Movin' to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches

This past week supposed to be our preliminary shake down cruise. Mark had arranged for time off from work and I was getting our provision lists together in preparation for week cruising along the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately, by Friday the day we had to give the green light, the track of TS Debby was uncertain. She would probably head east away from us, but no one could promise the high pressure area over Texas would hold and Debby wouldn't head west towards us. Since I have a firm and steadfast 'do not play with possible hurricanes' rule, we had to put the shake down on hold. I am all for testing our anchoring equipment and technique but testing it in possible gale force winds when you have a heads up seems kind of stupid.

So we had a choice to make. Use the extra time off to keep on keeping on with the refit or take some much needed R and R. Mark has been keeping a schedule of 3 days in the office, 4 days refitting for 2 solid years. I've been trying to keep up with the kids, the boat, the houses for those same 2 years. Decision made. R and R it is. So we headed out to the most beautiful part of beautiful Texas- the hill country, to do a whole bunch of nothing for 4 days.

We stayed in Fredericksburg, an old German settlement which was the hometown of CHESTER NIMITZ! (man are they proud of that factoid) and is now a tourist destination thanks to the fact that it produces some of the most exquisite peaches in the country and also produces some mighty fine wines. There are tons of great shops for those so inclined and plenty of breweries to please the beer fans. Our hotel- Fredericksburg Inn was on the banks of Baron's creek just off Main street and had a really outstanding pool and lovely grounds for chasing a toddler around. Maybe the room was decidedly circa 1980s motel pedestrian but the grounds more than made up for it.

We drove up to Enchanted Rock for a morning hike. We got there as early as possible as the high for the day was supposed to be 105f. That is stupid hot. We started our ascent with Kitty tagging along until it go too steep then it was into her carrier and up to the summit. Mark thought to bring an umbrella to shade her and he made quite a spectacle climbing a giant boulder with a baby strapped to his back covered by a big umbrella. It did make him easy to spot though.

 Enchanted Rock is a big ole hunk of pink granite. While the hike is not a long one, it is steep. Really steep. So much so that when I happened to pause and turn around about half way up the dome, my fear of heights kicked in and I had to sit for minute to let the anxiety pass. Yes, heights freak me out. So much so that I purposefully lived on the 28th floor of a high rise where I would go out on my balcony every morning and peer down and think to myself "Yep. Still freaked by heights". I refuse to let fear ruin my fun so after a minute or reminding myself that it seemed much steeper than it appears I soldiered on. This is me on the summit smiling because I've yet to realize that I have to look down to get off the darn thing.

I've got more on our hill country get away coming in the next post but for now I will leave you with a moment of Zen from the summit trail. I call this one 'Rock. And some flowers. Om.'