Jaunting in the Hill Country & Jetting to London and Paris…

Howdy, Friends!

So wonderful to finally take another trip after being housebound since mid October!!!  I felt like a freed animal.

John had made plans to visit Campbell and family for his 40th birthday and to stop in London to see Whitney and family beforehand; he was to be gone for a week.  I didn’t want to sit at home and feel sorry for myself, so I proposed to my friend Kathleen that we go somewhere and I named a few places; I told her to think about it and she called the next day with a plan — that we visit a couple of long-time friends in the hill country.

Now, I have one of our children’s family living temporarily in our lake house, so I can’t invite anyone there.  So I called Kathleen’s and my longtime friend Luci and invited the two of us to meet her at her ranch near Kingsland — a pretty bold move on my part!!!  However, she was fine with the plan.  Next, Kathleen texted another friend from over 40 years and told her we were coming her way and wanted to see her.

On Monday, Kathleen picked me up with all my necessities for travel at this time — a small suitcase, a cpap machine, two pillows to spare my back from its recent surgery, a cooler and hanging clothes, as well as a couple of bottles of wine for a hostess gift.  And we were off.

Kathleen chose a very unusual route:  we went past Fort Worth on 30, then south on CPT (Chisholm Trail Parkway) to 67 near Cleburne, then through Hico and on to Burnet, where we ventured west toward Kingsland.  It was not much more time, and there were no lights after getting on 30 for a long time!

Now the funny story:  we arrived mid-afternoon.  We visited, had dinner and watched the Rachel Maddow show.  Around eight I needed a pain pill so walked to my room; once there I started thinking that I didn’t remember bringing in my hanging clothes — and then I remembered that I didn’t remember putting my clothes in Kathleen’s car!!!!  Indeed, I had left Dallas with underwear and a gown, but only the top and pants that I was wearing — to be worn for parts of FIVE days!

We did not take lots of pics, but here goes:

I can’t get into the water until the wound on my back is healed.  Too bad; it looked great!

View out the back.

Memories from the past:

And then we had to pose, me in my robe!

Meanwhile, John is in Paris with Whitney, Pete and their kids.  First of all, pics with kids and a meeting at Flowerbx.

Back to Texas:  we passed this church…..truly, only in Texas!!!

Lots of rock outcroppings as we drove toward Stephenville where we shopped a little before heading to Hico.

Once in Hico we checked into our wonderful home for two nights, the Midland Hotel.  I snagged the only ground floor room (no elevator) and Kathleen was upstairs with huge windows one the corner under HOTEL facing the quaint street.  We both thought our rooms were great!  Sadly, I didn’t take a pic before sleeping.

Then Jane came and led us to her ranch.  What a wonderful history lesson!  The original house was built in the mid 1800’s; it burned down.  It was rebuilt at some point and, again, it burned down.  And then it was finally built as it is now.  I didn’t take pictures but wish I had.  I only have one that shows all three walls.

The dark is, I believe, the original with the second structure behind it.  And you can barely see the final addition on the right.  Jane has incorporated a lot of the original stone walls into the home; it is bright, filled with light and showing off wonderful views of the ranch — truly a lovely home!

We thought we would meet her for dinner, but she cooked for us instead and centered it all around some Franklin’s BBQ.  Her good friend and golfing buddy Joene joined us; she was also interesting and a lot of fun.  And Jane’s two dogs were precious — a good time was had by all!

Meanwhile, after saying good-bye to the Hawkings, John took the Chunnel from London to Paris where Campbell picked him up and took him to his bitty-bitty house in the country for one night…..along with Calder, of course!

In front of their beekeeper outfits!

Split stairs to loft — so steep you have to go left, right, left….

The next day Kathleen and I shopped our way around Hico.  I had not been into a store since September so I had a GOOD time shopping in the little boutiques.  First we had to pose in front of the HICO sign!

Then a little coffee:

Kathleen showed off her new shirt of Dolly Parton while we stopped for lunch at Greer’s.  We had zipped over to Stephenville to shop there first….

Really good food at Greer’s:

I liked the county courthouse.

Back in Hico we stopped for chocolate, of course!

And glanced at the Billy The Kid statue 🙂

Campbell sent one more picture and a movie of Calder’s first crawl — toward some blocks we had gotten him for Christmas.  I know, more of a scooch, but Campbell called it a crawl.

That night we had dinner in the hotel at The Chop House, an excellent steak restaurant — who knew that there would be such good food in either Hico or Stephenville; I didn’t!  By the way, I did find a top that day while I was shopping; I had on a different outfit — yay!

Lobby:

What a wonderful four day escape.  It was tons of fun to reconnect and to play in some small but adorable towns!

And the next day Campbell celebrated his 40th birthday with John and friends back in Paris, while I celebrated at a birthday party in Dallas at a bridge game for a good friend 🙂

Love,

Beth