Ah! Glorious Spring Brings Bluebonnets

Monday morning dawned with an overcast sky but I set out for Canyon Lake to meet up with three other RVing ladies. Birdie is a fulltimer and Lyn is from San Diego. 80 years doesn't slow her down...she was passing through our area on her way back to San Diego after another GTG in Florida. Sage took the photo....both she and I are both anytimers. Lyn switched from a truck camper to this cute little trailer last year.....her large dog is older and needs a ramp to get in/out of the truck and camper so now they can continue with their RV travels.

Lyn picked a perfect time to visit Texas. We headed out towards Fredricksburg to show her the Texas Bluebonnets. The sun was out by the time we reached the Wildseed Farm outside of Fredricksburg.

We stopped to make sure Lyn got her fill of bluebonnets.

Bluebonnets are definitely a theme right now.

But the poppies are also in bloom here.

Then we headed further on to the Willow City Loop to see the bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush in their natural habitat. This is actually a ranch road but the ranchers are gracious in letting the public travel through here. You are not supposed to go out in the fields.....the land is private and the cattle are not all behind fences. It is a narrow road and traffic is horrendous on a weekend during the bluebonnet season. We saw one couple coming through in a small class C which isn't wise as narrow as the road is but as we were coming out on the other end....a real fool was coming into the area pulling a 5th wheel. One rancher has old cowboy boots on each of his roadside fence posts.

Old farm equipment is pretty scenic too.

Even without the wildflowers, the views are pretty scenic here.

The bluebonnets fit right in with the cacti and primroses.

They are also at home with the Indian Paintbrushes.

Ranches are nestled down in the valleys.

As you can just see on the far right, you go across numerous cattle guards as you go from one ranch to another.

This year there is even abundant water in the streams.

As you can see, this is a narrow road. I managed to catch this with only one car showing.

It's especially narrow where the water crosses.

 

This is such a beautiful drive but weekends are a zoo. I feel for the people who live along here trying to get in or out on the weekend but they are gracious for the few weeks that everything is in bloom.

Bluebonnets in bloom can bring a smile to anyone's face. It takes at least an hour to drive the loop because you will be going real slow to take it all in. I hope there are several more wildflower trips for me over the next couple weeks.

Lunch with the Pinkies

My friend Diana from the Pink FlaminGoes and WomenRV forum was here in Texas for a short time so she put out a call to meet for lunch. We decided to all meet up in front of Gruene Hall in Gruene TX. This is one of the oldest and most popular dance halls in Texas. They have pictures of tons of artists that have performed there.

This is the side of the dance hall . It was warm so the window covers are all open.

 

There are beautiful flowers in huge pots all year round. 

This building houses a large antique shop and a restaurant called Mozie's. Part of it used to be a bank.

I missed getting any pictures of the lunch we had on the outside balcony overlooking the Guadelupe River at the Gruene River Grill. The food was good but next time I think I would just order the blackberry cobbler and coffee. That was Vicki ordered minus the coffee and she shared with all of us. It was huge and absolutely delicious with a scoop of ice cream.

After lunch we walked over to another shop. Last time we were here, Diana bought her sister an armadillo yard ornament. (l to r: Margareta, Diana, me, Mary Jane, and Vicki).

Vicki mad just a few purchases for her cabin.

Cute car.

A very unique pink flamingo which will grace the outside porch or a tree at Vicki's new cabin. The wings are on springs and will flap when the wind is strong enough.

One last photo before we all have to go separate ways until next time.

A lovely bed and breakfast.

Spring Break Almost Broke

This was the Spring Break that had us going to Plan B every time we turned around. We picked up the kids on Friday thinking that we had a huge surprise for them. My DIL has been working a temporary assignment in Washington D.C. and she and Steve bought plane tickets to take the kids up there as a big surprise. The plane ride plus all the sights they planned to see were a pretty big deal. They were supposed to fly out on Tuesday and we weren't going to tell the kids until I dropped the kids and Steve off at the airport. Saturday they wanted to go to Bussey's big flea market. Sunday we all went to the book store because it was rainy. Sunday, the bottom dropped out and all the flights were cancelled for Tuesday because of the big snow storm scheduled to hit the east coast on Monday night. It hit! Hmmmm. Helen tried to get the tickets rescheduled for Wednesday but all the people that got notified first had already grabbed them. It just wasn't worth it to wait until Thursday to go. Sooooo, we started to think of what else we could do. I tried all the state parks around here to try and get a camping spot but that was a no go. Everything had been booked for ages. So we just tried to find things to do each day.

Steve told the kids what happened and I think he was even more disappointed than the kids although they would have loved to fly and see everything. Of course, Helen has been up there working since the 1st of February so that was another side issue for Steve.

Anyway, Tuesday we headed over to Six Flags to get some use out of our season passes. It took us quite a while to get there as traffic was at a crawl due to an accident. Once we finally got there, the parking lot was fuller than we have ever seen it.....all the way out to the road. We drove closer to the actual entrance and there was a line of people over a block long just waiting to get into the park. Scratch that idea. The kids were fine with that as they could see the line too. We ended up spending the afternoon up at Gruene which the kids also enjoyed. Wednesday is a blur right now but I know we did something.

Thursday we headed back to Six Flags early so we would be there when they opened at 10:30AM. We got in without much of a delay at all. Steve and Cameron headed off to the big rides like the Iron Rattler while Morgan and I headed further back into the park. We were really looking forward to riding the train.  It was shut down.....hmmmm.....that happened the last time we were here to so we went on further back. Morgan drove the bumper cars.

Cameron and Steve caught up to us there. The lines for the big rides were huge and not moving fast at all. Since the huge crowds hadn't arrived yet, that was kind of hard to understand. Steve rode on the planes with Morgan.

We all hit the Merry-go-round several times. Morgan was in her element and Cameron was being a good sport.

Cameron opted out of the swings saying they make him sick and I knew they were not for me.

They all rode the Ferris Wheel but I couldn't manage to catch a shot of that.

Friday rolled around and we headed up to Enchanted Rock. We went through Fredericksburg and on a couple of miles further. Then we saw a big sign with flashing lights. Flashing lights with a notification that Enchanted Rock was closed. At least we didn't have to drive the next 14 miles to get there and another 14 miles to get back to Fredericksburg. The park gets closed when the parking lot is full and it isn't all that big. It was only 10:00 AM but Spring break you know. We were disappointed that we didn't get there even earlier but I read after that the park was closed by 8:30AM every day of Spring Break. Anyway, we spent the rest of the day back in Fredericksburg. The kids enjoyed that a lot and I love going to Fredericksburg. We had lunch at a restaurant with outside seating since Angus was with us. He was so good even thought there were tons of people and lots of dogs. Of course, he's never met a dog he doesn't like.

Saturday. the kids wanted to go to the Farmers Market at New Braunfels. They have booths with vegetables but lots of other booths too. Cameron and Steve had tamales. Morgan had some homemade yogurt that you drink from a booth she really likes. I had a fresh croissant and coffee.

Lots of people bring their dogs so of course Angus was with us. They have a band playing music, booths with crafts, food, vegetables, etc., so it is a great family event.

About the time we were ready to leave, I remembered it was the third weekend of the month which meant it was Market Days in Gruene so we headed on out there and checked out all the activity there too.

 

Steve and Helen put so much planning into making this a really special Spring Break but Mother Nature intervened. I guess it was just as well they couldn't get the tickets rebooked because the high was about 40 degrees out there all week and neither Steve or the kids have clothes for that kind of weather. We scrambled for fun stuff to do all week and even then we had to go the Plan B several times. It all worked out okay in spite of everything and the kids both said they had a fun week. I know I really enjoyed the extra time with them.