A Great Start to the Summer

Even though it's not officially summer yet, our summer starts when the grandkids get to spend 6 weeks with their Dad. We drove up to Marble Falls to pick them up and, on our way back to San Antonio, we stopped in Blanco Texas for the Lavender Festival.

Blanco is located in Blanco County, Texas on Hwy 281. It's a small town with a population of 1739. Founded way back in the mid 1800's, it was once listed by the New York Times as the worst place to live citing the "crime wave of 1868". Today it is a nice safe little town populated with ranchers and farmers with lots of visitors drawn to the Texas hill country. There are rolling hills of rocky limestone and rivers through the area. The limestone creates a slightly alkaline PH in the soil which makes it a natural agricultural joy. Lavender loves rocky, dry, slightly alkaline soil as so many other plants. Rob Kendrick, a national geographic photographer who lives in the area was shooting a story in Provence, France when he notices that the landscape was similar to his home in the Texas Hill Country. He and his wife Jeannie planted 2000 lavender plants upon their return home. Other lavender farms followed and the first ever lavender festival was held. This year is the 10th Lavender Festival.

There are all kinds of booths located around the county courthouse. The festival is so popular that they have a bus to transport visitors from a distant parking lot because the parking around the courthouse isn't nearly sufficient.

Interesting booth where they make huge crepes that have either sandwich or dessert type fixings in them.

There are lots of items for sale utilizing lavender like soap, essenses, and seeds. And then there are other crafts as well.

You could even find all kinds of cowhides.

Maybe you would like to try some lavender wine or cookies or ice cream?

Just off the squar, a zodeco band was playing cajun music and people were dancing in the shade.

It made for a very interesting break in the drive home. You can also visit the lavender farms in the area so we'll be back to try that another day.

Blanco, Tx

Nancy and I were up for an outing today.  We planned to go to Wimberly but our first stop was going to be Blanco, Texas.  I have been through this town so many times on Hwy 281 but almost never stopped.  There is a state park here right off the highway too.  So we decided to check it out first.  This is entrance.  There are lots of picnic tables and nice areas on this side of the river for day visitors.  A road runs both ways along the river on the entrance side.

You have to cross the river using the low water crossing road in order to get to the camping area.  Once across you go up a small hill to the campground.

It's not a large campground, only about 25 or 30 spots.  There is one circle with full hookups including sewer.  The other circle has electric and water.  There are nice restrooms, a small playground, and lots of shade trees.  You can see several of the camping sites below.  It is a lovely place.  Swimming is in the Blanco River.  When you pass the park in the summer, you can see everyone having fun in the swimming area but you cannot see the campground.  There are plenty of places to walk and enjoy nature in this little jewel.

This shelter was built during the old CCC area and is really nice.  There is a nice fireplace in one end of it.  They also have screened shelters for rent with a concrete table in one end with lots of room to set up your own cots.

Another thing that is unique about this park is that you feel like you are out in the country but you can actually walk into town without much effort as it is only a couple of blocks to the town square.  Here you will find a couple of restaurants, antique shops, pottery, etc.  There is also a very friendly visitor's center just waiting to provide you with all kinds of info about the area.

As is common in many small Texas towns, the courthouse is at the center of it all.

Did I mention that Blanco is the Lavender capitol of Texas?  There are several lavender farms in the area and a big festival in the summer.  There are also wineries in the area.

Next we headed off to Wimberly--but that's another blog.  On the way, we stopped at this farmer's market.  While you can't see anything outside, there are things inside.  Since it is during the week, everything is "on the honor system".  You pick what you want and leave the money there.  As it is the end of October and nearly lunch time, fruits and vegetables are not in big supply.  But there were huge bouquets of beautiful fall flowers for really reasonable prices.  There were eggs and cheeses as well.  Very interesting.  Off in the distance behind the building we could see greenhouses and planted fields.

Stay tuned for a visit to Wimberly, TX.  And stop by and take a look at Blanco the next time you are in the area.  You won't regret it.