We woke up yesterday to an exciting text
from Nathan. Seems one of Freddy’s eyes
was full of some kind of gunk. He
cleaned it out and promised to watch her for us, even to the point of offering
to take her to his house. He did lament
about why this sort of doggie death and illness thing happens when we are out
of town. P.S. Freddy is fine. It’s a seasonal allergy thing.
Back to our Wildflower/Big Rock
Adventure. Only one thing remained for
Chris to see in this area, wildflower-wise.
The renowned Willow City Loop Wildflower Drive. It takes you through ten or twelve miles of
private property that has, well, wildflowers on it. Pretty famous place for bluebonnets, so I’m
told. They were right …
There were fields and fields of them. Yep, miles and miles of bluebonnets. Little patches of bluebonnets. Long strips of bluebonnets, lining the
roadway. Front lawns of
bluebonnets. Lakes of bluebonnets. Oceans of bluebonnets. And my personal favorite, waterfalls of
bluebonnets. There were other
wildflowers, too, but it was overwhelmingly a bluebonnet extravaganza. Chris was beside herself. Good thing I was driving. She had to get three pictures of
everything. I think our picture count
exploded to over a thousand (literally).
It was magical. So much so that at one point Chris mused, “Wow. I wonder if we will see any deer.” Not two seconds later, there were two
whitetails checking us out. How do I
know they were whitetails? Because one
of them flashed it at me after I took his picture. Oh, and we saw a couple of heifers. Had to wait for one of them – the old grandma
– to walk across the road in front of us.
And at one of our stops we heard the distinctive gobble of a wild
turkey. Never saw him, though.
Once I could tear Chris away (she wanted to turn around and do it again),
we turned in the direction away from where we had been and started a whole new
adventure. The sign said “Llano,” so off
to Llano we will go.
What’s in Llano? Well, they have a dam, so there is that. And when we pulled over in the public parking
area to decide where to go next, we saw that they had just had a nature art
festival on the banks of the river. The
remnants were amazing. A big sand castle
with a tiny little outhouse nearby. Huge
fingers rising from the ground like a monstrous hand was picking up the tree. And that tree was home to a huge nest with a
bird made from dead tree branches. We
also saw a creatively designed rendition of the word “LEAF.” And there were hundreds of those rocks stacked
on rocks things all over the place. We
learned later that this had been a rather famous thing - LEAF – Llano Earth Art
Festival. Quite the surprise find. Oh, and we did get sand in our shoes. Kind of felt like home.
Finally we decided to skirt Austin to the
north and head in the general direction of home. That took us past some pretty territory where
the Colorado River had been dammed up to form Inks Lake. And around the lake were several unique
developments, not the least unique of which was Reverend Jim’s Dam Pub. We didn’t stop.
We stopped for lunch in Georgetown. Big mall.
We tried to go to Five Guys, but no one was home. Rather eerie, actually. It was well past their posted opening
time. The lights were all on. I could even see French fries in the baskets
hovering over the grease, ready to drop.
But the doors were locked. Not a
soul in sight. So we went to McAlister’s
Deli. Let’s just say … we have eaten at
better McAlister’s Delis. But the sweet
tea was still good.
We passed a high school. The Taylor Ducks. Called to mind my favorite high school team
of the week from back in Fredericksburg.
The Battlin’ Billies. It’s short
for billy goats. My heart continues to
be stricken with fear at the thought of the poor Taylor Ducks facing the
Battlin’ Billies.
We made a quick stop at the DQ in Giddings for
a bathroom break and a butterfinger blizzard.
But they lost my order. Somehow. The manager finally realized I had been
standing around for … too long. She made
it herself.
There was one final stop in our wildflower search
and photograph tour. Washington on the
Brazos. I know. We’ve been there before. But somebody somewhere wrote on the internet
that this was a good wildflower site.
And Chris saw ALL of those writings.
Well, they had three small patches of bluebonnets with some Indian
blankets behind them. There were even
some worn down paths so you could crawl in there and take your picture. It was … after Willow City … quaint.
We made it home last night in time to watch
the Astros lose again. Kudos to the
Rangers, especially to that new guy they had standing behind the catcher. Real team player, that one …
Amos 5:24 says, “Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing
stream!”
Father, thank you for yet another glimpse
into your incredible world. Amen.
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