Enchanted Rock



The sides of the highway filled with flowers

From Big Springs in West Texas, we’re headed toward Fredericksburg in the hill country of Texas. As we head southeast, the land began changing from the flats with alternating cotton fields and dry ranch land to Mesquite trees on both sides of the road. Then all of a sudden, the sides of the highway was filled with wild flowers – yellow, red, blue, and purple. What a gorgeous sight! Apparently, Lady Bird Johnson sponsored wild flower plantings along many of Texas highways. It certainly was impressive. Black-eyed Susans seem to dominate the yellow flower; Indian Blanket, the reds; and bluebonnets, the blue. As looked at the Blue Bonnets, we thought they were Lupines. Well, sure enough, there are in the Lupine family. Our major stop for the day was Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. The area is dominated by a large rock formation about 250 feet above the riverbed. Rather than hike to the summit on this 80 degree day, we decided to hike Sandy Creek, with the flowers dominating the scenery.

Indian Blanket and Blue Bonnets

We walked the main street of Fredericksburg in the afternoon, a tourist town dominated by many German restaurants, places for wine and beer tasting, and tourist shops selling various Texas souvenirs and food. We enjoyed a fine German meal of Jagerschnitzel, red cabbage, and spatzel and beer at the Altdorf Restaurant and Biergarten. 



Enchanted Rock