Libations Archives | Golden Country Cowgirl

Dripping Springs Distilling Tour and Tasting

copper pot stills with text overlay: Educational and informative tour Dripping Springs Distilling

When you visit Texas Hill Country, you can go wine tasting to your heart’s content. But did you know you can also visit distilleries, often for a tour and tasting? There are several spread out all across Texas Hill Country so no matter what your plans are while you are in Hill Country, you can add one (or more) to your itinerary. On my recent RV trip, I spent a few days in Dripping Springs and visited Dripping Springs Distilling for a tour and tasting. I spent most of my life in California and a few years in Nevada. Both places have fairly liberal alcohol laws. You could buy alcohol pretty much anywhere – the corner gas station, the neighborhood grocery store, Walmart, Costco…

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Lost Maples Winery – A Winery in Transition

I have been a member of Harvest Hosts since the beginning of my RV adventures in 2018. The program offers interesting and unique places to stay while supporting small businesses. It’s such a win-win program you can’t help but love it. My favorite places to stay through Harvest Hosts is wineries. You usually have a beautiful parking spot with awesome views and you can walk to go wine tasting and never have to worry about driving. Sometimes you meet the winemaker or get a special behind the scenes tour. My stay at Lost Maples Winery in Vanderpool, TX, certainly lived up to all expectations. About Lost Maples Winery History Tom & Glenda Slaughter were the original owners of Lost Maples Winery. The winery sits within…

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Best Wineries in Fredericksburg, Texas

Although the Texas Hill Country AVA (American Viticultural Area) covers 9,000,000 acres (14,062 square miles), Texas Wine Country centers near the charming town of Fredericksburg. If you search the Internet for the best wineries in Fredericksburg, you’ll find that each article lists different wineries. There are a few, however, that most seem to agree on and those are the ones I tried to concentrate on for this visit to Texas Hill Country. Fredericksburg is centrally located in Texas in the very heart of Texas Hill Country. Since it is only about an hour and 15 minutes north of San Antonio and 1.5 to 2 hours directly west of Austin, it is a perfect getaway location. Many of the wineries are located on Highway 290 between…

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A Taste of Oklahoma – Durant and Ardmore

Choctaw Casino sign with text overlay: Durant and Ardmore Just a taste of Oklahoma

One of the destinations on my recent RV trip was southern Oklahoma to visit a friend. I had planned to boondock at a couple of spots in Oklahoma but the weather turned bitterly cold a few days earlier, so I decided to find RV parks instead. I figured they would make better bases of operations while I got at least a little taste of Oklahoma during the few days I planned to be in Durant and Ardmore. Durant, Oklahoma Durant/Choctaw Casino KOA I’ve never stayed at a KOA campground or a casino so I thought the Durant/Choctaw Casino KOA sounded promising. I later read on their website that they are “the #1 KOA RV park in all of the country.” I think KOA only accepts…

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My First Experience Wine Tasting in Texas Hill Country

When I lived in northern California, a big part of my life and this blog was visiting local wineries and writing about my experiences. I was a little disappointed when I started researching Texas wineries and learned that the closest region to my new home was about a four hour drive away. I knew that once I got back on the road in my RV, Texas Hill Country for wine tasting would be one of my first destinations. Texas Wine and Wine Tourism If you are not familiar with Texas wine and wineries, you might be surprised to learn that Texas Hill Country is one of the most popular wine tourism destinations in the nation. With 5 million visitors a year, it is second only…

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Texas Legato Winery — On the Edge

barrels and a waterfall in front of large grassy field with text overlay: Visit the northern edge of Texas Hill Country AVA Texas Legato Winery

Staying with participating wineries through Harvest Hosts is one of the ways I discover some wonderful, and sometimes lesser known, wineries. That’s how I found Texas Legato Winery. It is a family owned and operated winery in Lampasas at the very northern edge of the Texas Hill Country AVA (American Viticultural Area). Sulynn and Bill Bledsoe are the owners of Texas Legato Winery and Vineyard. As a Harvest Hosts member, I called ahead to make sure they had room for me on the night I wanted to stay. Bill greeted me when I arrived and directed me to a spot near the parking lot because it had been raining and the ground was too wet to risk parking farther away by the vineyard. It was…

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Award-winning Rum at Desert Diamond Distillery in Kingman

Photo of barrels with title text overlay: Award-winning Rum Desert Diamond Distillery Kingman, AZ

When I finally made it out of California and reached Arizona on my RV trip from California to Texas, I was really looking forward to tasting my first Arizona wine. My original plan was to boondock at Stetson Winery but a delay earlier in the trip meant I arrived on a Monday when the winery was closed. Kingman has a couple of interesting Harvest Hosts boondocking spots and this presented me with the pleasant option of staying at one of the other locations, Desert Diamond Distillery, and learning about rum instead. Desert Diamond Distillery – Rum & Vodka Owners John and Debbie Patt are wonderful hosts and obviously love what they do. John was busy with a tour when I arrived so Debbie gave me…

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Bucket List Things to do in Texas by Region

Texas is a diverse state with a mind-boggling number of things to do. Bucket list worthy things to do in Texas by region recommended by travel bloggers. #travel #texas #food #wine #hiking

When I moved to Texas a few months ago and started researching where to go and things to do, I was almost overwhelmed. I knew Texas was a BIG state but I didn’t quite realize how much there is to do here and how diverse the state is. My new home base is near the very southern tip of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley (in the South Texas Plains region) where nature and birding are king. I have started exploring this area and plan to slowly work my way north (and the little bit that there is farther south), exploring all the wonders of this amazing state. To help me in my exploration, I asked some fellow bloggers to give me recommendations of their…

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Most Viewed Posts 2018 Edition

This is one of my favorite posts to do during the year. It is so fun to look back over articles and see what was popular and resonated with my readers.

This is one of my favorite posts to do each year. It is so fun for me to look back over my articles and see what was popular and resonated with my readers during the year. It gives me food for thought about what to include as future posts. 2018 was a year of huge changes for me. The first few months of the year, things went on pretty much as usual. I visited lots of places in Gold Country to find the gems to share with you on the blog. Then, somewhere around May, some events got put into motion and I decided to start a whole new chapter in my life. I wrote all about it in post #7 below. Top Ten…

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Boondocking at Walker Honey Farm and Dancing Bee Winery

Walker Honey Farm and Dancing Bee Winery in Rogers, TX, may be a little off the beaten path but well worth a visit for amazing raw honey and honey wine.

I joined Harvest Hosts RV membership program to find some unique and interesting places to stay on my RV trip from northern California to southern Texas. I picked at least one intriguing place in each state and built my RV park stays around them. When I found Walker Honey Farm in Texas, I knew I needed to add it to my stops. Why Walker Honey Farm? First, they were the only honey farm I came across, but more importantly, they make mead. My former significant other and I made mead for several years and I still remember how much I enjoyed it. Part of the attraction of mead, I think, is that it is pretty hard to find*. There used to be a winery in…

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