The last leg of our "Search for Bluebonnets" trip was based at Yegua Creek Park on Lake Somerville.
It was a great park with lots of trees for shade and dozens of deer that came through daily. Although we saw many displays of wildflowers, we quickly realized that the grass had grown up taller than the flowers in most areas. We weren't really disappointed since we had already seen more bluebonnets than we ever imagined, and there were lots of sights still to see.
On our first day of exploring we stopped at the first location of Baylor University in Independence, Texas. This site was abandoned when the women moved to Belton and established Mary Hardin-Baylor and the men merged with Waco University to become Baylor University in Waco. We then visited Washington on the Brazos State Park and learned much about the birth of our great state.
The Bluebonnet Festival in Chappell Hill was something we had put on our list of things to do before we even left on the trip. The day finally arrived. Although it was overcast and rainy, we were excited. Larry was looking for the "largest bluebonnet on record" while Beverly and I just wanted kettle corn. We had lots of fun checking out the whirligigs and every kind of yard art you could imagine, most of which would be of no use to someone living in a motorhome. Although Larry saw many sizes of bluebonnets, not sure he found "the largest" but Beverly and I did get our kettle corn.
The tour of the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory (Brenham Creamery) was another definite we had on our list of things to do. There we learned how the milk comes into the factory, is turned into ice cream, has flavorings, fruits and such added, then packaged. The highlight of this tour was the ice cream we had at the end of the tour. Yum. Yum. Larry got a t-shirt while there that says "I get cranky without my Blue Bell". Little did we know at the time how true that would be.
Another day, another chance to explore. This day we headed to La Grange where we saw some of the most beautiful older homes I have ever seen with lovely wrap-around porches and wonderful woodwork. It also had two of the oddest things I have seen. The first was a tree in the road.
I mean a tree IN the ROAD.
As we turned the corner, this tree was in front of us, in our lane. No explanation. The second thing was a railroad track splitting two lanes of a street. (You'll have to trust me because I have no picture.) Larry was trying to get back around to something we had seen when he turned onto this barely one-lane street. I quickly realized that we were right next to the tracks and that the other lane of this street was on the other side of the tracks. If a train had come, I'm sure we could have reached out and touched it. We were definitely glad to move on.
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Burton Cotton Gin
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It's Saturday and time to explore. We tried some local BBQ (yummy) and happened upon Burton, Texas and the Cotton Gin Festival. We never expected to see antique tractors in a tractor pull or to tour a cotton gin. Although we didn't get to see this, the gin still bales one bale of cotton each year for the festival. It was very interesting to see and hear what it took to bale cotton back in the day. This was especially interesting to me since my Great Grandaddy owned a gin in Henderson before I was born. He passed away when I was very young so I don't remember anything about the process.
One of the most enjoyable places we visited was the George H W Bush library at Texas A&M. What a wonderful tribute to a wonderful man. It was so interesting to follow his life from birth, through marriage, his military service, his many political positions including President.
Behind the library was the Barbara Bush rose garden. It was a beautiful, peaceful place. There were several people, walking, sitting peacefully on a bench, sitting on the grass studying, laying in a hammock or sleeping on the grass, all taking advantage of this wonderful garden area.
Behind the garden, down a quiet, winding path, is the Bush burial plot where their daughter Robin is already buried.
On our last afternoon at Lake Somerville, we were sitting out enjoying the scenery when it began to sprinkle rain.
As we were putting away our chairs, Larry came over holding a rather large hail stone, oddly shaped and dimpled like a golf ball. This is a picture of it in Beverly's hand after several of us had held it. OMG. I'm glad we only saw a couple of these and that they didn't hit anybody or anything.
This has been a great adventure. Can't wait until the next one.
