Bluebonnets

I forgot to take my camera with me yesterday, so there will be no pictures to remember our first Texas festival, which is a shame, but we had a good time at the Texas Bluebonnet Festial.

This was our first time heading very far west from our home. We live at the edge of the great piney woods, as they are called, which is a band of southern pines that stretches across much of the South and ends in east Texas. To the south is the Gulf, to the north the plains, and to the west, the terrain gradually builds to the Texas hill country. In our Texas guide book, our home is actually near the edge of four different regions of Texas, including the mission / San Antonio region.

Anyway, as we headed away from the city, we quickly left the city behind and entered big sky country, as they say. The ground is so flat that the horizon stretches far away. Presently, we began to see patches of wildflowers by the side of the highway, a few bluebonnets or Indian paintbrushes at first, then gradually, more and more color. While we didn't really go far enough to be in the hill country, we did eventually get some contour to the land. Some rises would surprise us with a solid patch of yellow for 50 acres, while other areas looked almost like a rainbow, with red, pink, purple, yellow, and blue flowers all clustered together.

Chappell Hill itself is a small town in Washington County, a pleasant county of ranches and quaint small towns. The main street is several blocks of late 19th and early 20th century buildings clustered close together, with an old whitewashed Baptist church and a bank building that dates to 1878. It is still in operation, but it looks like a set from an old Western, and I kept expecting to see someone crash through the doors, six-shooter blazing.

The festival itself had many thousands of attendants. There was food of all kinds, including foot-long corn dogs and deep-fried pickles, Oreos, and PBJs, depending on one's fancy. We opted for corn dogs, strawberry lemonade, and sausage on a stick, but we didn't want to fill up too much before our planned dinner. We enjoyed the craft booths and wandering the town looking at the "real cowboys" a wide-eyed L pointed out here and there. On the way out of town, we headed into the "hills" and saw some truly spectacular displays of wildflower color. The many people stopped taking pictures made me sad we'd forgotten our camera, but you can Google "Texas wildflowers" and see what I'm talking about.

For dinner, we stopped at Goodson's Cafe in Tomball. Goodson's is a well-known institution that has been featured on at least two Travel Channel shows, so we were excited to give it a try. It did not disappoint. The enormous chicken fried steak is the signature dish, and for about $10, H and I split one that was big enough fill us both up and then some. The steak was larger than the plate and came with plenty of sides and bread. I was so full I had to pass on the peach cobbler. Some kids had excellent fried shrimp, while another had a pot roast with succulent meat and melt-in-your-mouth carrots. The atmosphere was fun, the food was good, and it was very family-friendly. It's not exactly health food, so I can't say we'll be back often, but if you've got a hankerin' for a huge, crispy chicken fried steak, this is the place to go.

Up this weekend: the crawfish festival and the sounds of the washboard and accordion that typify zydeco music. Looks like we'll be eating our way through the month of April in style. Y'all come join us before the heat and humidity get too oppressive.