It’s springtime in Texas and that means it was time for our annual pilgrimage to Brenham to view the bluebonnets, our state flower. So with a goal of leaving early and staying late, Pug Momma, SoccerChik and I piled into the car and headed to Washington County.
The first stop on our agenda was the Bluebonnet Festival in Chappell Hill. We arrived around 11:00 a.m. and the festival was already in full swing. There are musicians, food, and craft booths galore. We set out to explore them all! There were so many wonderful items for sale, but we managed to practice a little restraint and only made a couple of modest purchases. SoccerChik’s favorite find was a Juicy Couture knock-off necklace that she proudly wore the rest of the day. My favorite was Pepper Belly’s Dirty Jalepeno Olive Relish – it makes a great dip when mixed with cream cheese! Pug Momma was so sweet and bought us both a set of Coca-Cola salt and pepper shakers. By 1:30 the crowds had grown much larger, so we left and headed on toward Brenham.
The first stop on our agenda was the Bluebonnet Festival in Chappell Hill. We arrived around 11:00 a.m. and the festival was already in full swing. There are musicians, food, and craft booths galore. We set out to explore them all! There were so many wonderful items for sale, but we managed to practice a little restraint and only made a couple of modest purchases. SoccerChik’s favorite find was a Juicy Couture knock-off necklace that she proudly wore the rest of the day. My favorite was Pepper Belly’s Dirty Jalepeno Olive Relish – it makes a great dip when mixed with cream cheese! Pug Momma was so sweet and bought us both a set of Coca-Cola salt and pepper shakers. By 1:30 the crowds had grown much larger, so we left and headed on toward Brenham.
Our next stop was to sample some of the Best Ice Cream in the Country at the Blue Bell Creamery. They offer factory tours during the week, but on Saturday only the gift shop is open. There is nothing like eating Blue Bell ice cream at the place where it all started! SoccerChik and I found patches to add to our collections, while Pug Momma picked up gifts for her boys.
Next, we headed to the Monastery of St. Clare Miniature Horse Farm. The Poor Clare nuns have operated this miniature horse farm since 1981, and are open to the public most days. The spring is a great time to visit because the foals have just been born. They are SO cute! I also got permission to plant the Poor Little Ponies letterbox that I carved after our visit there last year.
It was getting late in the day and we still hadn’t seen many bluebonnets. So our next stop was at Washington-On-The-Brazos State Park, the birthplace of Texas, and also one of the best spots in the state to view bluebonnets. I was rather disappointed that there were so few wildflowers in bloom. I don’t know if we were past the prime viewing season, or if there simply weren’t as many this year, but there were far less than in previous years. Regardless, we took our annual photos of SoccerChik amid the blossoms, and found a Boots Tex’s Dodson’s Flag 2 letterbox while there. Pug Momma really enjoyed Lone Star Quilter’s The Legend of the Bluebonnet series, which SoccerChik and I had found last year.
After leaving the park it was getting late and we were beginning to get tired, but we still weren’t ready to call it a day quite yet. So we drove over to Old Baylor Park to see if there were more wildflowers there. The field behind the ruins was pretty with mixed bluebonnets, Indian paint brush and black-eyed Susans, but again, not as many as in previous years. We also stopped by the Antique Rose Emporium, to find that the store was closed, but the grounds were still open for an early evening stroll.
By now it was 7:00 and we had only found a couple of letterboxes, so we were determined to find a new letterbox that Baby Bear had planted at Hohlt Park. His clues gave directions coming from the south, but somehow we got turned around and approached the park from the North. After driving around for a little while, we discovered that there are actually three separate entrances to the park. The clues told us to park near the green metal bridge, and we were convinced that Baby Bear was either color blind or completely daft, because we could not find a green metal bridge! That is, until we finally entered the park from the correct entrance. J It was almost 7:30 now and the sun was quickly setting, but we were going to get that box! We followed the clues and found the location just off the trail. After improvising with a cell phone for light, we located the box and quickly stamped in as first finders!
We had so much fun with our almost-dark letterboxing experience that we decided to find one more… the Yellow Fever Cemetery box by KOKO Kitty, located at the Brenham Masonic Cemetery. Now SoccerChik is terribly afraid of cemeteries, and to go after dark, was in her mind utter madness! Nevertheless, we were very close and couldn’t pass it by. We found the cemetery without any problem, and after reading through the clues realized that it was an easy drive-by. I quickly retrieved the box, again with my cell phone flashlight, and brought it back to the car where we stamped in. There was some very interesting history included in the box, and we enjoyed it in spite of SoccerChik’s unfounded fears.
By this time we really were exhausted and headed home, stopping only long enough for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We enjoyed a great meal, dropped off Pug Momma, went home and promptly fell asleep.
Washington County is a beautiful part of the state and has so many wonderful places to visit, it is impossible to see them all in one day. I would highly recommend a weekend stay at one of the many bed-and-breakfasts in the area, or at least making a day trip to see all they have to offer.
Our thanks to all of the letterboxes who added to our enjoyment of the day!
