South from Alaska: Hill Country Sojourn

Well, it's now Friday, March 22, 2013. Yesterday, we got settled in at Peach Country RV Park in Stonewall, TX. We had planned to stay again at Fredericksburg RV Park where we stayed for a few days last spring, but they were booked through the end of March, so we headed for Peach Country where our Class of ’07 friends, Greg & Jean, usually spent each spring. It's a little further to go shopping & sightseeing in Fredericksburg but it worked out fine.

The Alaska gang started arriving in Texas on Saturday, March 23. Curt & Diane flew in to San Antonio from Washington and Steve & Mary drove down from Missouri. We stayed at the condo in New Braunfels through Sunday, March 31. Never a dull moment with this group of long-time friends and this year was no exception!

We went shopping/browsing...

...had fabulous meals at the condo...

...went to Luckenbach...

...toured the Garrison Bros. Distillery (note the signs - it will give you some idea of how fun the tour was!)...

...toured the Texas State Capitol in Austin which was built in 1888...

...had a fun girls' shopping day

...and, of course, ate a couple of times at our favorite restaurant in that area, the Gristmill, which overlooks the Guadalupe River.

And, every year we make sure to take girls and guys group photos!

Our last little tour for this year was to the LBJ Ranch. There's a nice driving tour of the school, LBJ's birthplace, the family cemetery and, of course, the Texas White House. I think everyone especially enjoyed the show barn where national park rangers now explain the continuing cattle operation. Diane especially enjoyed the baby goats!

Soon after the Alaska gang all went back home, we had some more company: friends Dick & Karin brought their 5^th wheel over from Victoria TX for a couple weeks. We had worked with Dick & Karin at Magic Valley for a couple of winters and have stayed good friends. We enjoyed lots of day trips to places like the Wimberley Market on Saturday, April 6 (where we were joined by San Antonio cousins, Rick & Judy) and Enchanted Rock State Park on Sunday, April 7,

Perdenales Falls State Park on Monday, April 8,

Wildflower Ridge Alpacas on Thursday, April 11,

Karin & her new bud!

and on Friday, April 12, we visited Becker Vineyards, Wildseed Farms (my very favorite place to photograph flowers) and the Sauer Beckmann Living History Farm (which features German-Texan farm life from 1915-1918).
Old homestead at Becker Vineyards.

Love this picture of Karin and Bailey!

I could spend days every spring at Wildseed Farms!

The next three photos are at Sauer Beckmann Living History Farm:

And on Saturday, April 13, we headed over to world-famous Luckenbach for a day of live music.

The four of us met up with some of our Class of '07 buds: Trish, Greg & Jean, Fay, Hank and Brenda.

Had a blast - especially when Fay won the Chicken Shit Bingo contest!!

She's a rich girl now:)

Tuesday, April 16: Went to Pioneer Village and Town Square in Fredericksburg and then back to Wildseed Farms just east of town. We toured a "Sunday House" (built in the 1890's to 1920's by families who lived far out of town for their use on weekends when they came in for shopping and church services),