Well, Madeline's first big road trip was a success! She was a great traveler and slept during most of the car ride. We tried out the new wrap carrier that I got right before we left and Madeline spent most of the weekend riding around in that. She loved it, enjoyed looking around and often fell asleep for long stretches. So, all in all, we were able to enjoy our wine rather than whine. Here's the recap:
The first night we drove to San Antonio and were able to enjoy the Riverwalk and some decent Mexican food before heading up to the Texas Hill Country.
View from our hotel balcony in San Antonio
"Look Madeline, it's the Alamo" (she wasn't too impressed!)
She enjoyed the Mariachi music at dinner.
The next morning we briefly walked the Riverwalk before getting back in the car for the drive to Fredricksburg.
On Saturday afternoon, we decided to hit 3 of the wineries near Fredricksburg that we had never visited. Many of these were celebrating Labor Day by having a grape stomp, live music and munchies, so we were excited. The first was Chisholm Trail Winery (
www.chisholmtrailwinery.com) which was going for the Texas ranch feel. We enjoyed "The Roundup" tasting flight of their premium red wines and both really enjoyed the Diablo, which we found bold and spicy. The band was just getting set up, and we decided not to stick around to hear them. We did check out the grape stomp and were a bit disappointed to find a kiddie wading pool filled with grapes to stomp. Oh well, the wines were good!
Next, we were off to Pedernales Cellars (
www.pedernalescellars.com). They too, were having a grape stomp weekend and were pretty busy, which made it difficult to cozy up to the bar for some tastings. We made a pretty quick stop here, tasted the wines and were on our way in search of somewhere a bit more relaxing. We found it at Woodrose Winery (
www.woodrosewinery.com) where they do their tastings in a unique fashion by bringing the wine to you. So, instead of trying to find a place at a crowded bar, we found a nice table on the patio, ordered a cheese plate and had a nice relaxing time while our server brought around their wines. There was a band playing which made for the perfect end to our afternoon.
Brian liked the red, Madeline preferred the white...
Madeline enjoying a bottle of her favorite white!
Passed out on the patio.
On Sunday we enjoyed a leisurely morning of looking at the shops in Fredricksburg...as Brian says, lots of crosses and angels. In the afternoon we revisited two of our favorite wineries from past trips. Becker Vineyards (
www.beckervineyards.com), in our opinions, must be one of the more successful Texas wineries. They have a beautiful estate, great wines and always seem pretty busy. With this weekend being a holiday weekend, the winery was a zoo! We were able to taste nearly all of their wines (we found it helps to be extra friendly to those doing the pouring!) and were able to take a quick tour. They too, were having a grape stomp and people were lined up to stomp grapes in the oak barrels and then "stamp" their footprints on a T-shirt.
Enjoying the tasting room at Becker Vineyards
We finished off at Torre di Pietra Vineyards (
www.texashillcountrywine.com) which has a great patio area and always seems to have a band playing. We tasted their wines, grabbed a glass of our favorites, and finished the afternoon relaxing on the patio.
The vineyard at Torre di Pietra
The patio area at Torre di Pietra.
We stayed at a B&B in Fredricksburg which was two blocks off of the main street-great location for walking in to enjoy dinner.
All clean, sweet and ready for bed....
Bed! But wait, I want to go back to more wineries!!
On Monday, we made a brief stop at the Wildseed Farms, hoping to get a few cute shots of Madeline and flowers. As you can see, she wasn't too fond of that idea!
We can't really blame her, she was a great sport all weekend, and we had a fun time on our first roadtrip! Here's hoping for many more!!
