Starting way back in March 2005, we began traveling together as friends before we knew we had feelings for each other! We started out by going to Happy, Texas to visit friends. The trip was Randy leaving from Austin, picking up some friends of ours in Waco, driving up to Denton to pick me up, and then traveling west through places like Wichita Falls, Chillicothe, Turkey, and finally Happy.
That summer, we both attended a retreat in Concan, TX along the Frio River. While there, we ventured together with another friend to Bracketville and Uvalde. In Bracketville, we visited the old Alamo movie set (where there is also an awesome John Wayne museum and plenty of longhorn cattle!).
Also in 2005, we made it to Waco, where we saw the Gimbles play for the first time. Later we ended up in College Station, and had our first dance at Hurricane Harry's (to George Strait's "Cross My Heart").
In 2006, we began dating casually in March and made it "official" on May 20. Randy came to visit me in Denton and later in Lewisville, and from there we went to places like Greenville, Canton (for First Mondays!), Frisco to see the Rough Riders play, and other places in north Texas. I also went to Austin to visit him, and he got me hooked on the city by taking me places like Mount Bonnell and the Bob Bullock State History Museum.
We went to Crawford once for a rally; we also headed to Washington-on-the-Brazos and College Station again.
That summer, we went together to San Antonio for the state Republican convention, stopping in Fredericksburg for the first time to see the WWII museum. We went back later in the summer with some friends, to see the Pacific War reenactment.
In August, we attended another retreat, this time in Port Aransas. We made this a very interesting trip, leaving several days early from Austin. We drove south through Lockhart, Gonzales, Shiner, Hallettsville, Goliad, Refugio, Victoria, Port Lavaca, to Rockport and Corpus Christi before ending up in Port Aransas. You can see some of the pictures from this trip here.
In October 2006, I moved to Austin, and we took day trips and mini trips around the city and through the Hill Country. Around Christmas we went back to Gonzales, and did the historic home tour there. On Easter weekend, 2007, we went up to Llano and got bbq at Cooper's, and went looking for bluebonnets around the Hill Country. Later that spring we went hiking at Colorado Bend State Park, and took a long, windy way home to see the sights (including Democrat, TX!). We also visited San Marcos and the Natural Bridge Caverns on Randy's birthday in May 2007.
In July 2007, we were at Lake Buchanan in the Hill Country for yet another retreat. We stopped in Marble Falls on the way, and went to Llano while we were in the area. On July 28, Randy proposed!!
The next week, we did the one thing important to Texas history that we hadn't yet done together - we went to the Alamo! We enjoyed everything downtown San Antonio has to offer besides that, too, heading to the Menger Hotel for a beer and to the Riverwalk for dinner.
In the fall, we had the opportunity to visit Washington, D.C. for the Americans for Prosperity National Defending the American Dream Summit. I'd been a few times before, and it was Randy's first visit - we saw a lot of great sights and got to stay at the historic Mayflower Hotel!
We visited the Confederate Air Force Museum in Burnet, went out to Hutto, Pflugerville, and Georgetown a few times, and we fell more in love while visiting all the cool things Austin has to offer.
Around Christmas, we headed to Burnet for the First Baptist Church's "Little Bethlehem" display.
Our wedding was at the New Sweden Lutheran Church near Manor, where Randy's great-grandparents were married in 1896. Our reception was in Round Rock, at Old Settler's Park.
In 2008, we have made it to these places (as of June 28):
Solvang, California (our honeymoon!)
Pedernales State Park, Texas
Flat Creek Winery, Texas
Marble Falls, Texas
Round Top, Texas
Fredericksburg, Texas
Becker Vineyards Winery, Texas
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