For the past three Aprils Ali and I have taken a drive north/west to a small Texas town with the goal of taking some photos of bluebonnets.
The bluebonnet is the official flower of Texas, and typically blooms between March and May. There are bluebonnet festivals around Texas during that time, and many Texans take road trips to find the flowers. They are wild flowers, and you often see them growing in fields along highways so you don’t need to go too far. On any given weekend between March and May you will find lots of people pulling off the highways to spend some time in the fields taking photos.
The first year we took a drive to Chappell Hill, Texas, a little town between Houston and Austin. The trip was a bit of a bust, as Chappell Hill didn’t have a lot of things to see or photograph. We had a hard time finding a field of bluebonnets, too, but eventually found a nice one.
Last year we drove north through Johnson City, Texas, home of former President Lyndon B. Johnson. I got some great photos of bluebonnets in Lyndon B. Johnson State Park on the drive. But this was the trip that would be the template for further trips.
Bluebonnets are great, but if you’ve seen one you’ve definitely seen them all. Bluebonnets are now the excuse to take a drive out to the country and explore small town Texas. On our drive through Johnson City, we made a stop in Fredericksburg andGruene (pronounced Green). Both are very cool old German settlements with great downtown areas.
This year we drove west to Comfort, Texas. We didn’t know what to expect, Ali just had thought pop into her head and off we went (this pretty much sums up the past 8 years of our lives).
Comfort was a nice little town with a lot of charm. There was a great looking historical hotel that had been renovated and updated into coll Bed and Breakfast, and Ali and I are probably going to go back in October for our anniversary.
These trips help us get out of the house, and exploring this great state of ours. Texas is incredibly large, and we’ve been talking about taking a road-trip vacation through the Lone Star State.
We’ve seen what the major cities, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas have to offer, but there is so much more to see in the small towns, and on the roads in between.
My real dream is to road trip America. See the whole country by car. Experience the people, the food, the culture, and to document it in photos, blogs and videos. That is a huge undertaking, that would take months, and thousands of dollars to accomplish. We’re not there yet, but a trial run through our state is a great place to start.