This Romantic trip away was a little short notice. I only planned it out a couple weeks in advance when I realized we could maybe, just maybe, make it work. And we did! But because it was last minute and because it was also Memorial Day weekend a lot of places were booked up. Our dear sweet Brother and Sister that had our names last Christmas gave us gift certificates to bedandbreakfast.com. Most of them were booked for the holiday weekend or if they were not booked, once I looked at the website, there was a reason they were not booked. Eesh, there are some scary places out there calling themselves Bed and Breakfasts. All I can say is do your due diligence people. If I had not, I am pretty sure we would have been staying at a same gender rendezvous house in the city.
Aside from the gift certificates, Bed and Breakfast speak romance to me and to my husband. Some people might be able to be romantic while camping, and I say power to you! But Camping + me + Mr. Humble Tasks = comedy turned drama, and I am not sure the guy would get the girl in the end of that movie. My point is that you have to know yourself and your spouse and the two of you together to know what will equal the most romance for you.
I also knew we needed to be close to home. Mainly because I didn’t want to waste our precious time together traveling too far away. I didn’t want to waste it in lines or check in counters. I wanted to be with him and only him. Thankfully driving an hour away gets us somewhere we want to be.
The first night we stayed in our State Capital, Austin, at a Ritzy Hotel that I had gotten at a discount on Hotwire. I know the rates on the back of the room doors is usually mega-inflated but we paid 1/7th of what they had posted on that door. That is a discount. The room may have overlooked the roof top of another building but we were not there for the view. We closed the blinds and never looked again.
While in the city we had some good food, more on that tomorrow, and we did some shopping. My Sweetheart was in major need of new pants for work and church. Thankfully we found a sale that got the quality of pants I was looking for along with a price he was willing pay. Thank goodness for the outlets at San Marcos. We browsed most other shops, didn’t buy a lot.
We did see a movie in the ritziest Movie theater ever! It was like a lounge inside, adults only, and it had inflated, even for a movie theater, prices, but it was a romantic experience. As Romantic as movie theaters can get. The seats were plush, over-sized leather seats with plenty of leg room and not so close to your neighbor in any direction. And those were the cheap seats. The not-so-cheap seats actually were reclining lounge chairs that came with a blanket and pillow. See a video of it here.
The second day we enjoyed a drive through Texas Hill Country until we came upon this:
Granted Texas is in a drought this year so it could be more lush, but I tell you. It looked charming and inviting from the distance. And it was. Charming and inviting. We were properly greeted by a well dressed man that checked us in, walked us to our cottage, helped with our bags, showed us around the house and gave us an order form for not only the three course breakfast in the morning but for pillows too! You read that correctly. The room came with a dozen pillows but if you couldn’t seem to find one that fit your liking there was a pillow menu to call and request different varieties.
A few years ago I had kind of sworn off Bed and Breakfast believing from my experience that they didn’t live up to their over priced hype. Rose Hill Manor changed my mind. At various times Mr. Humble Tasks or myself would say half in a lost in thought whisper, “we are so coming back here.” The attention to detail was superb. The hardwood floors, the plush carpets, the deluxe towels and sheets, the robes provided, the wing backed chairs and ottoman, the breakfast table for two, the water filter on the mini bar sink, the night light and make-up mirror in the bathroom, the boardwalk to our cottage. If I ever caught myself saying, “I wish…” if I looked around I found it. As I looked out at the view and thought it would be nice to sit for a spell I noticed that there were lounge chairs in all the right places on the 40 acres. Under an oak tree, on the over sized Southern porch, near the fountain. The candles in the fireplace were a nice touch and as I thought I wish I had matches, I found a lighter placed conveniently near by. As Alec unfolded his newly purchased dress pants before dinner I heard “I wish there was an iron” and then I notcied him ironing his pants in the sitting room. It was like magic.
Rose Hill Manor somehow made time tick by at the pace I wish it did all the time. It ticked by slowly so that we could savor it, so that we could breath deep breaths and let them out slowly as a sigh. Our souls rejoiced in the slower pace and our hearts melted together again.
There was the dog that belonged to the family that owned the property that didn’t bother anyone but could be found following various guests as the strolled along. There were llamas and cattle, that don’t really sell romance for me, but they were far enough away that I could see but not smell them and it gave that “you’re in the country, relax” feeling. There were cookies in the big house and friendly, helpful, delighted to help, well dressed, polite and respectful staff available when needed but not seen or heard other wise.
Other than picking the right places to stay the accommodations themselves were out of my control, but I feel like we got the best of both worlds in one trip. City and Country. At first I thought it wasn’t ideal to stay in two different places, but I actually really enjoyed the contrast.
