Harrison Brothers - Fredericksburg Weekend

This past weekend Ben and I along with Mendy and Alex took a little weekend trip away to Fredericksburg.

Ben and I have come to love this little town in the Texas Hill Country. It's gorgeous, slow-paced, and just far enough away to feel like a vacation. We were lucky enough to receive a bednandbreakfast.com gift certificate from Gary and Cheryl for Christmas last year and cashed it in for a weekend away in Fredericksburg again.

We left on Thursday night after everyone got off work and drove late into the night to get there.

We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel in Waco.

 (bc what's a road trip without a stop at Cracker Barrel)

And if there is any picture to sum up the weekend for me, it might be this one. I laughed and laughed and laughed. Ben said multiple times that he hadn't seen me laugh this much in a while. It was so fun and relaxing and refreshing.

We arrived around 11pm and picked up our keys in town and headed to Barron's Creekside to our own cabins for the weekend. Alex and Mendy stayed in a Swiss Log Cabin called the Lucerne and Ben and I stayed in a cabin called the Rhine Falls. 

We played a lot of late night Pinochle....and Mendy and I continue our streak of beating the boys.

 

The property was picturesque with wildlife everywhere and so peaceful.

 (It is apparently where they shoot the Cabella's catalog each year)

We woke up each morning to ducks walking around the creek, had coffee in our rocking chairs on the front porch and a waterfall outside our bedroom.

 It was beautiful.

Our Cabin - The Rhine Falls

I went for a run one morning just to explore the property and it was so fun. There is an overlook over a creek, a nature trail and all the cabins are so cute.

Alex and Mendy's Cabin - The Lucerne  (ignore my disgusting after-running look but, how can you NOT pose with a big rooster?)


Friday we went to the Garrison Brothers Distillery. It was Ben's absolute favorite thing he did last time and he knew Alex would love it. We joked that they should just change the name of it to Harrison Brothers and we could all move down and live the slow-paced life of Fredericksburg.
 But, alas...
Garrison Brothers is a bourbon distillery started by a guy named Dan Garrison and he has about 6 full time employees that call themselves hairy, tattooed nerds. The whole process is so technical and scientific. The tour is super informative and interesting to see someone so passionate about what they do. You can't even purchase a bottle of bourbon on site so you really just go for the tour experience.
 

We also visited Grape Creek and took a tour of their winery. We picked the absolute best day for both tours because Friday was not crowded at all and we had the tours mostly to ourselves.

Friday night we had dinner at Cabernet Grill which came highly recommended from multiple sources. It was delicious and we left to head back and sit outside to look at those hill country stars before calling it a night. Saturday we had brunch at Vaudeville on Main Street and this was maybe all of our favorite meal. It was delicious and the perfect start to our day. After brunch we shopped around Main Street a little and Ben wanted to take Alex to the courtyard of the National Museum of the Pacific War. We walked right to the picture and description of their Grandfather's ship the USS Orca that Ben had spent hours finding on our last trip.
Next, we headed out to Becker Vineyards for a traditional grape stomp. I had never done one of these and it was definitely something to check off the bucket list. We were gross afterward and it felt so slimy but, it was a fun thing to do.
Cleaning up with the hose

Of course we had to do a tasting while we were there too!

On the way back in town from Becker we decided to drive to Luckenbach. It was my first time to see the historic Texas town and it was definitely a site to see. We bought some souveniers at the general store, hung out, listened to some live music, ate some food and played washers. Saturday night we had our last dinner at Silver Creek on the patio and enjoyed the nice weather and just enjoyed being together a little more.  Before we left town Sunday we had brunch at the restaurant of the cutest little bed and breakfast property called the Farm Haus Bistro. The food was great and the scenery perfect for our last little taste of Fredericksburg.
It was the perfect weekend away and it was amazing to just be a wife and a sister and free from responsibility and I could not have asked for a better time.
 But, it was so sweet to come home to my babies and be mommy again.

Speaking of these angels...they had the BEST time while we were away with their grandparents. Honey and Boss kept them one day and night and Pops and Gram kept them the other 2 nights. 

 I loved getting texts with pictures of all their activities and it was just so fun to see those sweet faces. Kinley even got to go swim at the NRH rec center with Aunt Jan one day all by herself and I know she loved every second of it. 

 They went with Honey to the library one day and checked out books and posed with the statues outside.

   

I think they took bubble baths every night.  

And Pops and Gram took them to Cabelas and swimming at their house.  

Apparently, according to Kinley, every fish is a GROUPER!  

Thank you so, so much to all our parents for keeping our kids. I truly felt so relaxed and enjoyed our entire trip knowing that they were having the time of their lives. 

 It was just the best weekend ever!