We're Leaving The Hill Country

The last three weeks in the Hill Country have been very enjoyable. I've enjoyed living in "Comfort", knowing that "Welfare" is down the road and we traveled an hour to "Utopia" only to find that it wasn't anything like I imagined it would be... there must be a moral there somewhere. (There are some interested names for towns in this part of the country.)

We have had three sets of friends visit us while we have been here. After Debbie and Richard left, we were alone one day and then we heard that Craig and Rosann were going to be in the area. They stayed just a couple of nights but, of course, we took them to see The Guadalupe River. We have now been to this spot (just outside of "Hunt") three times and I love it more each time.

And, of course, I made them pose for a portrait.

We enjoyed spending time with them and will be heading tomorrow to Victoria to spend the weekend on their turf... They sell Christmas Trees there. Oh, watch out Bobbi and David, we learned a new card game - Mexican Rummy and Mike proved to be very competitive winning three games in a row!

We also visited with Rodney and Vickie again for an afternoon. They came down to our place and we sat around, talking smart and drinking wine - gosh some things come so easy to us...

It has been great to see old friends again!

And to discover new areas. One day this past week, we visited the town of New Braunfels to go to Camping World. The town was celebrating "Wurstfest" so there was a craft sale going on up town. We stopped to check it out, found a bakery to visit (wonderful German Rye from a place that has been in business since 1886) and ended up having lunch at the "friesenhaus". The German food wasn't wonderful - not as good as we had in Fredicksburg, but I liked the name.

And the town has a wonderful old hardware store; it reminded us both of ones we visited as children. I even found "fels naptha" soap and bought some - mom swears it is best for getting out stains. So, does anyone else remember the ladders to reach the merchandise and the way stuff was shelved... or the roll of wrapping paper? You should have seen the containers of nails and bolts and screws and oh man, this place was great!

I finally got up town to take pictures of the Comfort Bed and Breakfast; their backyard is a treasure. And as the owner reminded me, "it is all for sale". This little town, like many others is striving to be a tourist destination; it will be interesting to see what happens to it in a few years.

So, tomorrow we bid Comfort goodbye and move towards the Gulf. You never know what we will discover there.