Hearts and Cowboy Hats: Valentine’s Weekend in Texas
Nothing says, “I love you” on Valentine’s Day better than a pair of $13,000 Lucchese Boots or a $7,500 Stetson hat.
But the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa incorporates the boots and hats into a Texas cowboy-style weekend getaway which comes pretty close.
Couples kick off their weekend with a personalized fitting for two pairs of Lucchese Boots and two Stetson hats. Feel free to visit the Lucchese store or Paris Hatters for your fitting, or have their experts come and outfit you in the privacy of your three-room, two-bathroom suite, complete with fireplace and two wrap-around terraces to sit out on and watch the starry Hill Country night sky.
Texans love their steaks, but even the best chuck-wagon cook can learn from Chef Brett Rea at the private barbecue grilling class included with your “Cowboy It Up” weekend. With Chef Rea’s secret recipe, your New York strip and filet mignon are cooked to perfection.
After dinner, have a house-infused strawberry/jalapeno or lemon/basil tequila at the resort’s Cibolo Moon restaurant, or watch a sporting event on the 120-foot-long high-definition televisions at the Texas-sized High Velocity bar.
Kids of all ages will enjoy the 8-acre River Bluff Water Experience water park right on the Marriott’s grounds. They can relax on the sandy beaches and ride the 650-foot rapid river ride, the three water slides, or the two body slides.
But there’s also much to do in San Antonio, the surrounding Texas Hill Country and nearby Fredericksburg.
Start along San Antonio’s famed Riverwalk, loaded with restaurants and live music. Try a chocolate martini and a cigar while listening to some live blues or jazz at Swig, before wandering over to Paris Hatters for that Stetson fitting.
Three generations of the Cortez family have been selling hats at the same location for almost a century.
Abe the Hatter will fit you for a cowboy Stetson, a Panama hat, a newspaper delivery boy’s cap, a top hat or another stylish chapeau, much as he’s done for Pope John Paul II (a white Stetson), President Lyndon B. Johnson, (A Stetson Open Road Fur Felt Hat named for him) and Bob Dylan, who apparently purchased several hats in one visit. You might want to wear your new hat for a short walk over to the Alamo, where a small band of Texans held out for thirteen days against the Mexican army. The adobe-walled complex was smaller than I expected, but worth the trip to walk the historic grounds.
On the way back to your hotel, you can stop at the Lucchese retail store at the Alamo Quarry Market to check out its unique, luxurious leather boots, including a $2,195 pair made of Pirarucu, a primitive-looking fish found in the Amazon. They’re a bargain compared with the $13,000 alligator belly boots.
Break in those new boots with a stroll through Fredericksburg’s Main Street historic district, with more than 150 specialty shops.
Wander back more than 150 years at the Pioneer Museum, and walk through a dozen buildings from the 1840s to the 1920s.
Early settlers in the area were from Germany, and they brought winemaking to Texas. That winemaking is still alive and growing in the Hill country, with 15 small wineries along U.S. Highway 290 near Fredericksburg and more than 30 on the 30-mile stretch to Johnson City, making Texas the fourth-largest wine-producing state in the nation.
All welcome you for a tour or a tasting. We stopped by Grape Creek Vineyards, where wine expert Jeff Binney showed us the 100-acre estate, the hundreds of oak barrels and the tasting room.
Down Highway 290, at the Becker Vineyard, you can sample six wines for $15.
We finished off our day in Fredericksburg at Otto’s German Bistro, where Chef Adam Yoho creates remarkable farm-to-table German cuisine. The menu changes weekly with the season as Chef Yoho sources locally grown produce and meat from nearby ranches.
To all — Marriott resort, San Antonio, Fredericksburg and vineyards — we give a great big Texas YAHOO!
To make a reservation for a “Cowboy it up” weekend at the Marriott, go to www.jwcowboyitup.com.
Let Yahoo Travel inspire you every day. Hang out with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
