Girls Weekend

One of my best friends in the world, Lisa, turned the big 4-0 in June. Since before her birthday, Lorrie and I were planning something fun to do in order to celebrate her as well as her birthday. The first weekend our schedules were clear and we could get away was this weekend. After much anticipation and waiting, we were all ready! Lorrie and I had thrown around a few different ideas of places to go, but ended up planning a trip to the Kerrville/Fredericksburg area to enjoy a wine tour along with anything else that came our way. I must say, I don't think we could have picked a better trip!

Saturday morning we headed out with no certain plans except to be in Kerrville for supper that evening at my parent's, where we would be staying. We decided we would go through Austin and stop there to eat lunch. We ended up going to The Oasis on Lake Travis and having lunch accompanied by a beautiful view. When the waiter found out we were celebrating Lisa's birthday, he said he would bring out a treat. We were hoping they would make her do something crazy, like dance around while they sang to her, but for her sake, he just brought out a bowl of sopapillas and cinnamon ice cream and told her to enjoy.

The beautiful view of Lake Travis

Me and the birthday girl

Me and Lorrie

After our lunch, we headed on to Kerrville where we spent the evening listening to some crazy music while laughing and chatting with my parents and eating some awesome blue cheese burgers - which ended up being a great hit!

Buckhorn Lake Resort where my parents live

On Sunday we woke up and headed to Fredericksburg for the long awaited wine tour. We met our tour guide at the "limo" at 10:30 am and after her giving us a little history of how the wineries came about and telling us the plan, we headed towards Johnson City to eat an early lunch before heading to the wineries.

Lisa and Leeann in front of the limo

Me, Lisa and Lorrie on the limo and ready for some fun

We ate at a little cafe called Silver K Cafe where we all had honey pecan fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. It reminded us of a restaurant that we loved in Orange during our high school years called Someplace Special. Their honey pecan fried chicken was probably pretty close to being as good as Someplace Specials so that was a great treat.

Lisa posing in front of the restaurant

We all loaded back into the van and headed to our first stop which was the Texas Hills Vineyard. It was a great little winery in Johnson City and they had what we felt was some of the best tasting wines! I think we all learned a great deal at the first winery as to what our tastes were and how you can change the flavor of so many wines just with what you are eating (chocolate or spicy). After that, we headed to our second stop which was William Chris Vineyard. This one was definitely not our favorite. We did not care for the atmosphere, nor any of the wines.

Lisa in front of William Chris Vineyard

The third stop was Pedernales Cellars, and this one too was a favorite. We all found out that we liked goat cheese at that winery since our hostess served us different crackers with goat cheese and jellies that complimented the wines we were tasting. This is where I purchased a bottle of white wine that I found to be the best out of all our stops.

A beautiful view of the hill country in the background

Our fourth stop was at a neat winery called Torre di Pietra Vineyards. Here we could actually see the beautiful grapes on the vines and the atmosphere there was one we liked. They had some 'fun' names to their wines, such as Dirty Girl and Red Flirt. It was a neat place.

A view of part of the grounds of Torre di Pietra Vineyards

Grapes on the vines

Me, Lorrie and Lisa enjoying peach bellinis

Our fifth and final stop was Grape Creek Vineyards which was also a favorite. Can you see a running theme that four out of five were our favorites?


On our way back to the vehicle, our tour guide took us by the Peach Haus so we could buy peaches or any other thing we desired. Due to the drought, the peaches were small and expensive, so we passed on that, but did pick up a few other jellies and marinades there.


By the time we got to the vehicle it was close to 5:00 pm and we were starving. We decided to eat at Mamacitas in Kerrville and asked mom and dad if they would like to join us, which they did. We had a great meal sharing with my parents about our fun day.

Me, Mom and Lorrie

On Monday, we headed to the James Avery Headquarters in Kerrville and watched some of the craftsman do their job and also visited the retail store.

Lisa and me

One of the rooms where the craftsmen do their work

We then headed to the mall to see if they had any exciting clothes or shoes for Camden. After that, we headed to Fredericksburg with food on our mind. The day prior, our tour guide had told us about a hamburger joint that is one of the top three in Texas and recommended it to us. It was called Alamo Springs Cafe and was located by the Fredericksburg Tunnel which was about 13 miles outside of Fredericksburg on a small county road. I must say the appetizer of roasted garlic and goat cheese on toasted bread was very good, as were the burgers.

The front of Alamo Springs Cafe

Me and Lisa inside the cafe

We then headed back into Fredericksburg to the Pie Shop there where we picked up a few slices of homemade pie.


We then headed to a produce stand to pick up a few odds and ends. Along the way, we took some pictures of scenery as well as art.

Lisa taking a picture of the scenery

We then headed home by way of Austin. While in Austin, we stopped by the apartment complex where my sister and I lived while there. That brought back some memories. . . .

On our car trip home, we did what three girlfriends do best and that is talk. Lorrie had brought a little tin can that had questions to ask one another to learn more in depth things about your friends. After we finished those, we came up with our own questions to ask. One of the questions Lisa asked was if we could name a wine reflecting our personality what would it be? Now mind you, Lorrie had to amend some of these, so here are the final names.
Lisa - Berry Sassy Thank You
Melinda - Talkative on a String
Lorrie - Mommie's Miracle Potion

I must say I learned a thing or two about my friends that I never knew - which you would think after all these years you would know everything about them. But unfortunately, time, marriage and raising kids interferes with the time we are able to spend with one another and we seem to miss out on all the little ins and outs we used to know about one another. We laughed so much that our stomach muscles need a few days to recuperate. We honestly had a great time and are already looking forward to the next girl weekend getaway! Luckily, Lorrie turns 40 in two years (before me I might add) and then it will be my turn, so surely, we will come up with something great to do then!