Hunting Bluebonnets and the Alamo!

                                                           

Friday, April 17^th -  We were on the hunt for the famous Texas Bluebonnets!  We’d researched a bit online and there is a Facebook page called Sightings Texas Bluebonnets, but there were various places mentioned so we just set out driving.  We have found that to get anywhere in Texas is to drive for hours!  This state is just huge beyond imagination.  It should really be its own country!  We left about 11:30 and ate at Lees’s Landing here in Rockdale.  Lee is the owner and came over and introduced himself (do you think he knew we were strangers?).  But talk about friendly people!  He soon invited us over to his home to see his new building project!  He’s adding on a silo to his house!!  He showed us the plans there at the restaurant and said to come on over if we had time.  Then we struck up conversations with people sitting all around us (we were outside on the patio) and they were all telling us the best places to find the Bluebonnets, etc. so we headed out first to find Lee and see his project.  Very interesting, I’d sure love to see it when it’s finished!  Then we headed out to Davilla where we were told we’d find Bluebonnets.  They were indeed all over, patches here and there all along the highways, but not the fields of them we’d seen photos of.   Most of these were mixed with other beautiful wildflowers, so were not the consistent "fields of blue" we were looking for. We stopped and took some photos, though, as it was still beautiful.  

Then I saw something about Muleshoe Bend, and so we headed over there.  Talk about frustrated, we could SEE the fields of them in the distance, but we were on the wrong side of the river!  And we didn’t have time to go back around to the other side, as we had to go to Belton.

We proceeded on to Belton where our friends, Mark and Lorna Sibley live.  What a joy to reconnect with them and see their beautiful home.  So happy to see them settled, Mark loving his work and pastoring a church too, which keeps him busy.  Lorna loving her work too, and they are fit, happy and healthy. 

We would have loved to see Aaron and Rachel but happy to know they’re both doing so well.  Lorna had prepared a fabulous dinner for us.  Appetizers out on the patio, then salad, pecan crusted tilapia, linguine with cream sauce, asparagus and later we enjoyed devil’s food cake, still warm from the oven with cream cheese icing.   They had a race the next morning, so they were going to run off the calories.  Us, well…no race so we’ll have to do lots more walking.  We were about an hour and a half from Rockdale, so we left shortly after 10:00 to drive back home to our RV.  

Saturday, we declared an official “P.J. Day!”  It was delightful – a bit rainy and cool, so we just stayed in our PJ’s all day and read our books and relaxed.  I made us a late breakfast and then we enjoyed a delicious dinner of roasted chicken, asparagus, broccoli and cauliflower.  We watched a few more episodes of E.R. but mostly read our books and just chilled for a whole day.

Sunday – April 19^th -  We enjoyed watching the live streaming of the service at Lake Haven, with guest speaker, Kim Klaudt.  He’s a blues guitarist as well, so ended the service with some good blues music.  After that we got dressed and headed out to San Antonio to the RiverWalk.  Cost us $15 to park!  The RiverWalk is just beautiful!!  Here are some photos – what a feat of engineering to plan the shopping and restaurants and hotels all on either side of the river!  Exquisite details. 

Can you believe the size of this tree trunk!

We ate a late lunch at Rita’s on the River, and after strolling all over, we walked on over to see The Alamo.  It was much smaller than I had pictured in my mind all these years, but just as impressive as I’d hoped.  A shrine to all those who fell during that fateful time in history. We were not allowed to take photos inside at all, but seeing this shrine was unforgettable.  I wonder what our schools are teaching about this today?

 The grounds around the Alamo are just beautiful and peaceful.

This is the hotel adjacent to the Alamo whose grounds join - 

After leaving the River Walk, we then drove through Austin, the capital of Texas, and set out for the 2 hour drive to Muleshoe Bend.  We cannot get used to the 80 MPH speed limits, but surprised there is any speed limit (almost) when everything is so far from everything else!  Gracious, I saw something that was being advertised and it said, “less than a gas tank away”….  And that’s the truth!  We’ve averaged filling up our car almost every day that we’ve gone anywhere!  This was definitely a good place to find a hub and then take day trips – can you imagine what it would have cost had we done all this in the RV!  

After a beautiful drive, we arrived at Muleshoe Bend Recreation Area, the “other side of the mountain” where we were the other day, and finally got to see in person the fields of Bluebonnets!  This is something you just have to see to believe!  Acres and acres of bluebonnets as far as you can see with the river beyond.  Just a feast for the eyes and the subtle fragrance is lovely. We feel thankful we happened to be in Texas while they’re in bloom.  Definitely worth the drive to get here!

Monday, we declared another down day.   All the miles we covered and the constant driving was somewhat tiring, and it felt so good not to do ANYthing….. we slept in, and woke up to a chilly 55 degrees.   I made us a delicious breakfast, we read, I caught up on my blog, emails and Facebook, we read some more, then I cut Earl’s hair, and we took a long walk, then back to reading again.  We had the pleasure of getting text updates throughout the morning on Kellie Eaves, my nephew, Mark Rainwater's girlfriend.  Kellie was running the Boston Marathon today and rocked it!  Under cold temperatures AND rain - miserable conditions, she finished in 3:44:54.  Mark said she was shivering and had blue lips but she hurried to get in a hot shower and then I know they'll be celebrating tonight!  That created a bit of excitement in our otherwise uneventful, delightful day.  Sigh…..what a life.   When we meet people and tell them what we’re doing, they are all so happy for us, so envious, saying it’s something they’ve always dreamed of doing.  So if this is a dream of yours, MAKE IT HAPPEN!!  Life is too short to let routine consume your life and delay your dreams.  Just do it!

Tomorrow we are off to Benham, TX to tour the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory.  Mark and Lorna had said not to miss this, so we’re following their advice.  So.... more fun updates to come.  Wednesday we hit the road again and will spend a few days in Houston.