It's hard to believe, but this past weekend was our one year anniversary! How the time has flown! We decided to take a weekend trip to the hill country in Texas. I was able to get off work on Friday, so we left Friday morning and started our trek to Junction.
On the way, we stopped at Clark Gardens. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but it has been on HGTV's "Great American Gardens." Plus, our membership to the Dallas Arboretum got us in for free!
We especially loved all the fountains and water features, which included hundreds of beautiful blooming lily pads! We also saw many other beautiful flowers, fruit trees, butterflies, dragonflies, swans, and even some wild turkeys!
Once we'd seen the gardens, we continued our drive. Our destination, Junction, is a thriving metropolis of approximately 2,600 people. On their website, in the "things to do" category, the suggestions include visiting the local library and the county's historical museum. It may sound like a drag... but it was PERFECT! Honestly, any excuse to get out of the city sounds great to me, but this place was the perfect getaway!
Here is the "Deer Horn Tree" in downtown. It's appropriate, considering when you drive down Main Street at night, deer cross the road and are all over the place!
When we arrived that afternoon, we checked into our hotel and drove around town for a bit. We had dinner at A & M (American and Mexican food!). My chicken fajitas were scrumptious! That night, we drove out of town and watched the stars. I have never in my life seen so many stars in the sky! It brought to mind Psalm 8:
3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? 9 O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!
It was truly breathtaking. I could have sat out there all night in awe and wonder of how great is our God and how beautiful is His creation.
The next morning, we got up early, enjoyed the free hot breakfast at the hotel, and headed out to South Llano River State Park. The park was only a short distance down the road, and if it weren't for the heat, I could have stayed there all day! The park has several bird blinds set up, where you can sit and watch the birds as they eat, drink, and play. It definitely makes the birding easier and more enjoyable! We saw SO many amazing birds, but here are some of our favorites.
Barn Swallow babies
Tufted Titmouse, black crested race
Cardinal, immature
The next two are just cardinals, but we loved watching them in the water!
Yellow-breasted Chat
The famed and sought after Painted Bunting! Most definitely the coolest bird we saw!
Black-chinned Hummingbirds
Once the weather was too warm to be outside, we drove farther west to the Sonora Caverns. We took the tour, which lasted about two hours. The sights inside were beautiful!
Helictites
Fuzzy lookin' bacon!
The Corinthian Room
The speed limits out on these roads were also the highest we'd ever seen posted...
We headed back to Junction and took a scenic drive, stopping at this overlook to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
We headed back in town, ate dinner at a quaint diner called "Isaack's," and watched a movie back in our room.
The next morning, our anniversary, we slept in and grabbed breakfast before packing up to head back to the city. Our drive took us through Dublin, TX, home of the oldest Dr. Pepper bottling company. They still make Dr. Pepper with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. It was even tastier!
I especially enjoyed the chandelier made out of Dr. Pepper cans!
When we got back to Dallas, we cleaned up and went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. After a yummy steak and sweet potato (with LOTS of brown sugar!), we came back to our apartment to enjoy our top layer from our wedding cake (which was actually still very good!) and watch the video of our wedding.
All in all, it was a wonderful weekend! We made some new memories and reminisced about some old ones. It's hard to believe year one is done. But I can't wait to see what year two has in store!
