It’s Raining Adventure in Round Top…

04 May It’s Raining Adventure in Round Top…

Round Top, Texas has been on my list of places to visit for many years now. No better weekend than my birthday weekend (and my best friends birthday) to visit, right? The theme of our trip from the time of booking was adventure. We sure did get more than we bargained for thanks to the very uncooperative and turbulent weather.

It rained bucket loads on my 3.5 hour drive down from Dallas/Fort Worth, especially the closer I got to Round Top. I wasn’t going to let all that crazy Spring weather rain on my parade…or shopping. My first stop upon rolling into this one traffic light town was lunch at Manditos. We all agreed that the chips, queso and house margaritas alone are worth a visit. Definitely a winner! I mean it was raining, what else was there to do besides sipping margaritas??

The rain let up and it was time to check into our hotel. We denied our natural inclination to book rooms at the local boutique hotel downtown, and instead adventurously booked an off-the-beaten-path shipping container at the Flophouze Hotel. It’s located about about 8 minutes away from town. The Flophouze is on the same property as a recycling center that can also be used as an event venue. If you happened to drive by the Flophouze on the county road, you probably wouldn’t even notice the row of 6 shipping containers neatly lined up in rows facing a large pasture, because of the piles of interesting artifacts, treasures, and well…junk…that’s being collected all around the outside of the recycling center. I will say, it did make for a fun and ADVENTUROUS walk around the property checking out all the random objects laying out. If you are lucky, you will be greeted by some of the sweet cats living on the property. We affectionately named our cute little welcoming committee cat Johnny Cash.

The Flophouze does have a grilling area, pool, firepits, and hammocks. We sadly didn’t get to use any of those due to the monsoon-like weather the entire weekend. I imagine if you had better weather those amenities could definitely enhance your stay and add to the fun. Any time the rain did let up, we ran outside to listen to the birds singing and cows mooing. We caught a glimpse of a few deer as well. If all of my pictures look like it was soggy and wet-that’s because it absolutely was. Puddles were everywhere! Thank goodness I had remembered to pack my Hunter Rainboots. Check out my packing list in the menu so you can pack yours for your trip! The inside of the shipping container was remodeled nicely with a couch, kitchenette, bathroom, and bedroom. This particular container offered a queen size bed and twin bunks.

One of the main reasons we chose Round Top was because of all the antique and boutique shopping. What we quickly discovered was that all of the shops have very different hours, days, and even seasons of when they are open. This made the shopping options limited in my opinion. If I were to go again, I’d try to come back in early April or early October when the large antique shows roll into town. I know that during those large shows hotel availability is very limited and prices are higher. So, the plus side to us coming when we did, was that there weren’t any crowds or lines ANYWHERE. Some of my favorite places to shop are Junk Gypsy, Wimberley, and Little Cheese Shop.

Henkel Square is an adorable courtyard area full of picnic tables, fountains and gardens, a chapel, boutiques, eateries and a pretty swank bar. If the weather would have cooperated, I could have spent much more time in this lovely Square. One of my favorite places we discovered in Henkel Square was Ellis Motel. It happened to not be a motel at all, but rather a mixology bar & lounge. Perfect for happy hour. There are plenty of indoor lounge areas to enjoy a cocktail, but the covered front porch was more the vibe we were going for. It was peaceful and relaxing with large oversized couches and plenty of seating.

After our relaxing afternoon on the porch, we decided to grab a bite of pizza at the Stone Cellar Pub. Stone Cellar is also the local dance hall with live music on the weekends. I love the open barn style feeling of this place. While we didn’t stay long enough to get our boot scootin’ boogie on, we did do a happy dance over the mouthwatering pretzels and mustard we ordered as appetizers. These are a MUST if you eat here. Ya’ll, the pizza is fabulous too! My favorite was called the Cowgirl Junky!

After a looooong night of rough weather, we were coffeed up and ready to do more shopping. We also explored the grounds of the Festival Institute, which had an old world secret garden vibe going. Very interesting place to explore. The buildings itself weren’t open or accessible until the summer music festivals, but the outside is just as intriguing. Of course by the end of walking around, we were hungry. We had heard great reviews on Garden Co. so we decided to try it. My chicken salad sandwich with fries hit the SPOT, and we finally caught a few rays of sun on the patio. It gave us a good recharge for the rest of the day, and time outside in the fresh air before the next round of clouds and rain came.

After a checking out an art gallery and a few more boutiques, we were in much need of more coffee and something sweet. We saw the sign at Local Roots boasting “famous homemade ding dong”. That sounds like an adventure for sure, right!? We HAD to try it. I also ordered an Aztec Mocha (beware, it has some spice added to it) to pair with the monstrous ding dong. This ding dong was no joke. The four of us couldn’t finish it, but it was so worth it for all that chocolate and cream puff goodness.

You will never guess what we decided to do next. EAT. AGAIN. Well, the actual plan was to check out a winery while the rain was on hold for a minute, but there ended up being food involved. We drove out to Blue Mule Winery, only about 8-10 minutes away from town. We were greeted by mules, chickens, and a peacock named Pistol Pete. This winery had a rustic outdoor seating area around a small barn, a food truck parked out front, and larger barn with a tasting room. You can choose 5 wines off the wine list to taste for $10.00. We ordered a wine tasting, food truck nachos, and sat down to relax to the live music as the rain began to come down outside. One of the favorite parts of the day was actually on the way out of the winery. Rain or no rain, we were stopping to feed the mules! The tasting room sells mule food for $3.00 a bag. These mules were so sweet! If it wouldn’t have been raining, I’m thinking we would have hung out with those guys/girls MUCH longer! I’m not going to tell you which one of us was giving out mule kisses, but it wasn’t me!!!

The rest of our evening was spent at our shipping container hotel listening to music, soaking in the time together, and I’m ashamed to say…snacking and eating again.

Does it seem like all we did on this trip was eat and shop?? Yes, well, that’s because that is pretty much all we did. I’m going to blame the weather for that, and the fact that there are so many good choices to choose from. There are other activities like visiting farms, state parks, lakes and other quaint towns nearby that are on the list for next time to check out-weather permitting. The whole trip wasn’t a wash out though! It was fun and full of good food, quality time and adventure! For a town tiny in population, 90 to be exact, it sure is BIG on good eats. God bless Texas and God bless the famous homemade ding dong!

I would love to hear about your trip to Round Top! Comment below and tell us your favorite spot. Do you have questions about my trip?? Thank you for checking out my blog!