texas, texas

stretching their legs roadside in Dallas, after a quick pit stop and our first up close view of bluebonnets

We drove to Texas and back last week.  It was spring break and we were off and it happened to be my dear grandfather's 85th birthday and my mom was planning to go out to Memphis for that anyway and hey what do you know, Memphis is about halfway to my good friend Nichole's place and I've long been saying some day we'll make it out there, so..........  we did it.  We three and my mom packed in the car for a trip out to my grandpa's place near Memphis.  We visited, stayed the night, and had a quick egg hunt Easter morning before the three of us set off again, Texas bound.  We spent the entire day in the car and then 4 nights in Texas visiting Nichole and her family before making our way back to Memphis via Louisiana and then back home, and I feel like we squeezed a lot of goodness and a lot of exploring into those days.  We learned not to assume there'd be gas stations around when driving Texas back roads, we ate lots of tacos and some yummy bbq, we learned that the thing to do in Texas in the springtime is to plop your kid in a patch of roadside bluebonnets and take pictures, we saw longhorns and tons of wildflowers, riverbed fossils and loose livestock.  We visited a living history farm that I've long admired from Nichole's photos, drove an incredible (the wildflowers! the rock formations! the cows in the road!) 13 mile loop in Willow City, shared more than one chocolate malt, spent a night camping at a beautiful state park (the raccoons stole our breakfast and our camping neighbors were obnoxiously and inconsiderately loud, but the sweeping limestone formations across that river made up for it), explored Austin, and got to connect with a far-away friend and kindred spirit who I so often wish was my neighbor. 

oh my goodness her yard is so beautiful~ it is filled with flowers and color and garden beds and fun. I felt right at home.

right there under that awning was where we rested our heads for a few nights - so lovely to wake up with a view of the wildflower beds right outside the windows

bluebonnets with Nichole and the girls, and sweet Molly dog in the background

exploring

they're so pretty! I hadn't realized before that they are essentially small lupines~

Pedernales Falls State Park

paintbrush

I knew I'd love Sauer-Beckmann Farm long before I ever stepped foot on the property.  I've been telling Nichole for a long time that when and if I make it down to Texas for a visit I've just got to go to that farm- the one with the cows and chickens and the beautiful old kitchen and the old stone buildings and, and, and...... sigh.  It's lovely.

'loose' livestock right off the road in the Willow City Loop

wildflowers, wildflowers, wildflowers!

we all worked together to pick snails off of the greens in the garden~ this is something we don't have at home, and gosh they are so pretty.  don't get me wrong, we have lots of slugs, just not their prettily-shelled (and equally as annoying to the gardener, I know) cousins

hole-in-the-wall (and delicious) taco place recommended to us by Nichole and Byron- we stopped for breakfast on the way in to Austin, and later on we got a 2.5# stack of fresh corn tortillas to take home

giant 'light-brite' pad at Thinkery, an awesome children's museum in Austin

I dug the street art along South Congress in Austin...

very pretty and delicious-smelling huisache tree

Austin malt and chocolate treats

I have so long wanted to sit at this table........

Many, many, many thanks to Nichole and her family for opening their home to us for a few days and making us feel welcome and at ease while there~