Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 03/21/18> So; it is officially Spring 2018 in Texas.

Yes the calendar has finally reached that time of year that this old man looks forward too, spring time.

The Daily Dose of lately has been dealing with some serious subjects and this is a good day to get away from those things and just make this day a day of relaxation and natural beauty. Unfortunately my business schedule will preclude me from the day of relaxation but it could not keep me from the beauty, which I will share with you in this daily dose.

On Tuesday I had to travel to Austin, Texas to see some customers and this trip has two routes I can travel to reach my destination. Seeing that I wanted this day of travel to be somewhat relaxing I opted for the road less traveled and that route took me through the “bluebonnet country” area of Texas.

My drive to Austin was out Hwy 290 which connects Houston to Austin, there are several small towns along the way the dot the map. Most of these towns are rural farming communities that have managed to survive over the years. The largest of these towns that Hwy290 goes through is Brenham, Texas; I think the population is right near 17,000 people. The trip is right at 150 miles give or take a few miles and Brenham is just right about dead nuts in the middle between the two cities so it is a natural stopping point if you want to get out and stretch your legs for a little bit. I find that stopping every couple hours and stretching the legs really helps with the circulation in my legs, I’m no longer a spring chicken and sometimes the legs will just about fall asleep if I use the cruise control for an extended period of time.

So on the Hwy290 route Brenham is my stopping point, not right in Brenham, but actually just a few miles west of it where the Shepherds Creek crosses the highway. There is a very small little picnic area on the west bound side of the road just after you cross the bridge. To tell you just how easy it is to miss this little place I had driven this road for at least 20 years before I ever even realized this picnic area was there. In those twenty years I probably made at least 40 trips past this place and never realized it existed.

The whole park is about a half an acre, it has two picnic tables and two trash can as far as man made things go. There is a circular drive that serves to allow ingress and egress and for parking other than that the rest is all natural. The little waterfall and creek are the main feature, the flow of water is pretty decent right now and the sound of the water is very relaxing. The whole park is shaded very heavily from big old native live oak trees and cedar trees.

Tuesday makes about the tenth time I have stopped at this little roadside beauty of peace and quietness. I had the whole place to myself, just like every other time I’ve stopped here. There are several squirrels and the creek has some fish in it that can be seen, not big fish but little sun perch, about the size of the palm of my hand. I really enjoy spending even 10 minutes just listening to the waterfall, the sound of running water is so soothing to the mind.

It is bluebonnet season in Texas right now; these little blue flowers are the official flower of Texas. The wildflowers that grow along the roadsides in Texas were part of a roadside beautification program that started back in the mid 1960’s when President Lyndon B. Johnson was in office. It wasn’t his idea but it was his wife’s idea and she pushed hard to get the program off the ground. Being that Texas was the Johnson’s home state, and they were big players in state government ,the state went wild on seeding wildflowers along the roads of Texas.

Each spring the roadsides of Texas are like an artist canvas covered in all sorts of wildflowers from about mid March thru the middle of May. This year’s crop looks to be a good one, in another week or two this area will be a tourist attraction as folks will bring the young ones out and set them in a patch of wildflowers along the road just to get a picture. Each year these flowers will bloom and then seed, the highway department won’t start mowing these areas until around the end of May so that the plants have plenty of time to drop their seeds for next year’s crop. These blue bonnets were photographed just about a mile before the picnic area; I just pulled off the road and put the truck in park for a couple minutes while I shot these pictures. On a weekend this spot would normally have cars lined up like a drive thru Dairy Queen giving away free milkshakes.

So, now you know my little secret spot I like to visit and stretch my legs, feel free to stop here if you ever find yourself driving from Houston to Austin on Hwy 290, chances are pretty good that you will have the place to yourself if it happens to be a weekday.

That’s all for this edition of the Daily Dose, enjoy the spring time while you can.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper

All photos are property of @sultnpapper

https://sola.ai/sultnpapper

Close up of the falls

Tree roots looking for soil to anchor inn

Other picnic table area

More blue bonnets