Yesterday we drove to Llano, a small Texas hill country town, west of Austin. Yes, we missed Austin yet again. I’ve lost track of how many times we’ve driven through Texas and somehow we have never gone through what has to be one of the most hyped cities in America. I’m sure it’s great, but we haven’t been digging the city scene lately, and we especially don’t like spending an entire day driving through the burbs to get out of them.
Anyway, Llano was on our radar for one thing only, thanks to multiple recommendations, and that was Cooper’s Barbeque. Outside are a dozen monstrous grills complete with big cement block counterweights to do the heavy lifting of the grill’s covers. We walked up to the guy manning the meat and pointed out what we wanted. Pork loin, sausage, and ribs please. He cuts off whatever size chunk you’d like and slops it all onto a tray that you carry inside to have it weighed and sliced.
Seating was at one of half a dozen long family style tables. The cashier pegged us for tourists immediately, and it was easy to see why. Every person I saw come in had to stop and say hello to at least six different groups of people before he could sit down to eat. Cooper’s is clearly where the locals come to eat in Llano.
Afterwards we found a campground just down the road on the Llano River where we were able to once again wade into the muddy bottomed clear water for a swim.
This morning we walked the three blocks of old town which is now three blocks of knick-knack shops. This seems to be the overriding theme of hill country shopping. I am not a shopper, and we are not knick-knack collectors, so these walks tend to be simply for the kids to explore the sidewalks and us to admire the old buildings. It’s a very rare occurrence when we even go in one of the stores.
By the time we circle the block and return to the bus there is usually at least one store owner and one local standing nearby watching for us, ready to ask us the big question.
Ouest has learned the answer to this question and she is always eager to answer it for us.
“Sixty-six. Sixty-six.”
After Llano we made a short drive to Colorado Bend State Park. We reached the gate and then proceeded over another six miles of dirt roads to the Ranger station where we were given our space for the night (we had our pick as the place was empty) and warned about snakes. “They’re on the move.”
I guess Texans know what this means. I don’t. I did understand the part about staying out of the grass and sticking to the paths though. Five minutes down our first path I spotted a snake. He looked like a tiny garter snake like we used to catch up in Minnesota growing up. I’m guessing that wasn’t what the warnings were about.
Lowe woke up from a nap that had started somewhere on the road. It’s always funny watching him wake up and look around wondering where the hell we are. Then the four of us walked down to the river. The mighty Colorado River. Me and the kids stripped to our skivvies and waded out into the water, ready to be whisked away at any moment by the rapids. Just kidding, we waded across the width of the river and I never got my knees wet. That’s how severe the drought is around here. Every church in the state seems to have a billboard out front saying, “Pray for Rain.” Someone isn’t listening. He must be mad at Texans. Probably for their poor driving, because other than that they seem like really nice people.
The kids had fun playing in the water. Ouest was determined to explore every island (rock) for treasure. She didn’t find anything until we were getting ready to leave when she finally stumbled across a tennis ball. Treasure!
These are all of the things that we have room for because we decided against having a generator, which is what originally sat in this space at the back of the bus.
18 Comments on “Colorado Bend State Park”
Snakes are on the move means they are out of their burrows and other hiding places after the unusually cold winter. They are hungry. In almost 50 years I’ve never seen on on our farm.. The other week I nearly stepped on a cotton mouth near the barn.
What Kimberly said. They are out in full force right now. Stay out of the tall grass and just peek around the trailer if you are near the river. The cotton mouths and rattlers up there are plentiful.
They call the BBQ sauce in the Llano area “sop”. It’s a more watery, spicy sauce than the thick Honey BBQ most places serve. In Llano, when we would head to town (we lived about 10 minutes out on the river in the boonies) talk centered around the river (height, flow, flooding…you’ve never seen such a sight as the Llano in full flood) and the rain gauge. Ranchers. That square used to have an old fashioned ice cream parlour, a rock shop and a very hippie coffee shop/farmers market. Boo about the little shops with knick knacks. Glad to hear you got up that way. It’s beautiful country. Are the waterfall, spring fed stream and pool running strong at the park? Poor ole Colorado. We’ll send some hurricanes up this summer to remedy that.
I mentioned to watch for snakes in a comment a couple of posts ago. Though certainly nothing that should prohibit any of your plans, snakes are no joke, particularly rattlesnakes and the area you folks are in is loaded with them. A snake bite will ruin your day.
OMG the kids near water without life jackets????????? Just kidding, looks like they are having tons of fun. How come they don’t have a pogo stick?
Ouest asks for one all the time. I’m sure when we actually see one in a store she’ll get it.
You ought to have little inexpensive business cards printed up so people in these towns have access to buy the photos.
They just make you want to take off and go there! Plus the coach itself is awesome. We used to have boating cards like that…
I noticed some drawing on the kitchen table. Is that new? Ha ha!
Actually, the new Crayola crayons wipe right off. We draw farms and roads and all sorts of stuff on there every day. It was a pretty awesome discovery. We still tell them to keep it off the walls, though. 🙂
Yep, the rattlesnake alarms are ringing everywhere in the southwest! Even the babies are now out. Be careful. Put bells on the kiddo’s ankles so they tinkle as they walk. Snakes will leave when they hear the sounds as they don’t like people as much as people don’t like them.
My kids do not walk quietly ever!
I was waiting for you to notice just how bad Texans are at driving. Much of my family is from Dallas area and they all drink Dr. Pepper and drive like idiots…and know it too.
I think I’ve talked about Texas drivers every time we’ve come through the state. Actually this time they haven’t been that bad, though that could change at any moment. Maybe it’s our bigger vehicle this time demanding a little respect. 🙂
Dr. Pepper with Sweet Tea mixed in I’ve noticed as well.
Well that’s one way I never thought of to make Dr.Pepper taste better…:)
Heck it’s a way to make Texas sweet tea better…:)
Dr Pepper mixed with anything is a no go. In Texas we just grow up looking out for snakes. I grew up hearing my mom say “don’t pick up that stick! It could be a snake.” They can be lurking behind tires, under things that have been left out all night, under steps, especially on concrete slabs that get warm during the day. We had a friend who left her car door open just long enough to run back in the house, found that a snake was in her car when she was 5 miles down the road.
what’s riding upstairs there buddy? Is that a surf board?
It is *a* Colorado River.
It is not *the* Colorado River. That one flows west of the Divide.
Like most things in Texas, it’s just smaller 😉
Cute kids. How old are they? 🙂
In this post – they are 4 and 2.