A Weekend Away and Lucy's First Word

This weekend I worked. 



But last weekend Daniel and I spent our fifth anniversary (whoop!) at The Inn Above Onion Creek in the Texas hill country just south of Austin. 

 

It was so beautiful, and we had a wonderful time. 

 

There's so much space out there. 

 

The Inn sits on an 80-something acre plot of land, and there are hiking trails and lookouts (as the name implies) above Onion Creek.   



Being there made me wonder why more people didn't settle out there, instead of in the Dallas or Houston area. 



It's just beautiful country. 



The original plan was to tour several wineries while we were in the hill country, but baby #2 changed our minds, so instead we toured Bella Vista Ranch, a winery and olive orchard - and the first commercial olive oil producer in Texas. 



They say this land and soil are similar to Italy's, so I tried to imagine we were in Italy for a few seconds.  I've never been to Italy, so I don't know how similar they look. 

 

But it's hard to forget you're in Texas when your tour guide looks like this.  He was quite proud of his olive trees--apparently they don't grow well in Texas, and he has a way with them, which is why he's been the only successful olive oil producer in the state.



We learned a ton about the history of olives and olive oil on the tour, as well as the process for making olive oil and the various methods of curing the olives to eat.  This is the room where they make the oil.  They swap out the machines when it's time to make wine and use this same small room.



Can you believe this is what an artichoke looks like if you let it keep growing and don't eat it?  Why don't we see more of these in bouquets? 

We dearly missed our munchkin during the weekend, but it was nice to know she was in good hands at her Nonnie and Papa's house.  You can see her saying her very first word here - "hi."  She says it several times a day while she waves.  So, so cute.  "Hi.  hi.  hi."