Linda Elaine's Food, Travel & Gear Guide for Health, Wealth & Happiness!

20 Oct 2023 | Trip to Bulverde, Texas
We hadn’t been to Texas, well other than driving through it on the way to or from Michigan & California.  But driving through doesn’t really count as visiting.  So we thought it was time to see some of Texas.  Plus our youngest child lives there and he was getting married to a wonderful young lady, and we definitely could not miss this most important event.  Good reasons to go for sure!   

We bought our plane tickets through our favorite airline, Southwest.  Booked our hotel near the wedding venue, and reserved the rental car.  Our daughter and her family were going to be there too, as were my two sisters, one of Pat’s brothers, several nieces, a nephew, and some cousins!  It was going to be a fabulous trip.  And it was!

The airplane trips were great both ways.  We had drink coupons, so that was a definite plus.  Southwest had mailed them to us prior to the trip.  How thoughtful!  I did pay for the upgrade so that we boarded with the A section.  The upgrade is well worth it because it also includes automatic check-in, guarantees A section boarding, and leaves us many, many choices on where we want to sit.  We always make sure we aren’t over the wings as they block the view from the window.  Can’t have a blocked view; that would not be good.

We rented a 7-seater van so that we could fit all our luggage and as many people as possible.  Renting a van was a great idea.  This way, when we visited places, many of us could travel together which adds to the fun.  The van was a great choice and served us very well.

Before the wedding we did some essential preparation.  Lynette, Sharon, and I got a pedicure and manicure.  We couldn’t have the bride show up without nice-looking nails, or us either for that matter.  We went to Lynette’s favorite nail salon, and they treated us to margarita’s while they were tending to our nails.  It was so much fun, and afterward we had the best looking nails in Texas!

We had a few days before the big day, and we gathered in Tim & Lynette’s garage for food and cards and stuff.  We had so much fun catching up with their long-time friends who we knew as teenagers!  Happy to say they all turned out as such good adults and parents.  We enjoyed good food and drinks just about every night.

We also did a little bit of sight-seeing as well.  We went to a famous gas station – yes gas station.  It was the biggest, most intriguing gas station ever, called Bucky’s.  They had all kinds of food, pulled-pork sandwiches, meatball sandwiches, and many more.  Plus they had slushies in a lot of different, tempting flavors.  And they had fudge, their famous fudge.  So we tried the fudge of course.  We got a variety pack of six different flavors.  They were all so yummy!  The mint chocolate fudge was my favorite, with the peanut butter fudge a close second!

After that, we all stopped at an interesting bar venue.  It was a sprawling layout with quite a few different buildings.  One was a photographer, one was a realtor, and one was a country western clothing store with super fashionable clothing.  They had the perfect police-badge wallet that would have been perfect for Anna, but unfortunately, I didn’t get it.    I hate regrets.

The bar area was just as interesting.  You could sit at a table with swings as chairs.  This I have never seen before.  But it was quite fun.  There were a couple food trucks to eat at as well.  We tried burgers at one of them, and it was very good, perfectly cooked to a nice medium, with curly fries and a pop.  We sat around with our food and beverages, and played a trivia game that was being held.  It was a fun time for sure!

We got to the hotel the day before the wedding.  We wanted to be close to the rehearsal dinner being held at the mansion rented for the bridal party.  The mansion was AmAzInG!  There were 10 bedrooms, two living rooms, a huge kitchen, a laundry room, guest quarters over the garage, and a built-in swimming pool and spa.  Absolutely unbelievable and very nicely decorated!  We ordered Olive Garden food consisting of three different soups, tasty bread sticks, a delicious salad with a variety of dressings, and three entrees:  lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, and chicken alfredo.  All were very yummy and were gobbled up toot sweet!

When the rehearsal dinner was over, we went to our hotel.  It was nice, but not very close to the mansion or the venue.  Unfortunately, there weren’t many choices any closer to either.  So this was our best option.  Of course, the roads were under construction, so driving to and from the venue was a bit tricky.  And if you’ve ever been to Texas, you know about the traffic – it’s bad.  Busy, busy all the time!  But most of us stayed at the same hotel, and that was perfect.  We met for breakfast both mornings and enjoyed the many choices of food.  There was something for everyone! And it was pretty good to boot.  The rooms were decent, and all-in-all it worked out great!

And then came the big day!

The day of the wedding, we hired a hair lady and makeup artist to transform us women into queens.  While getting prepped for the big event, each of us had our hair done to our delight, and then we were transformed into beauty queens by the makeup artist.  Talk about stunning beauties!  We all felt so fabulous when they finished our transformation!  We were so pampered and well taken care of, and it was the best feeling ever!

Tim & Lynette’s wedding was the highlight of the trip, of course.  The wedding venue was beautiful!  They were married outside by a river in plush green grass and with bright sunlight beaming down to brighten the day as the rippling water flowed by.  It couldn’t have been more perfect.  Well, except for how beautiful Lynette was.  Simply Gorgeous!  The whole wedding party looked beautiful too, all 16 of them!  It was a HuGe wedding party.  But the cutest were the flower girl, our granddaughter Dilyn, and the ring bearers, our grandsons PJ and Kason.  They carried out their roles without a hitch and were SO adorable!

After they were pronounced husband and wife, YaY!, we had cocktails on the patio and mingled with all of the guests.  There were so many people we knew, and so many we got to meet.  Everyone was dressed up and happy as can be celebrating the new couple’s vows.

When we went inside the venue for dinner, we were so delighted.  It was beautifully decorated and fabulous looking!  The table décor looked stunning, and the cake and cupcakes looked delicious!  The decorators did a wonderful job setting up for the wedding.  Sweet perfection!

The reception was so much fun.  The wedding party entered the venue with a flare.  Each couple made some fancy moves that entertained us all.  It was very cute. And then the newlyweds entered with such joy.  They looked fabulous and were all smiles!

Dinner was delicious!  They had a Texas barbeque theme, with freshly sliced prime rib that was to-die-for delicious, moist fried chicken, tasty potatoes, a huge salad with all the fixings, and more food than all of us could eat.  It was so good that almost everyone went back for 2nds and 3rd helpings!  So, so good and tasty!

The DJ played the perfect songs and had good taste too.  The music wasn’t too loud (for us old folks), so we could pleasantly mingle and talk to all the guests.  They played lots of great songs, and also a great selection for the Groom/Mother of the Groom dance.  I really enjoyed the dancing, especially when I was on the dance floor twirling around with 4-year-old Dilyn.  She was so dang cute! 

The whole night was fabulous and memorable.  I’m so happy for Tim & Lynette! They make such a great couple and have a great future ahead for sure. 
CoNgRaTuLaTiOnS!  XoXo