The Wine Cellar at Spicewood Vineyards.

Wine tasting weekends in the Texas Hill Country are always fun. We hear all about it, for many wine tasters lodge in Hill Country Texas Bed and Breakfasts.

At the wineries, couples sit elbow to elbow sniffing, swilling, and searching for the most accurate description of the wines.  Friends turn wine tasting weekends into more social events, but still enjoy the tasting. Wine tasting can even be interesting and fun for solo travelers.

Yet in truth, wine tasting can become a bit tiring if too much of it is crammed into one weekend. While anyone can appreciate wine at one Texas Hill Country Winery, it takes a certain endurance to be able to appreciate the contents of the glass at, say, the fifth winery of the day.

The solution? Spread out the wine tasting.

October is Texas Wine Month Trail in the Hill Country. For $15/person, budding and seasoned oenophiles may taste wines at 27 wineries. In addition, participants will receive discounts on purchases. It’s worth the price of admission, and it’s worth visiting as many wineries as possible. It’s also worth taking your time.

There are 45 Texas Hill Country Bed and Breakfasts in our Texas B&B Association, scattered throughout the region from Kerrville to Dripping Springs, Brownwood to Boerne. Many of them are close to wineries. Take your time. Visit a winery, relax at a nearby Hill Country Texas Bed and Breakfast, and after a sumptuous meal the next morning, visit another winery.

Hopping from one winery to the next, one B&B to another – what a delightful way to spend the rest of October.

Additional information about Texas Wine Month Trail may be found at Texas Wine Trail.

Celebrate the grape harvest in the Texas Hill Country.

The end of the grape growing season in the Texas Hill Country is celebrated the weekends of August 5-7 and August 12-14 with the 2011 Harvest Wine Trail. This is a great time to tour vineyards, meet vintners, and taste wine. Hill Country Texas Bed and Breakfasts welcome oenophiles!

The grape harvest is traditionally a celebratory event. It’s hard work, to be sure, and it needs to be completed in a timely manner. Everyone lends a hand, from farm hands to farm owners. This is when the most exciting aspect of wine making occurs – the crush – and folks on the 2011 Harvest Wine Trail will be well placed to witness it.

Each winery visit includes 1 to 3 complimentary tastes of wine and a 15% discount on certain purchases of three bottles or more. When you purchase your ticket, you’ll also receive a gift of Kerrygold cheeses. Pick it up at the winery of your choice and bring it with you as you taste, for nothing compliments wine quite like smooth, flavorful cheese.

There are nine Texas wineries in and around Fredericksburg, making Fredericksburg an ideal choice of lodging while you enjoy the 2011 Harvest Wine Trail. Yet there are Hill Country Texas Bed and Breakfasts throughout the area, in Comfort, Boerne, Marble Falls, Dripping Springs, Wimberley, and elsewhere. Many are close to at least one of the wineries on the trail. Use one as a base, or wander from one Texas Bed and Breakfast to the next.

Additional information about the Harvest Wine Trail is available at Texas Hill Country Wineries.

27 wineries participate in the Harvest Wine Trail. Please pace yourself or have a designated driver.

Lyle Lovett likes the food at the Blue Bonnet Cafe.

The Blue Bonnet Cafe in Marble Falls, Texas, has been serving tasty food since 1929. Locals and tourists alike line up for the Chicken Fried Steak and the wonderful, freshly baked pies. If it was good enough for President George W. Bush, singer Lyle Lovett, and former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Roger Staubach, there is a good chance you’ll like it, too.

The Hill Top Café is about ten miles outside of Fredericksburg, TX. It is said that the Hill Top is about love; “love of food, music, family, and friends.” You’ll love the food and the music, and you’ll feel like a friend by the end of the meal. It is worth driving out of your way to dine at the Hill Top Café.

Try The Creek Restaurant in Boerne, TX. Start with the Crab Fingers, and then move on to the Grilled Semi Boneless Quail or the Balsamic Glazed Seared Duck Breast. A glass of wine from the extensive wine list will make the meal complete.

Breakfast should always be enjoyed at your Hill Country Bed and Breakfast, whether in Fredericksburg, Marble Falls or Boerne.

Cycle along Ranch Road 1 (RR1) from Fredericksburg to Stonewall – one of the flattest routes in the Hill Country. It’s about 17 miles one way – perfect if you start at a Fredericksburg Bed and Breakfast and end up at a Stonewall Bed and Breakfast.

Cycle the Texas Hill Country this spring.

Cycle the Hill Country Traditional, a 36 mile loop that locals affectionately call “Little Switzerland”. You will definitely look forward to relaxing at your Fredericksburg Bed and Breakfast at the end of that route!

Additional Hill Country bike routes are available at Cycle Texas.

It's spring! Come see the Texas wildflowers.

Follow the wildflowers.

Travel itineraries at this time of year tend to be built around what is blooming. A good place to start is the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, at the University of Texas at Austin. The Gardens are expansive and diverse, showcasing gracious Live Oaks, large Mountain Laurel, and of course meadows full of Central Texas wildflowers. Before you leave, stop by the store to see the current exhibit, Ken Moore Bluebonnets, through May 30. His colorful oil paintings are a nice way to keep bluebonnets forever in bloom on your walls.

After learning a bit about the wildflowers native to Central Texas and the Texas Hill Country, take to the road. Traverse the Texas Hill Country, staying in Bed and Breakfasts from New Braunfels to El Dorado, Marble Falls to Boerne. Then head into Central Texas, over to Brenham and up to Madisonville. Enjoy lodging in a number of Central Texas Bed and Breakfasts and Hill Country Bed and Breakfasts as you go.

Additional information about Texas wildflowers may be found at Wildflowers in the Hill Country.

Indeed, architecture buffs may never want to leave. Comfort is said to have one of the most well-preserved historic business districts in all of Texas. Buildings date back to the mid 1800s, when the town was first settled by German immigrants. It is interesting to note that many of the first settlers were Freethinkers, and that the first churches in Comfort were not established until 1900.

Several of the old buildings in town were designed by Alfred Giles, a well-respected architect based in San Antonio. Ask your Comfort bed and breakfast innkeepers to point out his buildings, and enjoy wandering through town in search of them. Some blocks are truly reminiscent of another era.

Head to Comfort Texas for historic architecture, antiques, and wine tasting.

Comfort, texas, originally uploaded by extension 504.

Comfort features many antique shops. Allow time to poke around in them and speak with the shop keepers. Many people in town are directly descended from the early settlers, and they are full of interesting stories about the town’s history.

Enjoy wine tasting at the three Texas Hill Country Wineries in Comfort, as well as the good cooking at the eateries in town. Like we said, you may be so comfortable in Comfort that you won’t want to leave.

The Caverns have a long, fascinating history. Over thousands of years, water wore down the limestone bedrock and formed this intricate network of caves, tunnels and caverns. During the Ice Age, animals used the caves for shelter. Thousands of years later, the Comanche Indians dwelled in and around the caverns. During the Civil War, confederate troops found Longhorn Caverns to be an ideal spot to manufacture gun powder in secret.

These days, it is possible to tour Longhorn Caverns State Park in a number of ways: take a hiking tour, or a paranormal tour; take a photography tour, a geology tour, or a wild cave tour. All are interesting – the caverns are simply magnificent, and worth a visit.

You’ll find the Longhorn Caverns a delightful addition to your Texas Hill Country bed and breakfast vacation. The Hill Country is lovely above ground, and it is equally spectacular below ground.

Hamilton Pool Dripping Springs, TX, originally uploaded by JamesGriff.

The name Dripping Springs conjures thoughts of cool green waters and quiet pools, and that’s just what you’ll find near Dripping Springs, Texas. Cool off at a Dripping Springs Texas Bed and Breakfast sometime this summer – you’ll be glad you did.

The town of Dripping Springs is about 30 miles southwest of Austin, in the Hill Country region of Texas. The springs from which it takes its name are still present, marked by a granite marker in town. Ask directions from the innkeepers at your Hill Country Texas Bed and Breakfast, then visit the watering hole that once gave fresh water to Native Americans and early settlers.

Hamilton Pool (pictured here) is a natural deep water pool a few miles outside of town. It is a lovely swimming hole – stand under the 45 foot waterfall for the ultimate experience – and has fabulous nature trails, as well. Nearby Pedernales Falls State Park is a great spot for hiking, river swimming, mountain biking and birdwatching. Slightly farther afield is the Lyndon B. Johnston National Historic Park, where it is lovely to delve into both history and nature.

Texas Hill Country!, originally uploaded by theavonne.

The bluebonnets are starting to appear in the Texas Hill Country. April is a lovely time of year here. Hill Country bed and breakfasts open their doors and windows wide to let it the fragrant fresh air.

When was the last time you were here?

San Antonio, Texas Hill Country Vineyards, originally uploaded by VisitSanAntonio.

Wineries are a joy to visit no matter who you are. Couples find it romantic to linger in tasting rooms. Friends have fun deciding which wine has the better legs and nose. Gaggles of girlfriends reminisce old times as they make their way from one winery to another. This is true whether you are in the Napa Valley or the Texas Hill Country.

The Texas Hill Country has many excellent wineries. Plan a week or a weekend to travel the Texas Wine Trail, staying at Texas b&bs as you go.