March 27, 2019
It was 54 degrees when we left Spring this morning about 7:45Am. We are planning to check out wildflowers and rocks on this trip. Wildflowers mostly in Texas and rocks mostly in New Mexico, plus a few sights we haven’t seen in New Mexico.
Our first stop is only about an hour from home – Brenham, Texas. A nice town and pretty countryside famous for bluebonnets and Blue Bell Ice Cream. We start seeing some flowers along 290 before reaching town. Several pretty fields of yellow as well as a scattering of pinks, purples, whites and red/orange paintbrushes.
Judging from the flowers along 290, we are a tad early, as most of the bluebonnets are just beginning to fill in. We head up Old Independence Road and pause at this field of yellow
Pretty country church.
At Old Baylor, the ruins of the original Baylor College, there is quite a mix of colors with many bluebonnets.
We travel a few other roads in the area, most of which are showing varying degrees of color, and then decide to continue west. Pretty flowers along the rolling road to Bastrop
and here and there through Austin, Dripping Springs, into the Hill Country.
First stop, Wild Seed Farms. Beautiful field of bluebonnets with Indian Paint Brushes. Humming birds too.
The red poppies are just beginning to bloom (they are spectacular when the entire field is ablaze!)
Here, as we have seen all along the roads, are young vineyards too. In just the few years since we were last here, vineyards have sprouted everywhere, along with wine tasting rooms.
We continue on through Johnson City where again we are a tad early. The German- flavored town of Fredericksburg is awash in tourists, so we head north on I16 towards Llano. Here, finally, the flowers are profuse! Such pretty scenes among the cactus and rocky terrain! Here the flowers flow back into the countryside rather than just being roadside eye candy!
We are going to camp tonight at Inks Lake State Park, so we turn right onto Hwy 29. Very pretty along this road as well! And Park Road 4 into the park is gorgeous.
The ranger at the park tells us that there was a fire over much of the park last July, and that, combined with the rains that followed, has made for a profusion of flowers this Spring. We set up our camp and hike a bit. It is nice to see a variety of flowers in a natural setting.
The Park is busy, with only a few vacancies so we get a site with electric.
The sun takes its time to sink over the lake. Inks Lake is one of a chain of man-made lakes created from the Colorado River which runs northwest of Austin. Quite a few birds arrive to roost in the surrounding trees as night falls. The serenade of doves brings the day to a close.
March 28
58 degrees this morning and rather overcast as we have breakfast, then visit the ranger station to see if we can extend for another night. Unfortunately, the campsite we are in is reserved for tomorrow, but they have an opening on another campsite that is nicely located lake-side!
Today we will head south to the Willow City Loop, a 13 mile scenic country drive noted for its wildflowers. Along the way, we pass a scenic overlook at Longhorn Caverns State Park – notice the blooming yuccas!
The Willow City Loop has gained popularity over the past few years, and there are a few more fences and a few more “no trespassing” signs than when we were here before. But the flowers are everywhere! Here are a few of our favourites:
The loop ends at I16, so we head into Llano again, stopping at Inman’s BBQ Kitchen.
Greg tries their turkey sausage specialty which is served with Monterey jack cheese and bbq sauce. Tasty! Beth has their brisket, which is sooo different from Houston bbq . The meat is more firm and tastes a little like a pot roast. And their bbq sauce is quite different too. (Sorry Inman’s, I much prefer Houston.)
We take a little detour towards a town called Kingsland, because someone we talked to yesterday mentioned it as a good spot. We were looking for an abandoned railroad tressel, but asking a few locals brought no result. We did find this pretty setting around the Antler Inn and enjoyed the very rural, rolling hills, cedar trees and oaks with occasional cacti and flowers.
We wound back to Inks Lake and our new campsite, #85.
Flowers have a way of showing up, sometimes in unusual places.
Many of the rolling hills we’ve been through have flood gauges at their lowest spots and signs warning of possible water on the roads. We only saw water one place, but when there is a “gully washer", lots of these low spots flash flood.
We stopped at Inks Dam Fish Hatchery, which is just before the State Park; a warm water fishery which releases about a million fish a year into the lakes, ponds and streams of Texas, mainly for sport fishing.
Back at Inks Lake, we decide to re-visit the Pecan Grove Trail which we had to cut short yesterday. There are some signs of the recent fire including occasional piles of cleared undergrowth and debris. Lots of flowers flourishing amongst the remaining trees and the huge areas of granite. Many tiny cacti making a comeback.
Before going back to our campsite we visit another trail to the “Devil’s Waterhole”, an area of rocky cliffs and deep pools. Signs warn that jumping from the cliffs can be dangerous, but it seems to be a popular swimming area. The temperature has reached 82 today and we pass quite a few folks in swimwear on the trail. The rocks here are gneiss and up to a billion years old!
The restrooms at this park are very clean and we enjoy nice long, hot showers. We visit with a neighbor who is a single woman from Austin with a tiny towable camper – I mean it is about 8 feet long and you could sit up in it, but not stand. It is basically a bed in a box! Definitely not for the claustrophobic!
Another quiet night with just a few geese and the doves providing background.
(Greg spotted these babies earlier today.)
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