prairie point

Every Spring our Sunday School class takes over an entire B&B somewhere out of town and goes on vacation together for a weekend. This year we chose Fredericksburg as our destination. We stayed at a place in the country a little ways out of town, which was a good thing because the little town was packed with people. Friday was San Jacinto Day, a state holiday, so school kids and state employees had an extra-long weekend, something we had over-looked in our planning.

Fredericksburg is a popular tourist destination all the time but especially in the Spring when the wildflowers are in bloom. It is just down the road from the LBJ Ranch, where the former first lady still lives. Lady Bird was instrumental in helping Texans learn to appreciate wildflowers and the roadsides around what we call the Hill Country are a tribute to her success. Bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush are especially prevalent on the roadsides. Surely every child who grows up in Texas has a picture somewhere of herself sitting in a field of bluebonnets. Everywhere you see cars pulled over, on country roads and on Interstates, so that Dad can photograph this classic scene.

There is just something about the Hill Country that seems to set the spirit free. Maybe it’s the memories of camping trips and vacations when I was young. The geography is western enough to bring out the cowboy, but there are still trees and cool streams. The German heritage of the early settlers has left it’s stamp, making it seem both a little foreign and a little less barbaric than much of rural Texas.

I could have stayed there forever, but had to get back to town and try to make a living somehow.