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Lake Somerville and places in Brenham
There was not school Friday in San Antonio due to the Battle of the Flowers Parade, marks the last weekend of Fiesta. Left town about 9, and stopped at Monument hill and brewery historic site. Spend an hour there. It was nice to stretch the legs. When we looked over the cliff to view the river, there was a herd of cows lounging on the beach.
Next stop was the ice cream tour at Blue Bell. The tour was a lot like that show, How It's Made. At the end we got a free scoop. Additional scoops were $1.00. They do not allow photography inside the tour. They use the milk from 50,000 every day. Needless to say, there are a lot of cows in Brenham/Navasota/Washington/Independence.
From there, St Claire monastery where they raise and show miniature horses. There were several paddocks with different ages together. The mares with foals in the front 2 pastures, yearlings in the side pen, retired mares in the arena, the very old escape artist was out on the lawn, and the stallion and 2 new additions were in the barn. The one day old foal just slept while the 5 day old was bouncing around her stall with her mom.
Now, to Washington on the Brazos and Barrington Living History Farm. As with most 7 year old boys, he was very interested in the great gift shop. We walked the grounds looking at the old buildings and I was stunned by the size of the Magnolia trees. No one in San Antonio can grow one past 20 feet. From the grounds, we drove over to the farm. It was about 4pm at this point. There were a few docents tending the garden. Two of the men finished their work there and asked if my son would like to feed the pigs. There was a sow and 7 piglets about the size of a large cat. He threw in the grain and they all squealed. The visitors on the porch of the house stopped to see what the commotion was about. Then he let him feed the cows some range cubes. We watched the men move the oxen to their night pasture and went to check out the house. It was pretty interesting and the docent, a young college age girl, was very knowledgeable and entertaining.
Now we really need to get to the park to make camp. Upon arrival, I had expected to wait but there was just one group ahead of us. We were given a site with lots of shade, 2 sites from the restroom. After eating dinner and cleaning up, a ranger came by to warn us of the severe weather that was coming. I had arranged the gear in the truck so we could sleep in the back, if we had to. In the tent, I put the "get away" clothes on the chair, with an umbrella on it, just in case the fly leaked. (It did leak, but not much). I had also taken someone's advice and packed each days clothing in supersize ziploc bags. If the bag got wet, the clothes would still be dry. We were in for a whopper of a thunderstorm. The lightening was so intense. It wasn't just bolts, but long flashes, like tornado/hurricane induced thunderstorms. I remember that kind of weather from living in Houston years ago. But, we don't t storms like that in SA. I was concerned about the old tree which we pitched out tent underneath. It would have sliced us in half. Turns out we slept in the tent just fine. Just a little bit of water inside. There was a half inch of water in the wash bucket in the morning.
The in laws arrived after breakfast telling us about the Rampage game they attended Friday night, and the Spurs score also. After getting some bait, we went fishing. I was the only one to catch anything (Sunfish). We got some lunch and took a trail to the lake from the camping loop. The trail was short and put us onto a small beach with sand and a nice place to swim. We went back for chairs, towels and drinks and spent the afternoon there. Everyone doing what they wanted. Gramma reading her book in the shade, Grampa fishing with this lure he just LOVES, son making sandcastles, running cannonballs, and sea turtle imitations, and I in my chair, feet in the water, getting a tan. The sun was out, no one bothered us, it was great! After supper, Gramma asked about the fire. So, we made a quick little fire which lasted until the lantern also ran out of fuel. OK, bed time.
We woke to the rumble of thunder. We broke camp quick, deciding to get breakfast in Brenham. The ranger came by to warn us about the coming storm. There wasn't much open for breakfast in town so we drove around a bit. We did find a place. The we drove to Ellison's Nursery. The in laws had been there before and love to plant flowers. We bought a few things, and picked some tomatoes. They left for SA after that. We returned to Washington on the Brazos, and then the Brewery on the return trip.
It was a great weekend, even with the crazy weather.
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Charcoal is a spice, dirt is a condiment, and there is no 3 second rule.
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