries throughout our day and our driver who we adored, took us to a few spots off the grid too, like this food truck in Albert, TX.

The Pig Pen!

We visited Hilmy, Pedernales, William Chris and Grape Creek vineyards. My personal favorite was Himly because of its boutique, small batch appeal, plus they had the best WHITES of the day, which are my favorites.

Justin's favorite was probably Grape Creek overall, but he enjoyed the experience of each one and by the end of our tastings we decided that everything just tasted like wine... our pallets were toast! 

We also made a stop in Luckenbach... because everyone is someone in Luckenbach. 

Justin used a filter in the pic above... see... artsy! Not just long arms!

After a long day of wine...

We hit the Hill Top Cafe for dinner...

It was a must-see we were told and the food was good too! We agreed on both counts!

And the next day... we were off...

To pick up our kids...

Who you will see from the pictures below were neglected for 5 straight days. We were so happy to have saved them from another day of misery and ourselves from the thoughts of their deep sorrow.

Well, even if they didn't have fun, Justin and I sure DID! It's a good thing our 20 is still 10 years away.

Thank you Kk and Albi for helping us pull off our fabulous 10 year celebration by taking our most valued treasures on an unforgettable adventure! They had a great time, no matter what I try to pull off as a joke. We appreciate y'all so very much.

And to my best friend who also happens to be my husband of almost 10... I love you.