Kris and Jen's Birthday Trip

Kris and I recently decided to take a belated birthday trip. We didn't want to go far, just far enough to get away for a couple of days on our own, and ended up choosing a bed and breakfast called Trois Estate at Enchanted Rock (http://www.troisestate.net/). Trois' is not your typical bed and breakfast - you'll find no frilly, flowery rooms here. Instead, you'll find an inviting, natural landscape with comfortable, rustic rooms, a truly 5-star italian restaurant, an on-site underground chapel with hidden grotto pool, a dinner theater, spa, reception hall, boutique and so much more. The place is run by a very talented couple - she's a chef and he's an architect, builder, painter, sculpter, welder and historical collector. In fact, he's somewhat of a professional collector who's amassed a truly incredible collection of historical artifacts (most of which are displayed in their house, which is also on-site adjoining the chapel). History buffs should really check this place out, it really is something to see.

Anyway, my mom drove up from Magnolia on Tuesday to take care of Addie and we headed off Wednesday morning. Here's a picture of the driveway into Trois Estate (looking back towards the road and Enchanted Rock). Although unfinished, the buildings on the right are eventually going to be shops and boutiques. She mentioned a cigar shop where they could roll their own cigars and display/sell some of their collectible cigar paraphenilia.

After coming up the winding drive, you encounter the main building, which houses the restaurant and B&B rooms (there are currently only five of them). The building is shaped like a square with a courtyard in the middle and stairs leading up to the balcony, which raps completely around the building. The food was fabulous, by the way. She's a very talented chef with a lot of creativity.

Passageway into the courtyard to our room.

Inside the courtyard looking at the Bridal Suite, the largest of the five rooms. We didn't actually stay here - it was booked. In fact, the whole place was booked solid every weekend until the end of May. That's why we ended up going mid-week. Anyway, the rooms we did have (we stayed in two different rooms for availability reasons) were both nice. I didn't get pictures, because it was somewhat dark inside (not a whole lot of windows).

This is the balcony on top of the restaurant. It had a great view of Enchanted Rock.

Kris checking out the view.

Jen sporting her lovely new sunburn. It got much worse later, with the worst of it being on my legs (thankfull, my face and belly were covered at all times - I would hate to think that I fried the little nugget).

Trois Estate hosts ALOT of weddings. They have a small, underground chapel which offers a very intimate setting for about 50 people. The owner is an ordained minister and performs the ceremonies, herself.

A view of the bride's walk down the "aisle."

The underground chapel.

A short passageway to the left leads to an underground grotto swimming pool. It's heated and even has a water slide that her kids can use to enter the pool from their house!

This place has a little bit of everything. The husband is a very creative person who runs with an idea as soon as it enters his head. The wife thought he was kidding when he said he was going to build an underground pool. She came home from shopping the next day to find him excavating with a large backho. He also had the idea of building a dinner theater. And not just any dinner theater, but a replica of the dinner theater shown in the movie "Tombstone" (see below). There's also a large reception hall that seats over 300 guests - although I can't imagine any bride wanting to use it - there's got to be over a hundred very large animal heads lining the walls... not my idea of an enchanting evening. On top of all that, there's a spa where they offer all kinds of goodness and a boutique where they sell handmade vintage looking clothes (20's era). They're also in the midst of building several more B&B units and a guest lodge with 20 additional rooms (to accomodate wedding guests).

As I read through this, I realize that the post sounds more like an advertisement for Trois Estate, rather than a recap of our stay. I guess its because I was genuinely impressed with what we found. The couple that runs the place obviously have a great passion for life. It was nice to be in such an enchanting place, if just for a little while. Kris and I were able to relax and spend a little quality time with each other - something we don't get to do very often. Thanks, Mom, for taking care of Addie so that we could get away.