3-19-2023 Texas Wild Flowers

 Spring break is over and I had to take my granddaughter back to Marble Falls to meet her mother. As long as I was already out on the road I decided to take advantage of my travels and expand them to take in the wildflower bloom. since I was already up in Marble Falls, the "Bluebonnet house" was first on the list. It's famous among professional photographers so I decided to take a shot myself.

Next, I headed across country to the Willow City loop where I have gotten good results some years. It's north of Fredricksburg Texas and goes through private ranch land.  Ride along and enjoy.

This emu was putting on quite a show.

The next few photos were taken at the Wildflower Farm in Fredricksburg.

And the final photos were taken in a field next to the gas station just south of Blanco.

I hope you enjoyed the show and get a chance to see it in person. The wildflowers are blooming!

2021-10-20 A Look at Blanco TX

 I had a post about Blanco in September but it was really mostly about the Blanco State Park. It's a nice small park but one of the big draws is it's close proximity to Blanco. You can walk to the downtown area.

As with most Texas towns, the town square is anchored by the courthouse. You might want to check to see if they still have the free Hill Country Passport boooks which work just like a National Park Passport books.

One side of the square is anchored by Cranberries Antiques.

City Hall is on another side of the square.

And right next store is the City Council Chambers.

There are several other stores along this side as well. Lots of Fall and Halloween decorations.

This store has lots of outside decor items for sale but the inside items are more along the lines of clothes and jewelry.

Across the street is the Old 300 BBQ place.

It's very popular. The food was good but not inexpensive. I missed a picture of the Redbud Cafe which is the anchor on another side of the courthouse. It has great sandwiches and also has music on the weekends. There is a forth side of the square but I didn't get a photo there. I know it would be well worth another look. I think there is another restaurant and possibly a textile store there. It is always nicely decorated but there is no parking right in front.

There is also a hat shop.

Give Blanco a look the next time you head up Hwy 281 from San Antonio.

2021-09-29 Blanco and Blanco State Park TX

After I left the rally at Rockport, I headed northwest to Blanco State Park. As long as I was already out in the RV, I wanted to take advantage of it. I've driven past Blanco for years and even drove through it back when I had the 5th wheel. At the time, the branches over the road and the sites were a little too low to chance it with the 5th wheel. The park is small and very popular so hard to get reservations. I was able to get three nights in the middle of the week.

This park has been around a long time. It was established in 1933. The work done by the CCC in the main pavilion, stone dams, bridges, and picnic tables along the river is beautiful.

This is the dam. You can swim above the dam. Lots of people visit during the day to do just that. There is a day use area all along the river after you enter the park. To get to the camping area you have to cross a road that sits inches above the water. In case of the river flooding, everyone camping would either have to stay as the campground is higher than the river but I think they also have at least one emergency exit road.

The campground is in the area south of the river.

It's a beautiful area with lots of trees and shade.....and you can easily walk into town. It's only about 6 blocks from the entrance.

The river does flood on occasion. The last big flood created quite a bit of havoc in 2015.

The park has two camping circles. The smaller one has about 8 full hookup 50 amp sites. The other circle is larger. The sites on the outside of the circle have 30 amp water and electric. The sites on the inner side of the circle are 30 amp full hookup sites. All have covered wood picnic tables like you can see in this photo. The sites on the outside of the loop also have tent pads.

The camping area also has shelters with wood louvers on three sides to block the wind. They are fully screened and have a picnic table inside as well as outside. They also have electric.

Harley and I took a walk all along the river.  There are picnic tables on both sides. There is one really long one built of stone by the CCC which I didn't get a picture to put here. It is as long as 4 picnic tables end to end.

The scenery is beautiful with lots of open space.

This was my site on the outside of the 30 amp loop. No one on my door side.

And no one on my back side.

 

It was a nice big site.

I also took a drive up to Pedernales Falls State Park which is east of Johnson City. If you love hiking, this is a good park for you. It has lots of trails. Some sites have shade, some are sunny. It's a drive and a long walk down a hill to the water so it isn't my favorite park. During the week, there were a number of open sites.

Speaking of open sites, most of us Texas campers were thrilled with a new Texas parks rule which says that if you do not show up or call by noon the day after your reservation starts, your reservation is cancelled and the site is put back out for reserving. Since we have to pay in advance, you lose your money but the state makes money by renting again and, the best part, someone else gets the chance to go camping. It's a great solution especially since it appears that a lot of the new campers reserve spots at several parks and then just go to one without bothering to cancel the other. After seeing empty sites at Blanco that were marked reserved but never used and never appeared back on the website, it appears that a great new rule is not being enforced by park staff. I even asked a ranger at Pedernales Falls State Park about it and he said they didn't usually bother. Both the state parks system and campers are losing out here by inaction on local park staff.