“Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”
-Hans Christian Andersen
On a rather twisty-turvy, notoriously Hill Country drive to reach our tree house at Dripping Springs’ newest hotspot, I got a little carsick. Mainly because it was cloudy and I’d had too much caffeine, but the anticipation had my tummy butterflies flitting like the monarch migration. My husband and I had decided to take a long weekend to celebrate Valentine’s Day a bit early (to beat the crowd), and I hadn’t been more ready for a getaway. Work is demanding, life is stressful, and sometimes it’s nice to just get the heck outta dodge and go where there is no cell service. Really. Like zero bars.
Photo: Erin Baxter
When we arrived, I took a long, deep breath of fresh air… the kind of fresh air that only exists in a serene place, quiet enough to hear a natural spring babbling nearby and wind whispering through the trees. Aaahhh. We’d been waiting for this for weeks. After unpacking our suitcase and gear, we hiked up a little ways to the tree house cabin aptly named, “The Garden House.” Upon first glance, the apartment-sized tree house sits high up in the air, and a lofty staircase took us right up to the grand porch where freshly-planted flowers adorned the door perfectly. A surly oak jutted right through the porch, and all in one instant, I felt like I was in a cartoon. It was whimsical and wonderful and peaceful all at the same time.
Mitchell did all of the heavy lifting, as good husbands do, so he was wielding the luggage and gear while I opened the door. A nifty keypad (no keys!) gets you right in with an accompanying alarm beep. One quick glance around the room was all it took. The sky-high ceilings and huge sky-view windows had me at “hello.” I was hooked.
