As a kid I grew up going to the Texas hill country because my family has a house in the small town of Wimberley, TX, which is located up around Austin and San Antonio. The only problem was that I never really paid attention to my surroundings or to the beautiful landscape the land provided. As I have grown older many of my friends from school have gone off to Texas State, which is very close to Wimberley and my girlfriend lives in New Braunfels, which is also nearby. So needless to say I have made my way to the Texas hill country plenty of times over the past year, and every time I go up there I notice new things and really pay attention to the details of the land. For this paper I decided to write about the trip I took last weekend, where I also got some great pictures of the places I visited. In my last trip I went to Gruene one evening, which is one of the most historical parts of Texas, known for the famous Gruene Hall. Before going this last time I had been to Gruene several times before and enjoyed the great scenery every time, but this time I took the time to look more into it and seemed to enjoy it even more. After looking on the Internet I have also found that Gruene Hall was built in 1878 and is the oldest continually operating dance hall in Texas.

          

  The drive up to the hill country really begins when you get through Houston and Katy and get out of the big city skylines and start seeing some open country. When going on my weekend “vacation” I was traveling by myself, which can get pretty boring considering it is a three hour drive, but as I said before once you get out of the city the real vacation begins and the beautiful land can be seen. Once I get out of the city streets I let the engine open up and set the cruise control do its thing. Music blaring to keep myself from being bored then the site seeing begins. The first part of the drive is rolling hills and then the closer you get to the hill country the bigger the hills and the deeper the valleys. Finally, after several hours of being in the car, I arrive in New Braunfels to my “hotel” better known as my girlfriend’s house. Now the fun begins, we hop in the car and start road tripping’ around the Texas hill country in need of some good scenery. First we head to San Antonio so the girl can do some shopping, and then we head back to Gruene to grab some good grub at the Gristmill, and do some dancing at Gruene Hall. After a full day of adventure, we head home to get a good night of sleep so we can have another full day of adventuring. Next day we wake sleep in until about 10, and then begin the day with a trip to the river in downtown New Braunfels. On the way to the river I noticed lots of great scenery and really cool paintings on these old German buildings. It wasn’t until recently that I put the pieces together and realized that New Braunfels was originally a German town. Eventually we make it down to the river and end up getting in pretty close to the world famous Schliterbaun waterpark. The Comal is the name of the river and it is a man made river fed by a spring, so in a nutshell the water is very cold. Just looking at the water you can tell it is cold, but getting into it is another story. Needless to say it took my breath away getting in, but once I did it was all good.

           

Of course, like all vacations they have to come to an end. But before I left I had to make a trip down river road, which is pretty popular for its great scenery that follows the Guadalupe River. As a kid I can remember riding down river road with my family, windows down thinking it was the coolest thing ever. So of course I had to roll the windows down, and boy wasn’t it great. It was just as I remembered, so much pretty scenery and the scent of the river flowed through the truck along with the sound of rapids as we passed parts of the river where the water was moving fast.

          

  Overall my trip back to the hill country was a great success, bringing back lots of childhood memories and making new ones also. When returning to towns that I visited as a child, I can almost picture it in my head as I did years ago and reminisce on lots of fun times I had as a kid. The only difference that I notice as I go back to the hill country now compared to as a kid is that I notice things in much more detail and take time to appreciate them. Just writing this blog is bringing back memories of my trip and even of my childhood, and overall I am glad I had the opportunity to do it.