Finally, a Wildflower Drive to Remember

Every year I tell Dale, “We’ve got to take a drive and enjoy the wildflowers before they’re gone!” But somehow it never happens. This year it did!

If you live in Central Texas, you know how beautiful the wildflowers can be. All through Spring you see families in the most awkward parking spots near fields and roadsides trying to get family photos. Though there are plenty of beautiful flowers near our home, I wanted to go on a road trip to check out some well-known wildflower routes. After a little bit of research I created a Google Map to guide our adventure. We traveled over 200 miles! Here are the highlights.

Georgetown to Llano

We headed out of Georgetown on Highway 29 around 10 am after grabbing a cup of coffee at the very busy Wolf Ranch Starbucks. The traffic was thick all the way to Burnett. We didn’t realize that Burnett’s Bluebonnet Festival was that weekend!

As we left Burnett and headed to Llano, the traffic lessened and the wildflowers increased. I think the most beautiful colors were on the highway between Burnett and Llano.

Willow City Loop

There is a fairly popular loop off of Highway 16 that is known for its flowers. I have to say that this year the flowers were more plentiful on Highway 16 than on the loop. However, this loop provides classic “Hill Country” views. Very beautiful. The only downside is that the folks who live on the loop want you to know that you better not stop or pause anywhere along their road. It kind of took the joy out of the beauty. I had hoped to get out and take some photos, but I didn’t want to rile the locals. I get it. I’d probably feel the same.

Fredericksburg

We arrived at Fredericksburg just in time for lunch! We were one of many who decided to go to Fredericksburg, but thank the Lord, we found a parking spot right in front of the Fredericksburg Brewing Company where we planned to enjoy our usual meal, the “Just Enough” appetizer.

After lunch we walked around a bit. The interesting shops have remained largely unchanged but the folks we passed on the sidewalk seems to have transformed into a much younger set, or maybe it’s just that Dale and I are getting old … or both!

I had a new stop on my Fredericksburg list and I’m glad we checked it out, Das Peach Haus. Their website description is right on “This charming destination in Fredericksburg is the only place where you can see and taste every single Fischer & Wieser specialty product. It is a true Texas Hill Country treasure offering beautiful views of orchards and our pond, light bites and bakery items, cooking classes, wine tastings and seasonal live music when the weather permits.” We didn’t stay long, but hope to go back soon.

We had two additional stops before leaving the Fredericksburg area, Becker Vineyards and the Wildseed Farm. The Wildseed Farm was crowded and had very few flowers outside so we drove through the parking lot and headed to Becker Vineyards.

Becker Vineyard is the first vineyard Dale and I had ever visited. We started going when we first started coming to Fredericksburg. We are not huge wine lovers, but we do love how places like this offer plenty of outside seating and beautiful views. This trip we picked the cheapest refrigerated bottle of wine they had, which must happened to be called “Fleur Sauvage” which means Wildflower — perfect for our wildflower drive. We grabbed two glasses and found a seat outside. It was very busy, but enjoyable.

Johnson City

As we continued east on Highway 290 we stopped in Johnson City to tour the LBJ Ranch State & National Park. We’ve passed by this park many times but today we were committed to see all it had to offer. Unfortunately, it was so late in the day we had to settle for a quick driving tour.

Marble Falls

From Johnson City we headed north to Marble Falls. By this time it was getting close to 6pm. I had originally thought about stopping for dinner here but we decided to grab a Blizzard from the DQ and head on back to Georgetown.

Overall, it was a really enjoyable trip. The wildflowers were beautiful. Our northern neighbors may enjoy colorful Fall foliage, but I feel like we have the best and most beautiful Spring anywhere!