21 Feb

21Feb

San Marcos Stay: Jan 9 2023 - Feb 11 2023

Our Story

Long story short, we sold almost all of our possessions including our home, dropped our youngest off at college, and are now wandering the country. We're staying at Airbnb's about a month at a time while working remotely. Turns out, there is a significant discount if you book an Airbnb for a month or more!

See our first post "How the heck did we pull this off?" for more details on how we got started. If you have any questions, post them in the comments or contact us directly and we'll be happy to answer them!

Disclaimer

While we are definitely having an amazing experience, life comes along with us. Our blog is about all of the wonderful things and great times we're having, but the frustrations, unexpected setbacks, and stresses life brings us all are still very much a part of our lives.

We don't want to give the impression that this journey is always great and stress free. Most of the time it is, but we still have the "normal" ups and downs of everyday life.

Of course, Kim has the most stress and frustrations ... imagine being stuck with Dave in a car for hours and hours as well as working remotely under the same roof with him. I mean .... wow.

Please Comment!

We love to read your comments and answer your questions. You can comment on individual photos in the linked photo albums as well!

Travel Stats

Trips	Miles	Time
1. Winter Garden FL to Gulf Shores AL	496.3	8 h 23 m
2. Gulf Shores FL to Pensacola AL	36.2	1 h 03 m
3. Pensacola FL to Silver Springs MD via Charlotte	994.7	16 h 42 m
4. Silver Springs MD to Fletcher NC	492.5	10 h 21 m
5. Fletcher NC to Winter Park FL via Pensacola	966.4	17 h 06 m
6. WP FL to San Marcos TX via Pensacola & Beaumont	1144.6	23 h 41 m
7. San Marcos TX to Sante Fe NM via Lubbock TX	701.8	13 h 19 m
Totals	4831.5	90 h 35 m

States Visited/Driven Through: 11

Where are we now?
We're in Sante Fe, NM and will here until March 18th. If you're nearby, we'd love to get together!
New post sometime in late March.

Next Up
You never know what life will bring, so our itinerary is tentative. Our plans are to head west in 2023 and eventually make it up to Alaska. Hope to see you along the way!

Feb 12 - Mar 18: Sante Fe, NM
Mar 19 - May 13: Kanab, UT (near Zion, Bryce Canyon, & Grand Canyon NL Parks)
May 13 - May 20: Phoenix, AZ
May 20 - Jun 24: Los Angeles, CA

Why San Marcos?

San Marcos is in the Texas Hill Country, which we had heard about but had no idea what it looked like. So, we wanted to see what all the fuss was about! Also, it's located 45 min - 1 hour from both Austin and San Antonio.

The Airbnb
Our Airbnb Non-Negotiables

Just like a home, there will never be a perfect Airbnb. As long as our non-negotiables are met, we'll book it.

Room for Kim to be able to get away from Dave
Within Budget
Room for our kids to visit/live with us
Good Reviews

Safe area verified in reviews
Reliable WiFi
Areas for us to work
Washer & Dryer
Functional Kitchen

Link to San Marcos Listing Really nice. It's located in a rural part of San Marcos and it's so quiet there, you can't hear traffic. Plenty of deer and wild turkeys visited daily. A peaceful and relaxing stay and perfect place to decompress.

San Marcos Top 10-ish

The Peace & Quiet at our Airbnb

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Deer and wild turkeys visited outside our front window just about every day. And the bird feeder was visited hundreds of times each day as well. Warblers and Cardinals were the most frequent visitors.

We can't think of a time in our lives when we were able to have a full month in a place that was so peaceful. A calm and serenity came over both of us. Dave had Covid for about a week which turned out to be a bit of a blessing because it forced us to stay on the property and soak in the peacefulness of the property.

It was rare that we heard any traffic noise at all. Just the sounds of nature. Fabulous, and highly recommended.

Enchanted Rock State Natural Area

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"Enchanted Rock is a pink granite mountain located in the Llano Uplift about 17 miles north of Fredericksburg."

While the Enchanted Rock is beautiful, we thought the rock formations and trails surrounding it were even better. It was like going back in time. Stunning and beautiful.

Pedernales Falls State Park

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"Flowing over and around huge slabs of limestone, the Pedernales River can be turbulent. But most often it is tranquil, and a great place to relax and recharge. We are just 30 miles west of Austin."

Just like Enchanted Rock, we felt like we were going back in time. It was truly unbelievable. Like a beautiful and desolate planet in a Sci-Fi movie.

The Ice Storm

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OK. You non-Floridians are like ... whatever. Got it. But we've never seen anything like this. We were fortunate enough to keep our power while thousands around us weren't. So our experience was far better than most.

We were able to go out and explore the neighborhood and we're like children seeing snow and ice for the first time. So beautiful.

As the temperature warmed, we also got to watch the ice falling off all of the power lines. Like big ice! Like end your life ice if you're in the line of fire. It went on for a couple of hours. There's some videos in the pics if you've never seen something like this.

Fredericksburg

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Fredericksburg, home to the world famous Becker Vineyards, is a charming town in the middle of Texas Wine country (who knew!?!) with a large German influence. Lots of great German restaurants and plenty of other restaurants, shops, bars, etc. Central Floridians ... think of downtown Winter Garden on double steroids.

It's also home to the National Museum of the Pacific War. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to tour it. Pictured below is the Plaza of the Presidents. It has ten monuments honoring presidents who served during World War II. Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman served as Commanders‐in‐Chief. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, James E. Carter, Jr., Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush served in uniform.

Wimberley and Its Artistic Boots Project

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Wimberley is a beautiful town about 10 minutes from San Marcos. It's an artsy town with lots of shops, restaurants, bars, etc.

The Wimberley Valley Arts and Cultural Alliance sponsered the "Bootiful Wimberley" project where artists were commissioned by local businesses to make the boots. There are 50 in total and can be seen all over town and the surrounding area.

San Antonio and Austin

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We had fun in both of these beautiful cities and would have spent more time in each, but we loved seeing the hill country more. We didn't make it to the famed 6th street of Austin but did manage to see San Antonio's Riverwalk.