Yep, Jon turned the big 30 this month, and to celebrate we went away for the weekend to Fredericksburg with our friends Mark, Kelly, Blake, and Katie. We ate, we drank, we got caught in apocalyptic downpours, and we had a lovely time in one of the most charming places I've ever been. So here's a look at the weekend through photos!
I put together little goody bags for everyone, which included these fun wine glasses! If you are not a glass-etching aficionado and in general basically suck at crafts (like *ahem* me), I recommend using the Tipsy Grape for fun, unique party favors!
But even more exciting than the wine glasses was the adorable miniature pinata Kelly brought!
Our intention was to grill out in the beautiful backyard of the house we stayed at during our first night there, but see above (re: "apocalyptic downpours"). Instead, we had a DIY pizza party!
The next morning we walked to our shuttle pickup location to spend a day at the wineries! For $20, the 290 Wine Shuttle takes its passengers along a wine route that stops at nine different places throughout the day.
Don't worry, we didn't go to all nine, we only went to two.
Our first stop was Grape Creek Vineyards. Out of all the places we visited, I probably enjoyed the wine at this one the most. However, it was the least laid back, having strange rules about what you're allowed to do as a non-wine club member and where food is allowed on the property (everywhere else we visited did not care about people bringing food in). Luckily, we were still able to have a picnic on the pretty patio. But take note: This won't always be an available option for Grape Creek patrons, as they are opening a bistro there soon. They were adamant about telling us that picnicking days are limited, folks!
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| Photo Credit: Katie |
Lush with beautiful flower fields and rustic buildings, the property is intoxicatingly gorgeous. They also grow lavender, so the gift shop was filled with delightful, aromatic lavender products, and I may or may not have spent the equivalent to a downpayment on a house in there (#helpme).
Did I say we went to two wineries?
I lied, we went to three.
4.0 Cellars offers a much more modern setting than the first two stops, and it was exceptionally busy. We split a couple bottles of wine and enjoyed more of our picnic fare as we listened to some live Texas country music on the relaxed patio.
Did I say we went to three wineries?
Okay, OKAY.
... we went to four.
Our FINAL stop on the tour was at Fiesta Winery. The beautifully vibrant tasting room was equipped with the sweetest wines we had tasted that day. I don't typically favor sweet wines, but I *somehow* ended up buying three bottles because, welp I'm pretty sure the results of having made FOUR winery stops were starting to take effect. Also, the people there were incredibly friendly and engaging.
We sat on the porch after our tasting, splitting another bottle of wine (this is a safe space, people), and then had to make a mad dash to our shuttle because, see above, times two (re: "apocalyptic downpours")
As I'm sure you can imagine, when we hopped on one of the last shuttles of the day, we quickly discovered that it was filled with a bunch of pumped up, satisfied, friendly Wine People who all became instant best friends. This shuttle in particular had a bunch of hilarious women with a selfie stick, so we took this picture, where I sat up front looking like a horrifyingly pale ghost version of myself. Also our driver Tom is the World's Greatest Human.
After we returned to our house, the six of us rallied like I've never rallied before, and walked into town for some dinner/Rockets-watching. Through a string of dramatic events (APOCALYPTIC DOWNPOUR), we made it safely to our destination, Silver Creek. The jalapeno poppers and veggie quesadilla I had there were incredible.
And fun story- earlier that day I received a text from one of my high school besties Melinda, asking if I was in Fredericksburg. You know how she knew? She saw Jon at the Grape Creek gift shop. This story isn't weird until you know that she had never met Jon, but had only ever seen pictures of him. So she and her husband Justin also joined us that night!
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| Photo Credit: Melinda |
Fredericksburg is such a charming little town and makes for a lovely weekend away! We didn't get to do everything we would have liked to do, so we are definitely planning a return trip. So get out there, bop around town, bask in the beauty of the Texas Hill Country, and hit up a winery!
(or four).
I was hoping you went to Becker - it's my favorite! If you can plan a return trip for July 4th, they do an annual charity chili cookoff that's a lot of fun (but wine + chili + July temps isn't the BEST combo...). I have wondered if the bus was worth it - good to know it worked out for you!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I couldn't get over how gorgeous Becker was! And good to know about 4th of July! We won't be able to do it this 4th, but I'll keep that in mind for next year. I also was thinking Thanksgiving/Christmas time around there is probably freaking adorable.
DeleteFor having an inexpensive, day-long Designated Driver, the shuttle is totally worth it. I can see the benefit of having a private driver in that you don't have to wait for the bus at each place, but honestly the longest wait we had was *maybe* 15 minutes? Definitely not a bad deal!
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