Our Dog-Friendly Getaway

I was seeing advertisements all over Instagram about these glamping vacation spots around the country called “Getaways”. When I learned that they were dog-friendly, I knew the three of us had to go for a socially distanced nature stay. After working from home for what feels like non-stop, I was looking for a socially distanced vacation where Drew and I could spend some quality time together and truly disconnect.

The concept is simple: Local escapes to tiny cabins surrounded by nature to allow you to disconnect from technology and connect with loved ones.

Here is how our dog-friendly Getaway went!

Location

The Getaways are meant to be a 1-hour-ish drive from the main city (hence the “Getaway” from selected city concept). While the Houston Getaway would have been the closest for us, the Austin + San Antonio Getaway had more outdoor options for Gordo to explore with us. This Getaway “camp” was located in Wimberley, Texas, which is about 45 minutes from Austin and 1-hour from San Antonio.

We booked our Getaway for the first weekend of the Thanksgiving holidays. It was the perfect fall weather with some sprinkling but nothing that ruined the weekend.

Price

We opted to do the 3-night multi-pack for $350 ($379 including tax) because it ended up being cheaper than booking 2-nights, which ended up being over $500. I purchased the 3-night pack for two guests, one bed, and added the pet option for $40. I found a coupon to cut down the pet fee to only $15 via the Honey Chrome add on. We were all in for $395.50 (including $1.50 local tax).

Pre-Getaway + Packing List

A few days prior to our stay, we received an email with the exact location of the Getaway, check-in/check-out dates/time, a list of what’s included in your cabin, and a suggestion of what to pack. Check-in started at 3 pm and check-out was 11 am.

The Getaway cabins provide you with almost everything you need for your stay. All you really need to bring are your toothbrush, toothpaste, clothes, food, and a good book. I packed the following:

• 3 days of outfits (tops, leggings, undergarments, socks, jacket, pajamas)
• Hiking boots
• Sandals (shoes for around the campsite)
• Toothbrush & toothpaste
• Hairbrush
• Skincare (face wash, moisturizer, sunscreen)
• 3 days of food (bacon, eggs, mushrooms, pasta, ground turkey, marinara sauce, hamburger buns, bread, deli meat, cheese, condiments, and lots of snacks)
• Drinks (water, tea, coffee, beer, whiskey)
• S’mores ingredients & skewers (they provide a s’mores kit upon arrival but you can bring extra if you like!)
• Backpack for hiking
• Books (The Guest List and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo)
• Phone charger
• Firewood (they have some for sale but I would recommend bringing your own; one pack per night)
• Firestarter
• Charcoal (for grilling)
• Mosquito spray
• Hammock
• Dog food
• Leash & harness
• Travel water bottle for dogs
• Extra blanket for outside

Things you don’t need to pack:

• Bedding (blankets, pillows)
• Cookware (pot, pan, spatula, knives, cutting board, mixing bowl, kettle)
• Salt, pepper, olive oil
• Aluminum foil
• Coffee creamer and sugar
• Serveware (plates, bowls, cups, silverware)
• Lighter
• Cleaning supplies (paper towels, dish soap, dish sponge)
• Bathroom essentials (towels, toilet paper, shampoo/conditioner, body wash)
• Lawn chairs (we brought one for Gordo)
• Lantern
• Food and water bowls

The cabins also provide provisions for purchase but they can be somewhat pricey (at least for what you’re getting) so I would recommend bringing food items and fire stuff on your own.

Day 1 + Cabin

Drew and I took the Friday before the Thanksgiving holiday off and headed to Wimberley mid-morning. We spent the early afternoon prior to our check-in exploring the main square of Wimberley. Surprisingly the town is very dog-friendly and all but one of the stores let us bring him in; it was an antique store so makes sense. The entire town was extremely walkable and really consisted of 5-6 blocks of stores and restaurants.

After walking around the shops, we settled at one of the coffee shops in the area: Cypress Creek Coffee House. I ordered a lemonade (which came with a shortbread cookie) and Drew got a large cold brew. They had a nice patio with seating where we sat while waiting for our cabin name and code.

About 30 minutes before our check-in time, I got a text from Getaway saying we were staying in the Newt cabin and included a map of the camp layout, including where our cabin was. The Getaway campsites were only 15-minutes away from the town square so we didn’t have a long commute. Our cabin was tucked away in the back corner of the campsite.

Each cabin is distanced from each other by design to where you can’t see your neighbors. We had our own private parking spot, picnic table, chairs, and firepit. We were able to hear our neighbors at a distance but the campsites have “quiet hours” so noise really wasn’t an issue.

The campsite was the perfect size for the three of us to spread and relax. The cabins are air-conditioned so we turned that on and within a few minutes were at the perfect temperature. Luckily for us, it was the perfect “Texas Fall” weather so sitting outside was actually preferred. The cabin itself had everything we needed – a bed, a small table, kitchenette, and plumbing! I was surprised to see that it even came with food and water bowls, towels, and treats for Gordo! We really didn’t have much to unpack so we made ourselves comfortable around the fire.

Since we arrived pretty late in the afternoon, we decided to go on a quick nature walk around the campgrounds to do some exploring before the sunset. Each cabin comes with a code to lock-up, although the site seemed safe enough to keep your cabin unlocked if you were doing a quick lap around the campgrounds. This was Gordo’s first time on a long leash and he had a blast! It was fun watching him running around and absorbing and exploring the nature surrounding us. The “nature trail” was a quick loop around the campgrounds and only took us about 30 minutes.

Drew set-up the fire and we spent the rest of the evening reading and making s’mores around the fire. The Getaway team provided a s’mores kit for us, including vegan marshmallows so we used their kit for our first night. We set-up the lawn chair and blanket we brought from home for Gordo to lay in for a few hours before heading into the cabin for the night.

Day 2

We started our second day with, you guessed it, sleeping in! Our workdays start around 7:30-8 am on a typical day so we wanted to sleep in as much as possible during our Getaway stay. Unfortunately for us, Gordo’s bladder only lasted until 8:30 am but that was more sleep than we had gotten all pandemic. Drew let me stay in bed and took Gordo on a quick walk around the campgrounds.

For breakfast, I cooked scrambled eggs and mushrooms on the stove while Drew cooked bacon over the firepit using the aluminum foil that the cabin already had. We ate at our picnic table and enjoyed the nature around us.

The only plans we had for the day was to hike somewhere nearby. The cabin included a map of outdoor activities in the area, including the level of difficulty of the hikes and if they were dog friendly. We opted for a hike that was 15 minutes away: Cypress Creek Nature Trail and Preserve. Funny story: We thought this was going to be some major “hike” and dressed in full hiking attire (I’m talking hiking down to hiking socks). We quickly realized we were “hiking” on a flat, pre-paved, path that literally was in a neighborhood and just outside of Wimberley town square. We must have glazed over the “nature trail” part. The entire path only took us a few hours and wasn’t too tough on Gordo.

One good thing about being so close to the main square was the food options! By the end of our “hike”, we were ready for food and found a local pizza place: Community Pizza & Beer Garden. We ordered the avocado & goat cheese bruschetta and Italian Stallion pizza. The patio was dog friendly and had the perfect amount of shade for Gordo to relax while we finished our meal.

After our late lunch, we headed back to our cabin and spent the rest of the afternoon hammocking and reading. My sister lent me two books for the trip: The Guest List by Lucy Foley and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I devoured The Guest List that afternoon. There’s something about being surrounded by trees with a cool breeze and no technology or city-life around that really inspires me to read. I am usually glued to a computer screen for work, I rarely feel like I have the mental capacity to pick up a book for leisure. Besides spending quality time with Drew, being able to read without distraction was the best part of the trip.

For dinner, we cooked pasta with turkey meat and leftover mushrooms and bacon from breakfast. Drew started the fire and we enjoyed another peaceful picnic table meal. The nice thing about staying in a cabin is you pretty much have to do dishes immediately and can go to sleep knowing you don’t have any chores waiting for you in the morning.

We kept Gordo inside while we ate and he could not handle the separation – it was the cutest thing seeing his face through the cabin window. Luckily for him, we ate pretty quickly and he joined us around the fire for another evening of reading and s’mores.

Day 3

Day 3 began with light sprinkling so that made our decision to stay in the cabin all day to read all the easier. Once the rain subsided, Drew took Gordo out for a quick morning stroll while I started breakfast in the cabin. We were able to eat outside before spending the rest of the morning cozy in bed. Today’s read was The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid – flashforward, I stayed up until 1 am finishing this novel. I laughed, cried, and could not get enough. This was the only book that I wanted to immediately start re-reading after I finished.

This day consisted of hammocking, reading, napping, more hammocking, more reading, and more napping – truly the perfect combination. The cabins have a massive ceiling to bedside window that lets in so much light and really makes staying in bed EZ. The only variation from our typical schedule was a quick trip into town to visit Monster Treats after our hamburger dinner, which proudly served Amy’s Ice Cream. I was craving my usual Mexican Vanilla flavor with cookie dough while Drew got his chocolate ice cream.

We spent the rest of the evening by the fire as usual. This night was much cooler than the previous two nights so we kept the fire going a lot longer. We ended up having to use firewood provided by Getaway (and charged later) because we didn’t bring enough. It lasted an hour or so before we called it a night and headed in for the night.

Day 4

On our last day, we slept in until about 8:30 am. While our check-out wasn’t until 11 am, we packed up our things and headed into Wimberley for brunch before driving back to Houston. The check-out process was super easy: put away your trash, turn on the heat, lock-up your cabin and you’re good to go.

We went into town to get brunch at Wimberley Cafe. We arrived around 10:20 am and were seated by 10:45 am. While we waited, we visited The Old Mill Store to find our customary vacation ornament. The hostess texted us when our table was ready and we were seated immediately. We were there right as brunch was ending so we got the best of both worlds: I ordered biscuits and gravy and a waffle, Drew got huevos rancheros off the brunch menu, then we got mozzarella sticks to go off the lunch menu.

Before heading back to Houston, we stopped by my new favorite Cypress Creek Coffee House so I could get a large lemonade (and cookie) for the road.

Over all the trip was the perfect weekend away from the city where I could temporarily disconnect and recharge from the wild year. I would highly recommend everyone booking a glamping trip with Getaway, even if it’s just for one night.

Here is my referral code if you want to save $25. No pressure to use it; I just hope you get a chance to have your own experience to disconnect.

I already cannot wait for our next trip!

Happy glamping!

Vivian