Chris LeBlanc looks over casks of wine at Sister Creek Vineyards in Sisterdale, Texas8. Pam LeBlanc photo

If you’re looking for an alternative to the busloads of partiers who flock to the wineries around Fredericksburg, detour over to Sister Creek Vineyards in tiny Sisterdale, Texas.

You’ll find some great wine, without the crowds.

Read more: Record your travels in this new national parks journal

I stopped at the winery, which opened in 1988, on my way to Comfort earlier this week. It’s housed in a restored 1885 cotton gin, worthy of a stop on its own. Inside its rustic doors you’ll find roughhewn timbers, stairs that lead to a secret hatch door, lots of wine and a friendly proprietress named Leticia who will pour you samples.

Sister Creek Vineyards is housed in a restored cotton gin. Pam LeBlanc photo

I visited on a Tuesday, when Leticia was pouring three reds – Cotton Gin Red, a four-blend Reserve and the Vintner’s Collection cabernet sauvignon. My palette is far from sophisticated, and while I liked the $42.95 cab the best (full bodied and bold!), the $28.95 Cotton Gin Red came in a close second. I wasn’t a fan of the Reserve, which costs $35.95. A chardonnay and muscat were also available.

Visitors can pick up a laminated information card and take a self-guided tour through the facility, which is located between two cypress-lined (and now mostly dry) creeks midway between Comfort and Kendalia.

Wines are aged in 60-gallon oak barrels for up to three years. We wandered among them, then found our way back to the tasting room, where we chatted with Leticia, whose husband has been the head winemaker here since it opened.

Bottles of award-wining wine line the shelf at Sister Creek Vineyards. Pam LeBlanc photo

Sister Creek Vineyards, 1142 Sisterdale Highway, is open for tasting from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. For more information go to https://www.sistercreekvineyards.com.

The journal has plenty of room to record all your park visits. Pam LeBlanc photo

​I’ve checked off visits to 28 national parks so far, and with any luck I’ll eventually make it to all 63 destinations in my new national parks journal.

I love national parks and I love keeping track of the places I’ve seen, so “National Parks Bucket List: The Ultimate Adventure Journal for all 63 Parks,” by Linda Mohammad ($19.99, Epic Ink), gets top scores from me.

Read more: Wonder what Pam LeBlanc packs for a night on the trail?

With a forest green faux-leather cover, the fill-it-in-yourself book looks retro on the outside. Inside you’ll find illustrations reminiscent of old-school park posters, plus space to record every camping trip, hiking route and memory from Arches to Zion.

The author’s favorite national park? Arizona’s Petrified Forest. My favorite – so far? Montana’s Glacier National Park.

The 176-page soft-cover book fits inside a hiking pack. Besides room for your own impressions, it includes maps, trivia (more people – 12.94 million – visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park than any other in 2022), and information about each park’s terrain, geography, cultural history, and wildlife.

It’s divided into geographic sections, with checklists and places to list the dates of your visit, the weather, trails you explored, and plants and animals you saw. Your final task? Rating it on a scale of one to five stars.