A weekend getaway is never a bad idea. Sometimes, all you need to re-connect and recharge your batteries is a change of scenery. However, if you’re from the Lone Star state, you know the struggle we all experience when we go for a road trip—we end up in Texas. Boy, do those northerners have it made when it comes to day trips. If you’re not up for using your always-fleeting PTO days or purchasing a pricey plane ticket, your options are often limited.  

Unless (!!!) you’ve been lucky enough to find a hidden gem like StarHill Farms that transports you to another world. Yes, it’s Texas—but it’s not the Texas I see on a daily basis (i.e. skyscrapers, traffic, and an overload of concrete). It’s a vast land of quiet beauty that touches your soul the second you hit the dirt road, roll the windows down, and smell the fresh air.    

Whether you’re newly engaged, newly married, or you’re just wanting to plan an overdue romantic getaway, StarHill Farms can offer romance and convenience. Located just outside of Houston, the farm is about a 3-hour drive from Dallas, and just under 2-hours from both Houston and Austin.

After my husband and I got engaged, we tossed around the idea of a celebratory trip. Where to? You guessed it! StarHill Farms. It was the perfect time and place to celebrate our engagement, talk through our wedding plans (privately), and most important: have a romantic weekend together.

As some of you might know, the second you get engaged, people come out of the woodwork asking, “So, when’s the wedding?” We thought a trip together would be a great opportunity to talk through what we wanted and when we wanted it, our wish lists, and non-negotiables.

We packed up the truck and headed south by way of Dallas. On the drive down, I flipped through my all-time favorite cookbook, Ree Drummond’s The Pioneer Woman.  I picked out some recipes I had long been eyeing but lacked the necessary free time to make.

We stopped, of course, at the Czech Stop for breakfast Kolaches and before we knew it we were at H-E-B in Brenham (just 20-minutes away from StarHill Farms) picking up some groceries for the weekend and to make the recipies I'd been eyeing. (Hruska's and Weikel's are two bakeries you can visit for Kolaches nearby the farm.) Once we arrived, we unpacked our car and headed straight to the pond for some early afternoon fishing.

We coordinated a late afternoon horseback ride across the rolling hills surrounding StarHill Farms. It was March when we went, so the bluebonnets and wildflowers were showing off for us. Did I feel like I was in a Nicholas Sparks novel? Maybe. Ok, yes.

For dinner, I prepared classic chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and gravy—a Texas delicacy. Plus, drop biscuits and cobbler. We dined on the back porch as we watched the cows roam, enjoying the cool spring-like temperatures. After dinner, we brought out the Scrabble board for a semi-heated competition as the sun went down.

No trip to StarHill Farms is complete without a bonfire. For us, our bonfire included s'mores and a few Shiners. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

The next morning, we woke up slowly, started the coffee pot, stayed in our PJs too long, and made our way to the kitchen to cook up some french toast. I took the morning to flip through my stack of wedding magazines I brought, marking my favorite pages with sticky notes. Austin, my now husband, went down to the pond to try his luck again, hoping to out due his catch from the previous day.   

We were bummed to be leaving our little slice of paradise that afternoon, but we felt accomplished in two ways. First and foremost, we were rested. It’s amazing what a weekend away from the all the hustle and bustle (and your television) does for your mind, body and soul. Plus, we made some progress on a few wedding decisions while we were there. Most importantly, we landed on a date—June of 2017. Just a few weeks ago we celebrated our first anniversary and we’re already planning our next trip (this time, without all the wedding chatter).