Not everyone can be fortunate enough to live in the Lake Area of the Hill Country, but those who do count the blessings daily. When you come to see our lakes, whether for the magnificent Llano Eagles Nest, Bluebonnets to the horizon, finest deer hunting in the USA, fishing the blue waters or for any other reason, I want you to know about my favorite Chow Halls.

Corey Fulbright is an honorary citizen of the Texas Hill Country, but he earned that distinction in a horrifying way. On December 14, 2002, Corey’s neck was broken during the State Championship football game between his hometown, Everman, and this magazine’s hometown, Burnet.

When Connie Endres saw the "For Sale" sign on the little bakery east of downtown Blanco, she knew. "Sometimes you’re just led to do a certain thing," Connie says, seated inside the Deutsch Apple at a wooden booth beside her husband, Ron.

It was early afternoon on Lake Stillhouse Hollow -- brilliant sun still high in the bright blue October sky -- and the aquarium-clear water under the ramp between the shore and the marina, invited your eyes to explore. It seemed an underwater Eden. Calm. Tranquil. Serene. A peaceful sight -- I watched for a minute or two, and started to turn away. Then a movement caught my eye.

Harry Mueller wasn’t born in the Texas Hill Country, and he didn’t really get here as fast as he could. But the German-born pastry chef from Houston eventually was drawn to the Hill Country, and now welcomes other non-natives to visit and retire here. This is his remarkable story.

Think a dude ranch is something out of "City Slickers" or just for kids? Look again. Horses and ranching are as much a part of the Texas Hill Country as cedar trees and red tail hawks, but you don’t have to be a cowboy, or even a rider, to enjoy them. Dude ranches (also known as guest ranches) come in many guises, and you’ll find one to suit your tastes and interests in the "Cowboy Capitol of the World" - Bandera, Texas.

In a world that resonates with buzzing electricity, blaring television sets, zooming automobiles, and constant activity, Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farms, operated by the Heritage Society of Austin (HSA), is a calm refuge from modern life. The almost 30-year-old living history museum teaches visitors about nineteenth-century life when Austin’s population was 16,000, food was homegrown, and it paid to be handy with an anvil.

"This is the most peaceful place I’ve ever been," I thought as I relaxed in a weathered swing under an ancient live oak. Little did I know that was the exact same thought, contemplated on the exact same swing, that led Carter Schildknecht and her husband, Ellis, to purchase this little piece of heaven in 2001. And luckily for the world, they have chosen to share the serenity with guests of Palo Alto Creek Farm Bed & Breakfast.

As a fifth-generation Texan I have a major interest in preserving and protecting the land and the buildings we have inherited that represent so much hard work and family history. Many of these buildings are well over a hundred years old and in surprisingly good shape. They were "built to last".

We all know the stars seem to shine bigger and brighter here in the Hill Country, but look closely and you’re apt to see stars in the daytime, too. "Reel" stars, that is: movie stars, television stars, producers, directors and all the crew members who make the films we enjoy.

It took legendary artist Michelangelo Buonarroti only a little over four years to complete his original work of art on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Of course, he wasn’t working full-time as a software consultant at the time.

Desperate times take desperate measures. Less than a week after Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated as president, he called an emergency session of Congress to enact a law creating the Civilian Conservation Corps, a peacetime "army" of unemployed and undernourished young men caught in the grip of the Great Depression.