Marble Falls, TX

This morning I headed up Hwy 281 towards Wichita Falls.  I stopped in Marble Falls which is located on Lake LBJ, actually part of a series of lakes.  We used to stop here regularly on our way from Wichita Falls to San Antonio.  There was a small RV park located on river flowing into the lake.  It wasn’t a fancy park; there were a number of mobile homes plus parking for RVs but it was really neat in that you could swim in the river and feel like you were out in the country or walk a couple of blocks and be downtown on Main Street.  The city purchased the land a number of years ago and cleared out all the mobile homes.  Every year or so when I would go through Marble Falls, I would stop to check to see if they had turned the old area into a city RV park.  They still haven’t done that even though the power boxes are there..  On the other side of the little river, there is a large city park so they don’t need the area for that.  

Marble Falls, are you listening?  You are missing a really good thing.  L ots of people pass through Marble Falls—note that—pass through not stop and visit and spend money in the little downtown area.  There is an RV park across the big bridge over the lake but you cannot just walk up town from there as the bridge is busy.  

The downtown area is mostly angle parking, not conductive to RVers but having been here before, I knew a place where I could easily park.  If you turn on 2d or 3^rd go a block to Main Street, then take Main back toward the lake, you will find a picnic area just above the park.  I checked with one of the parks people and they said it was fine to park there but you could not stay overnight.  When asked about the RV park, he said the city kept tossing the idea back and forth but hadn’t followed through on it.  Too bad.

I walked the two blocks back up Main Street.  There are some interesting little shops to visit there.  

They also have some interesting sculptures scattered here and there.  This baby carriage is about 10 feet tall.  Looks kind of like an old fashioned trailer body if the wheels were smaller.

 

The Blue Bonnet Cafe is famous at least here in Texas and has been around since 1929.  

They are famous for their home style food and their pie.  I dropped in for lunch and the daily special which was “smoked chicken”.  I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to get but it was a little like broasted chicken and was delicious.  It was a great meal with redskin mashed potatoes, buttered carrots, and a garden salad.  It also came with a corn muffin (with real corn in it) and a homemade roll.  No room for pie after that. No dinner needed either.

Marble Falls is a progressive town in other ways.  They built a pretty nice skateboard park.

Back on the road again.  You go through lots of small towns on 281 but it’s kind of nice.  There is also a lot of open country, a little desolate nearer Wichita Falls.  Lost my Verizon signal a couple of places which is fairly unusual but there is a lot of nothing as you head further north.  Just mesquite, cactus, cattle, and oil pumpers.