50+ Lifestyles

Girls Trip

By Mary Schricker Gemberling

“The importance of good friends in our lives is like the importance of our Heartbeats! Though they are not always visible, they silently support our life”………………..Anonymous

Most of us feel better when going on a vacation with friends or family. Recent studies have found that hanging out with friends is actually good for your health. Spending quality time with people you care about can increase your life expectancy, lower the chances of heart disease, and even help tolerate pain. Hanging with friends can increase the production of oxytocin, which is the hormone in our bodies that makes us feel happy.

This is good news for a group of ten of us who recently took a girls trip to central Texas. The adventure originated with our bunco group plus my cousin and a friend from St. Louis. We decided last summer that we were long overdue for another girl’s trip since our last one had been eight years ago in South Carolina. Someone suggested going to Waco, Texas to visit the sites made famous by the HGTV show ‘Fixer Upper.’ After researching the area we decided we definitely needed to do more than just Waco.

Early on a Saturday morning we flew from our respective cities and landed without incident at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport within an hour or so of each other. We met at a
designated time at the car rental kiosk, loaded our luggage into two vans and headed due west to a suburb of Fort Worth for lunch. Thanks to modern technology I had researched a neighborhood café that took reservations and even offered an excellent choice of wines to get our girls trip off on the right foot! After a delicious farm to table lunch we headed south on I-35 towards our vacation rental on the outskirts of Austin, Texas.

I had only been to Texas twice in my lifetime and never through the center of the state or ‘the hill country’ as it is called. Texas actually has seven very distinct regions, all with their own unique characteristics. One of the most popular is the Hill Country which is the fourth largest region at 31,000 square miles with an average rainfall of 15-34 inches per year. There are many natural springs and underground lakes in the area. From late March through the month of April the roadside ditches come alive with wildflowers in bright hues of yellow, red and blue.

After winding southwest for about three hours our next stop was a grocery store not far from our rental house. We planned on eating our main meals out but needed staples for breakfast and snacks. Ten women in a grocery store trying to decide what to buy is an experience in itself!!! After loading the groceries we drove the last few miles winding up and around the central Texas hills to our vacation rental overlooking Lake Travis. My moment of trepidation came when I punched in the designated code and opened the front door. I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard the oohs & aaahs! The property was spacious and beautiful with a spectacular view; a perfect home-away-from-home for the next four nights! Once everything was unloaded, we settled in and unpacked. One by one we gathered with our beverage and snack of choice in the massive living room to discuss our plans for the next couple
of days.

We knew there was much to see and do in Austin, less than thirty minutes from the house. With a population of one million, Austin the state capital and home to the University of Texas, is known for its eclectic live-music scene centered on country, blues and rock, its many parks and some of the best barbecue in Texas. On Sunday we all decided to go to a gospel brunch at Stubbs in Austin. The food and music were both great. Afterwards some of us took the hop on hop off bus tour while others tried their hand at Austin’s Escape Room adventure! On Monday a few of us visited Lady Bird Johnson’s Wildflower Center and then met the group for dinner at Moonshine Grill, one of the oldest restaurants in Austin. Before heading home we parked by the Congress Avenue Bridge to see the bats. From March to October, 1.5 million bats surface nightly from narrow crevices in the underside of the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge. They usually start to emerge from the bridge around 20 minutes before sundown. On Tuesday we all went down to San Antonio. We visited the Alamo, strolled along the infamous River Walk, and ate delicious Mexican food. We stopped for a night cap, less than two miles from our home at The Oasis, a well- known jewel nestled in the Austin Hill Country. It is best known as the Sunset Capital of Texas because hundreds of guests from all over the world come to see the breathtaking views and perhaps one of the most spectacular sunsets ever.

We left the house on Wednesday morning and headed to Waco where we toured the Silos and Magnolia Market engaging in a bit of retail therapy. The last night of the trip was spent in the Indigo Suites and after one last sweep through Waco on Thursday we headed to the airport.

We saw and did a lot during our five short days in the heart of Texas, but I think most would agree that the best memories happened during the unplanned hours at the house. We talked and laughed, drank a bit of wine and laughed, played ‘Catch Phrase’ and laughed, played ‘Left-Right-Center’ and laughed, played ‘Charades’ and did I mention we laughed! We ate and talked, and talked, and talked and then we laughed some more. To quote John Gray in one of my favorite books, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, “Women don’t necessarily want to solve problems; they only want to talk about it. They value love, communication, beauty, and relationships. They like to support, help, & nurture and share personal feelings.”

And who knew we would even come home healthier because of it!

Mary, a former educator and Seniors Real Estate Specialist, is the author of three books: The West End Kid, Labor of Love; My Personal Journey through the world of Caregiving, and Hotel Blackhawk; A Century of Elegance.