Saturday, May 3, 2008

A Trip to the Hill Country













I love the hill country. So when my daughter who lives in Washington DC asked us to meet her in Ausin a couple of weeks ago, we gladly answered "YES!"
Construction on I35 makes the drive from Dallas to Austin rather long at times....and this was one of those times. But getting to see all the wildflowers along the way is such a treat I was pretty content with the delay. We ate dinner Friday night at one of our favorite Tex-Mex places in Austin. Saturday morning we found the perfect place for a quick breakfast. "The Great Outdoors" is a garden center with a cute coffee house right on the grounds. So I sit on a deck drinking great coffee and eating cranberry bread on a beautiful morning----how perfect!
The only thing that could drag me away would be flowers and gardens--which was good as we were headed for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
For someone like me whose passion is gardening, this place is heaven. So many things to see. It was a beautiful day--blue skies, gorgeous flowers, sweet smells---hard to leave. But we were headed on to Wimberly, then on to Gruene. After a little shopping we had dinner at the Gristmill (YUM!) and listened to some good country music at Gruene Hall. Long day--we slept well that night! After a delicious breakfast at Magnolia Cafe (my favorite breakfast spot in Austin) we headed home. I always dread the "heading home" part of this hill country trip. There is something wild and wonderful about this part of Texas that I love. Home is where the heart is, true, but I sometimes leave my heart not in San Francisco, but in the hills of Texas.

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