Road Trip from Palmetto Park to Zedler Mill

After Nana and I left Palmetto Park Friday we headed into nearby Luling so I could show her Zedler Mill.

Just outside the park, yet still on the park road, we immediately began seeing more wildflowers blooming so, everywhere we could, we stopped for photos.

The first thing Nana saw that she wanted me to pull over to photograph was this cactus.

Just before we got to the end of the park road there was a scenic overlook:

Nana suggested for this photo we put my camera on the hood of the car and set the timer, so that's what I did!

Somewhere out there I saw a house off in the distance and I told Nana I want to live THERE! As I pointed it out she snapped my photo so she has one really dorky photo of me in front of this scene!

The large rocks at the ledge.

A lone "Manystem False Dandelion" among the Bluebonnets.

Texas Bluebonnets

I'll post the photos I took at Zedler Mill tomorrow and tell you of the interesting things we discovered while wondering around. Stay tuned!

Palmetto State Park

I've heard over the years from several people about a very nice park in a nearby town but until this weekend I'd never been there myself. Originally Nana and I had planned to meet my cousin Vanessa (who also lives in Texas) at Bastrop State Park (which is about half way between Vanessa and me) on Friday so we could see her and her kids but Vanessa couldn't make it. I suggested since Vanessa couldn't make it to Bastrop that Nana and I drive over to a closer park and stop along the way for any fields of flowers we'd see. Nana was game so it was a plan. I forgot to grab any of my maps when we set out so I called Bill who's one of the people who has told me of this park and asked him for directions.

We found our way very easily and when we entered the park were greeted with so much lush greenery and the whole park was just very peaceful. The campsites are great with leveled spots for pitching tents. I'm ready to grab Marty, Heather and a group of friends, the tent, some grub, and head back for a relaxing weekend on the river! And yes, I can call a camping trip such as that relaxing because Marty has always spoiled me when camping and that's when I get to relax and he even does all the cooking!

The first road we turned into led us to this pond.

There are many tent camping sites between the river and the pond.

The park was relatively empty but we did spark the interest of a couple of ducks who ventured over to check us out.

We drove further through the park and found a dead end so parked the car and followed a paved path. We followed the path over the river and up the hill and this is what we found at the end. There were more campsites, this pavillion and a playground. What a beautiful park!

Nana in front of the pavillion at Palmetto Park

Nana snapped this picture of me behind the pavillion

I'm definitely planning a return trip here!

Texas Wildflowers

When Nana was planning for this trip, we we very hopeful that there would be a lot of Texas wildflowers in bloom during her stay. We knew if they were blooming much of our time would be spent driving around the countryside to see them, enjoying their beauty and taking lots of pictures of them.


Thankfully the wildflowers near here are in abundance this weekend and we did enjoy finding many fields and ditches full of them during our drive on Friday. Yesterday's drive through the Texas Hill Country proved disappointing with wildflowers though. The flowers aren't yet blooming there, so if you're planning a scenic drive to the Hill Country to see wildflowers, wait. Drive toward Gonzales, Luling or Seguin instead.

Phlox

Phlox and Texas Paintbrush

a field of red poppies and Texas Bluebonnets.

Texas Bluebonnets

I told Nana it was tradition here to have your picture made in a field of Bluebonnets so she took mine....

...and I took hers.

Texas Bluebonnets with yellow flowers I was unable to identify.

a Texas Bluebonnet surrounded by Red Poppies

Red Poppies and I think the yellow flowers may be Desert Baileya

Texas Bluebonnets, Texas Paintbrush, Red Poppies and a few yellow flowers. This was one of the most color fields we found.

All Red Poppies and Texas Paintbrush

Nana didn't know until later that I was photographing her as she photographed the flowers. :0)

But, apparently she was doing the same thing as I found this photo on her camera, taken as I took the next photo...

I wanted just the right shot of this tree at the top of the hill covered in bluebonnets.

Showy Primrose

Chiro Java

The day finally arrived. I posted here asking for your help in deciding which photographs I should choose to display/sell at the local coffee shop this month. Chiro-Java is a coffee shop downtown and every month they allow local artists to display their work for a month and can make it available to sell as well. I received the most feedback from that post and am thankful to all of you who left comments, left suggestions on my flickr site, or sent me emails with your opinions of your favorite photos. The decisions have been made, the photos printed, the frames/mats selected and last night was the night to hang the photos at the coffee shop.



Nana arrived yesterday morning, just in time for me to put her to work helping with this task! While I finished my work at the church office, she finished the task of getting the final photos framed for me. I'm actually very excited that she gets to be here in time to see the display and am very thankful for the help she, Erica and Marty were in getting everything framed and in place!!!! A HUGE THANK YOU to all 3 of you!!!! I could not have pulled this off in one night without each of you. With all 4 of us hammering, hanging, pricing, etc., it still took almost 3 hours just to get everything hung. What a wonderful opportunity Chiro Javo offers to local artists to display their work!

Erica and Nana just getting started.

Notice Erica busy yakking on the phone while Marty slaves away!

It wasn't long before Erica took my hammer away from me and got busy.

NOW is it straight, Erica?

Erica and Nana contemplate what should be displayed on one of the walls.

Erica busy hanging more prints.

I put Marty in charge of figuring out what I needed to display the matted prints on the pegboard walls. He arrived and looked at the wall and headed off to Home Depot to get what I'd need. It didn't take him long to come back and get right to work. Thanks Babe!!!

Some of the displays when we were through.

On Thursdays the coffee shop's open late and there's usually live music. I don't know who this man was, but we sure enjoyed listening to his music as we worked.






Nana made me pose with one of the displays when we were all through, so dorky or not, this one's for Nana!





Thanks guys for all your help!!!

If you live in the area, be sure to drop in to Chiro Java and have a look around any time to see what local artists have on display.