1,2, 30th Surprise Birthday Getaway in Texas Hill Country
We’ve been in a groove exploring what we consider our “backyard”. Current conditions have limited travel options and we have adapted and advocated taking advantage of experiencing what America has to offer as far as travel. Covid isn’t letting up and travel is still a taboo topic amongst many. We are here to tell you that it can, and will, be done. February 4th is Correy’s birthday and what better way to celebrate than a surprise weekend getaway. Alycia did some searching and found a destination closer to our current home than we’ve ever traveled before, make sense? We were literally in our own backyard in Texas Hill Country, we’ll call it THC cause once you read this and plan your trip your experience will be elevated!
Texas Hill Country is a compilation of cities that makeup Central Texas. So there are a lot of options when it comes to choosing an area to stay. Alycia choose Wimberly, Texas, its about 3 and a half hours from Houston, Texas. A car trip short enough to not get tired of being in the car and long enough to get to a change in the landscape. We were immediately able to identify THC upon entry. Houston is very flat so when we started to see rolling hills and mountainous land we knew we were there.
Live Outside the Box!
Find a stay that will bring some excitement to the trip. There are a plethora of options so do your research and jump right in. THC offers a nice variety of unique stays like treehouses, cabins, and yurts that will enhance your experience by adding a twist to the way you normally lodge. To book these you definitely need to plan in advance. They get booked up quickly! You can read about some of our unique stays here.
The towns are rural so everything is pretty spread out. There are numerous options for lodging, we did see a few hotels, but the more popular stays are cabin style and single family houses. The place Alycia found was really cool. It’s listed on Airbnb as the Light Cabin and is decorated to go along with the theme. It was on a nice size lot enclosed by a fence and when we first pulled in, there was a group of deer hanging out in the front. When we typically talk about cabins people generally think all wood and an older feel which isn’t always the case. The cabin had an open layout and had very up to date modern furnishing. Two beds, two baths, a large deck, and a nice back yard with a view of a mountain cliff with a hammock and seating area with a fire pit. Everything you need to relax around your stay on vacation. We also ran across a retreat, Collective Hill, that offered stays in tent on their grounds where they provide a community with all amenities you would need during the stay. There’s are also Yurt and Tree house stays available so go crazy! There a several ways you can make your stay fun and different to spice up the trip.
Living Room in the Light Cabin 
Spacious Patio with a great view
Things to Do in THC
What to do: Do what you like! There are a plethora of options for activities. Warning, traveling to activities on our itinerary was a timely process (took us at least 30 mins to get everywhere). The country in Texas Hill Country stands for distance. You can visit the local downtown area that has plenty of mom and pop shops to patronize, including day spas and restaurants. We are avid foodies so we explored all the surrounding areas to try restaurants that we heard were really good like Trattoria Lisina for Italian, Salt Lick BBQ, and The Leaning Pear. There are several vineyards in the area to taste some locally bottled wines. Take time to explore, its hill country so its wide open which allows for a variety of activities to be offered. We’ll breakdown what we did in the rest of the post to give you some ideas.
The Great Outdoors
When in Rome, well roam the land. So what do you do in this country of hills? Using the AllTrails app, we found some nice trails to explore as a lot of our travel has encompassed hiking and connecting with nature to relax and also practice social distancing. There are tons of trails to choose from but we visited Mandrone Trail in Canyon Lake and Baldy Park in Wimberly. Both were fit for beginners and offered some beautiful scenery. The trails weren’t super steep or covered in roots so it made for a peaceful hike. There were great views of the lake, surrounding hills, and of the entire town of Wimberly!
Self-Made Sommeliers
Next on the list to visit was the vineyards. Did you know the Texas Hill Country is known for their wine??? There are several vineyards throughout the area and we love to get our sip on as we are becoming self made sommeliers. We stopped by Driftwood and Fall Creek vineyards to do tastings. They both offered some great wines. You can get a flight of wines (4 or 5 wine choices) for $20. Pretty good deal! The award winning Sangiovese by Driftwood Vineyards was a personal favorite.
Ultimate Relaxation
Every place we visit, we try to find things to do that are unique to the area. The place we referred to earlier, The Collective Hill, was an all inclusive nature centered retreat. They offered yoga and sound meditation classes for their guests and outside visitors to share in the experience. We participated in the morning yoga class at The Collective Retreat to start one of our days. The other couple that was going to participate didn’t show and it ended up being a private class! The setting was very relaxing as The Collective Hill is perched on the side of a mountain and has a ton of trees and tents on the property. Highly recommended as our teacher was great and gave us other suggestions of places to eat and visit. The back drop for the grounds was really beautiful while we were doing yoga. If thats not your thing, there were PLENTY of day spas sprinkled throughout the area. Make your reservation early though as their appointments get booked up quickly!
All in all this was the gem closer to home that I knew I needed but didn’t know that it existed. Alycia really out did herself with this one, I would go back anytime. Replay value is very important. The reasons I say this with confidence is because THC covers a huge area, think how big the state is and its considered the central region of Texas. There’s a long list of cities included and they all have different options for lodging and activities so we could go back several times and not overlap any activities unless we chose to specifically. So for all our Texas folk who are ready for a quick road trip or even if you’re out of state and are looking for a wide open rural area to relax in, Texas Hill Country is your place. Saddle up and get to it, let them know that we sent you!