Our Spring Break trip

For Spring Break this year we went to a small town called Fredericksburg. It is about an hour west of Austin. It is a touristy kind of town with all kinds of B & Bs, small shops (kind of like Park City), wineries, etc. It is a popular place for couples to go and do a bit of shopping and drinking.

Only 20 miles away is a beautiful land formation called Enchanted Rock. This is the reason we went.

Unfortunately things didn't go just as we had planned.

First, we got a dog. You might think that isn't much of a problem, but it really hinders your ability to go anywhere you want. Luckily for us, our hotel allowed dogs and so did Enchanted Rock. Other places such as museums were out of the question, however.

Second, when we drove up to Enchanted Rock on Friday, there was a line to get into the gates about a mile long. We found out after waiting quite a while, that the parking lot was full. We couldn't get in. So we had to turn around and look for something else to do for the day (we figured we'd go to Enchanted Rock on Saturday very early instead).

We went to their "trade days". Here you find several vendors trying to sell you anything from antiques (mostly junk), to homemade goodies, to purses, to furniture. They allowed dogs, so it worked out fine. Chloe was a hit. Everyone loved her (probably more than we did at the moment). We bought some flavored wine vinegars such as basil garlic vinegar, cilantro vinegar, and chipotle vinegar. You use them to flavor veggies such as cucumbers or tomatoes or you can flavor meat with them too.

We then walked around the town for a while and bought some yummy chocolates and ice cream.

Later that evening, back in our hotel, I was watching the news and saw that a huge storm/cold front was coming in over night. It was originally supposed to be in the high sixties, but the weather people changed their minds and they decided it was going to be in the 30-40 range with 30 mph winds. That didn't sound too appealing to be hiking outside at Enchanted Rock the next day.

We quickly made a decision to try to head back to Enchanted Rock right then for an hour or so before the sun set. We grabbed dinner at Subway and ate it on the way. It was still beautiful (in the 70 degree range, but windy). Luckily we got there in time to enjoy the park for a while. We would have loved spending several hours there, but we were happy to get what we did.

This is "THE" rock. We made it to the top in just about 1/2 an hour. We saw a beautiful sunset and many amazing rock formations (as you can see in the pictures).

We were grateful we went that night, since the next day was freezing. There is no way that we would have enjoyed it the next day.

On the way home the next day we made a decision to take a detour so we could go see the oldest (maybe the second oldest, I can't remember) Dr. Pepper plant in the nation. It began in the 1890's. It is in a tiny town called Dublin. I think the bottling company is the only thing there really.

They are famous (if you can call it that) because they are the only plant that still makes Dr. Pepper with real pure cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. We tasted it, and I couldn't taste a difference, but I rarely drink Dr. Pepper, and when I do, it is sugar free.

They don't actually make the bottles anymore, they just use old bottles that get returned. We went through their museum and got to see the bottling area. It was interesting, but maybe not the most amazing place ever.

All in all, it was a fun weekend. Not what we had envisioned, but fun still the same.