Wildflowers and Waterfalls

Hi Blog.  We're hanging out just East of Fredericksburg in the heart of the hill country of Texas.  This area is home to Lyndon B. Johnson.  His wife, Lady Bird Johnson, was a lifelong advocate for beautifying the nation's cities and highways ("Where flowers bloom, so does hope") and the Highway Beautification Act was informally known as Lady Bird's Bill. We took a coffee walk this morning out to the main highway that runs from Fredericksburg to Johnson City.  The roadside in this area is just teeming with wildflowers.

Bright reds, purples, yellows, whites and, the most famous of all Texas wildflowers, the

bluebonnet, that state flower of Texas.

After breakfast, we did some chores and then packed lunch and headed off to Pedernales Falls State Park. We had last visited this park 10 years ago (in August), when we attended a bankers convention in San Antonio.  We promised ourselves the next time we came back it would be in spring when the wildflowers were in bloom.  Also in hopes that it would be a little cooler!  Here is a view of the falls from the lookout.

Here is a view of the falls after a heavy rainfall.

When the water comes rushing down, it stirs up a lot of rocks and swirls the water around eroding the surface of the limestone.  Here are several pools of different depths showing the various colors of rocks underneath.

Here is another view of what the power of water can do.  The "washing machine" is a bolder which gets turned around inside a small cave.

We had a great time hopping from rock to rock.  The stream is full of wonderful pools.

Further downstream, the river levels out and there are sandy beaches along the banks.  It was a little too cool for us to swim, but that didn't stop a number of kids from taking the plunge.

On the way back from Perdenales Falls, we stopped at Becker Vineyards and Grape Creek Vineyards for a little wine tasting.  With over 30 wineries to choose from, we have only just begun.