Since last winter went so swimmingly, let's try it again! TFS has very graciously opened her home in the west San Fernando Valley to me again. This time her daughter AS (and dog and cat) are there too. Two women + two dogs + two cats = not my usual solitary winter again. Huzzah! Place name links like Los Angeles, CA go to Wikipedia. Place name links like Los Angeles use a local tourism or government website.
| 2014.04.12 |
Texas Bluebonnets |
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The Texas Bluebonnet or Lupinus texensis is the "State Flower of Texas" and each spring they bloom over 1/3 of the state. In some places they're protected, with "No Mowing" signs along roadways. People stop and gather along roadsides, sometimes slowing traffic along highways, in an annual rite to take pictures of themselves or loved ones sitting in the middle of a patch. The local newspapers run stories about when and where they're blooming, and how to best take photographs. So we had to get our Texan on and get out to some. We headed out to Ennis , designated by the 1997 State Legislature as the "Official Texas Bluebonnet Trail". They're quite a big deal in Texas, and there's even a Bluebonnet Love website dedicated to sightings and reporting them.
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from TFS | |
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part of the crowd | |
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people stopping | |
After this little drive-around we headed south on the I-45 for a while, then turned off onto SH-6 for a more-leisurely route through Navasota where prime Bluebonnet viewing was supposed to be, then on through Houston, TX to Galveston, TX on the Texas Gulf Coast .
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An impressive rest stop along the I-45 near Corsicana
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| This was cotton country, but during the agricultural depression in the 1890s civic leaders tried to lure industry to the area. But Corsicana's water supply was inadequate so a drilling company was contracted to drill wells. The first well hit oil, and that site is now recognized as the birthplace of the Texas petroleum industry. | |
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| Texas can be stormy. Dangerously stormy. Warm moist air moving north from the Gulf of Mexico collides with dry cold air moving south from the Great Plains resulting in thunderstorms producing copious rain, hail up to the size of softballs and sometimes tornadoes. This rest stop has a Storm Shelter. | |
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one final Bluebonnet shot near Navasota | | |
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