Wimberley

We got to Wimberley at 3:45 on Wednesday afternoon. Being that we didn't stay too long in the towns I've just listed, we made good time that day and got to Wimberley sooner than we thought we would.

The population of Wimberley is just under ten thousand, so it's a bustling town, but very sprawled out. The sign as you get into town reads: "Welcome to Wimberley... A Little Bit of Heaven."

And it truly is.... enough restaurants and shops to keep you busy and interested, but not a Wal-Mart or huge supermarket in sight. The residents there have rallied hard and long for many years to keep all the big chain stores out. The result is a quaint little town with privately-owned shops..... no huge signs, no billboards, no Wal-Mart, no Target, no big shopping centers, no large concrete parking lots.

The Wimberley Pie Company has been there for years, and we had been there before. We stopped in for some pie and spoke to the owner there, who gave us some insight into the town after we told him we'd be looking at homes there.

We went to The Wimberley Inn, a group of cottages that we had stayed at when we were in Wimberley some years ago. After checking in there, we found a restaurant for dinner.... "Chriswell's" (I believe that's the correct spelling.) The food was good, but the restaurant was decorated in an upscale manner, more suited to downtown Houston than to downtown Wimberley. We were sorry that we didn't stay closer to the center of town and eat in one of the older, Wimberley-like cafes.

On Thursday morning after breakfast (at the Wimberley Cafe) we went to a realtor suggested by the owner of the Pie Company. We saw two houses with a wonderfully friendly realtor......... one that was built up on stilts, giving you too many stairs to walk up, plus the view from the deck of that house overlooked the roadway. The inside of the house was big, but the configuration of the rooms was very strange. Just not our cup of tea.

The other house was a two-bedroom, two-bathroom house.... beautiful view from the backyard overlooking the Blanco River. Far enough and high enough that if the river overflowed, it wouldn't come anywhere near the house. At the moment, the river there is bone dry, because there's been a drought up in the Hill Country. This was a brand new house, the landscaping not even finished yet. One problem with that house--- no garage, very little storage unless you put up a shed, and the neighbors on either side of the property were within shouting distance because the house sat on just under two acres. (Okay, two problems with that house.)

Beautiful little house, though, nicely laid out, well-planned, all new appliances, all new everything... no one has lived in it yet. As I stood out on the deck, we heard peacocks calling in the woods. The realtor said wild goats and deer would find their way to the property, as well as the usual raccoons, possums, and other small wildlife. I told the realtor that the view was "pretty enough to make you cry," and I meant it.

I fell in love with that little house........ so many windows all along the back of the house, all overlooking the river and the side of the hills....... I could imagine us living there, and that's the problem--- I started to decorate the house in my mind. The style of that house sort of matched the style of our home here, and I could see it filled with furniture from the local antique shops in Wimberley.

And of course, I could see us in it. Thankfully, my husband has more sense than I do at times such as these. He liked the house, liked the brand-newness of it, liked the view, but didn't like having such close neighbors, and didn't like having to build a garage if we wanted one (and of course we wanted one).

We took the name/number/eMail of that realtor and told her we'd be in touch. As we drove off and into the next town, I was still decorating that house in my mind.