Lunch at the Gristmill and a Stargazing Dinner

Today the Get'away Gals were off to Gruene, TX.  First on the agenda was lunch at the Gristmill.  The Gristmill is unique in that much of the seating is outdoors but there are still some walls.  They do have an area that can be closed in during the winter months.  We had two long tables of GGs.  Separate tickets, no problem!  This is a great place for a group lunch.

Darlene, Sue, Karen, and Gloria also belong to the Pink Flamingoes so you may recognize them from a recent PF GTG.  Girls just want to have fun!

The Grilled Chicken Salad was delicious and large! 

Several people ordered the Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Shrimp which came on pasta but my neighbor asked to have it on spinach instead--no problem.  Nice to hear that when you go to a restaurant.  Everyone headed out to do some shopping in Gruene after lunch.  They always have lots of neat things to look at.

Stay tuned for this evenings fun.

The plan was for all of us to meet at the front gate of the Lazy L&L where we were going to caravan 1 1/2 miles to another property they own.  They were going to take us on a haywagon ride up a mountain (okay, a big hill) where we were going to have a cookout and do some stargazing.  Not everyone would fit on the wagon when we got there so two brave women said they had 4 wheel drive and would take some in their vehicles.  It was a somewhat rough ride over a rutted, rocky trail sitting on a hay bale but fun nevertheless.

Once we finally reached the end of the trail, we were at a lovely, little cabin way up at the top.  It is a one room cabin with a fireplace, tiny kitchen, bed, and shower inside and a toilet room separate outside but there is electric, water, and flush toilet!  Don't even think about it because it is not for rent--it is the owners private getaway.  The owners wife and helpers came up a shorter, steeper route in a couple of "mules" so the fire pit was already burning when we got there.

Everyone either relaxed or walked along the trail looking at the lofty views available while the charcoal in a couple of huge homebuilt fire rings burned down to cooking coals.

Great views from the front of the cabin.

Lots of relaxing and chatting going on.

Here is a shot of all the GGs that were at the Stargazing party but that is definitely not the whole group attending the GTG.  Some were still arriving yesterday and today.

And then it got dark and the view changed.  They turned out the lights at the cabin.  There aren't any city lights out here in the country so you only see lights at the cabins below.  A lot of the group had an app on their iphones to help pick out the constellations.  We saw the big dipper and the little dipper and lots of other stars.  It is so much easier to pick them out when the sky is really dark.

And then we had that long ride down the hillside on the haywagon in the dark......