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The Antlers Hotel, Pt 1

For this monthiversary trip, Kevin and I drove an hour into the Hill Country to stay at The Antlers hotel in Kingsland, but first, I had a wedding to attend Saturday afternoon! My friends Samar and Ben were getting married out on the lake and had a beautiful ceremony. I had to leave early in the reception and after picking up Kevin, made the drive to Kingsland in my wedding attendance attire. Kicking off my heels, I drove in the rain barefooted and Kevin and I talked about everything from future trips to the war in Vietnam over our quietly playing classic country western CDs. 

My weekend getaway attire.

The hotel was beautiful even against a grey sky background and earth that had turned into one giant mud puddle. Originally built in 1900, it was a major hotel on the passenger train line from Austin to Llano but in the 1930s, the rail line significantly dropped in use and the hotel dropped in guests along with it, eventually falling into disrepair until a family who had stayed as guests during its hey day decided to buy the property and use it as their vacation home for the next 70 years. Just recently, it was turned back into a hotel and entirely renovated to be as close to its original splendor as possible. Even though trains only chug past every six months or so, the hotel's reminiscent nod to the time of train travel has you expecting to hear the rumble of the tracks at any moment.

The lobby still has the original furniture, including the chalkboard used for the train timetables with the last passenger train to pass through still written on it... from 1935.

My suitcase and the check in desk

The entire hotel, aside from the main building, also includes log cabins lining Lake LBJ and four train cars that have been converted into rooms. We stayed in the main building in the Railroad Suite. Our room was absolutely phenomenal. We were the only guests in the hotel so along with our room key (an actual key on a train car keychain), we also got a key to the lobby/dining room/kitchen and were told that after the lobby closed at 10 pm, if we wanted coffee or to make a snack in the kitchen or anything, we were welcome to unlock the front door to the lobby and hang out in there.

Lobby seating

Telephone room off of the lobby

Our suite was beautiful. It was huge, with a living room area, a bedroom, and a full bath, all of which had hardwood floors and high ceilings. The suite had four doors leading outside, two in each room to both the front porch and the back porch. The living room had a wooden table and chairs set, two upholstered chairs, and a leather couch that pulled out into a queen sized bed, as well as an antique metal ice chest and complimentary water bottles, soda cans, and chocolates. The bedroom had an amazing king sized bed, two bedside tables with lamps, a chest at the foot of the bed, a dresser, and a wardrobe.

We unpacked the stereo I brought, kicked off our shoes, put on Johnny Cash and laid in bed for a while. I brought two books on roadtripping in Texas and we read through each of them, looking for interesting things to see in the neighboring towns. We also flipped through the books that were in our living room, including a book on historic hotels in Texas. Flipping to the page on The Antlers Hotel, it was surreal to be reading about the history of the hotel and its rooms while being in one. With each sentence, we could point to different details around us, playing a sort of time traveling eye-spy. From the frames around each door to the ceramic sinks in the corner of each room, every historic detail was accounted for. It was really quite incredible. We laid reading in each others' arms until our growling stomachs convinced us out of bed and into the restaurant across the railroad tracks.

To the left is the door to the front porch and the dresser, to the right is the bathroom, wardrobe and door to the back porch.

Beautiful hardwood floors and beautiful new high heels :)

Wardrobe and original sink from 1900 with running water

Mirror in the bathroom

Doorway from the bedroom into the living room. Each door  was made of solid wood, with a thick border and a window above it that cracked open at a slant.

Postcards Galore

Postcards I bought in San Antonio. I just couldn't stop!

These were apparently in my godmother's friend's storage unit for years. That's actual postage that the postal service will honor. Of course, Ill have to add about a million stamps to each of those, but the sentiment is cool.

A tin box I found for 6 dollars.

These are reprints of actual sent postcards. The backs are blank for you to write out your own words and address them to someone.

Over 300 canceled stamps from posts sent long ago. Found in an antique store in historic Georgetown for $3. I can't use them for my own postcards so Ill have to find a project to stick them all over.

Reminiscing - Spring 2010

 I started looking through my facebook photos of my Spring 2010 Disney College Program and couldn't help but realize how insanely tan I got. Are you ready for this?


First week:

Last week, after living in Florida for five months:

Postcards from Friends

This first one is from my friend Christine. We did the Disney College Program (Spring 2010) at the same time but never actually met. After our college program, we realized how well we would have gotten along. haha. Oh the things you miss out on. The good thing is, like the postcard says, at least we can be postcard pals.

This is Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom park at Walt Disney World. Those are called Dreamlights and they're only up on the castle for the Holiday season. It takes them weeks to put them on but they look just spectacular. This is exactly what the castle looked like when we stepped into Magic Kingdom for the first time on our first night as Disney World Cast Members. 

It says:
"Marina! We never got to meet but at least we can do this! This is the sole postcard I bought at Disney when I went a couple weeks ago - I know you'll appreciate it most :) & the stamp is the only one I have left from Newstand, where I worked. Happy Holidays, Marina! 
<3 Christine"




This next one is from my friend Jessica. She travels a lot for work and sends me postcards when she's on especially long trips. They're always amazing.

It reads:
"Hello Marina -
I know you already have postcards from Canada but whatever! I miss you! You'll probably get this in the mail when we're hanging out hah. It's totally weird here, the metal show I'm going to tonight is next to a sex shop or like a weird French sex theatre eeesh. Everything is french & all the radio stations are totally weird & the metal band is french! It's been snowing on & off, nothing like the picture though. I had sushi tonight & didn't get sick! Delicious eel. Everyone wears black. hmm. Love you! - J. Bugg"

Postcrossing 11, 12, and 13

These came a week or so ago but I haven't had time to sort my brain or all the pictures in my camera, so theyre a little late, but here we go.

 

It reads:
"Early morning, she wakes up. 
Knock, knock, knock on the door.
It's time for makeup, perfect smile
Its you they're all waiting for.
They go:
Isn't she lovely, this Austin girl? :)
Happy Mxmas!"

And at the top is says "What song is this?" although when I first read it I thought it read What soup is this and I was thoroughly confused. After consulting my mom and google, I came to realize it was a clever adaptation of Britney Spears - Lucky. Super cute.


The second:

It reads:
"Dear Marina,
Many hellos from Hollywood in Florida. I live just a short three hour drive south of Disney World. Of course when you live so close, you don't go there very often.
Best wishes, Katja :)"

The postcard is just adorable! Of course, I have a crazy bias towards all things Disney so naturally I love it and am appalled at the fact that this person never goes to Disney and lives so close. haha.


Third:

 

It reads:

"Bovensmilde

Dear Marina,

I send you this card because I think, it's funny, to buy one here in the Netherlands, that's made in America and then to send it back to America. And because the picture is so cute. I hope, you like it too. My name is Jeanne and I live in a small, rural village in the north. I'm a widow of 70. I live alone (with my cat). There are lots of things I like to do, such as cycling, reading, puzzles solving, listen to music (and downloading it) and most of all bowling. I do it twice a week - we have a senior league- and it's great fun. So, no time to be bored. I wish you Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Jeanne"

Isn't that just wonderful? It really is an adorable card you'd imagine your grandmother would send you on your birthday. haha. I hope I'm like this woman when I'm 70. 

 

Honky Tonks and Harry Potter

Yesterday I lost my job. I didn't enjoy it all that much to begin with and I was let go for non-personal reasons (they needed full time and I was only part time), so while upset, I'm not devastated. To make me feel better, Kevin and I met up at this tiny little honky tonk called Ginny's Little Longhorn to watch his co-worker play with his classic country band, songs once played by the likes of Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, and Elvis Presley.

A regular who plays in this honky tonk is this local guy named Dale Watson. Here's a video of him in Austin in the 90s. Both he and Austin have done a lot of growing up in the last twenty years. haha.

 

This is pretty much what Austin looks like now, but as you can tell with the construction, they're still building. The capital is behind those buildings.

Exhausted from the day, we went to sleep around 12:30. Another terrible side effect was that I've grown so used to that work schedule that I woke up at 8 am this morning. Luckily Kevin was up too so we went hat shopping. Kevin ordered this hat and then we went to his house and watched the fourth Harry Potter movie since I've only seen up to the third one. It was epic of course.

My friend Serena just came over and now I'm going to put on a pretty dress and some thick tights and go dancing. :)

P.S. I forgot to mention that earlier at band practice, our guitarist and our drum player, both named Ray, showed up dressed like this... on accident.