Beauty and serenity rule
in the Texas hills
by Jennifer Roolf Laster
photography by Vernon Wentz
John and Cynthia Klauss love their life on an exotic game ranch in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. They love the people. They love the weather. They love the views. They do not love having a calf in the bedroom.
Fortunately, it only happened that one time.
The Klausses had been bottle-feeding a young Watusi calf — named, we should tell you, Lucy the Watusi — and she became very attached to the couple. So attached, in fact, she followed Cynthia just about everywhere—including into their first home. “I said, ‘We just can’t have a Watusi in the bedroom!’” Klauss remembers.
Shortly after, Lucy began to spend less time with her human caretakers and more time — whether she wanted to or not — with other Watusis. The Klausses, meanwhile, went on to build their dream home, including a Watusi-free bedroom, at the Just Enough Ranch near Pipe Creek.
We offer this anecdote with two motives: One, it’s a pretty funny story. But, two, it really does demonstrate what life can be like in the Texas Hill Country, where urban and rural cohabit in a pastoral, picturesque setting that’s practically a travel guide for the state.
Long valued for its rolling hills and gentle seasons, the Texas Hill Country is attracting more and more homeowners from across the country. Folks are looking for the beautiful vistas, the neighborly environment and the feeling of space that these communities northwest of San Antonio provide.
The Hill Country is a region deep in the heart of Texas that encompasses 14,000 square miles and 51 cities and rural outlying areas — places from Boerne to Burnet, Concan to Comfort, Hondo to Horseshoe Bay. As far south as Uvalde and as far north as Lago Vista, folks are calling the Hill Country home, and it’s no secret why fall is the best time to visit: It just doesn’t get any prettier than when autumn hits Lost Maples State Natural Area and trees are swept with a paintbrush of colossal color. Bigtooth Maples act like big show-offs for the thousands of Sunday drivers who come to see the explosion of color in the fall foliage as soon as the first good cold snap tickles the trees that dot the landscape not far from the Frio River.
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