Lake Whitney State Park

I really don't like pulling a trailer; about 5 or 6 hours a day is about all I care to do. So on a recent long trip, we decided to break the trip up by stopping early one day at Lake Whitney State Park.

Lake Whitney State Park is located just west of Whitney, Texas, which is about 30 miles or so north of Waco. Lake Whitney, covering 37 square miles, was formed in 1951 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a dam on the Brazos River.

Since we were just stopping for one night, we did not even unhook the trailer. We did as little as possible to make things comfortable for the night. After getting set up, we then took a walk around the loop road, which is probably about 3 miles.

The park is pretty, and is covered by live oak, blackjack oak, and post oak. We saw numerous deer on our walk, and we were also visited by 2 deer who approached our camp site. We even had a snake cross the road in front of us.

The park offers various recreational opportunities, including boating, swimming, fishing, and hiking.

Below are some pictures we took while on our walk.

Our campsite. Even though we did not unhitch the trailer from the truck, we did hook up water and electricity and raise the antennae. We wanted to make an early start next morning.

Star View campground for tent campers

Shelters, with a bit of the lake visible in the background between the oaks

Wildflowers in an open prairie area

Trail Head to the hiking trail

View of the lake from the boat ramp. The boat ramp is located on a feeder creek, not the main body of the lake.

San Angelo Nature Center

Another stop while our daughter and her family were visiting was the San Angelo Nature Center, located on Lake Nasworthy.

The Nature Center is something of a cross between a mini museum and a mini zoo. It is a wonderful place for smaller children to learn about nature. The wonderful staff there bring out all sorts of animals and allow the children to touch and pet them.

Most of the exhibits deal with small animals that live in the western part of Texas, so its a good place to go when you want to identify a local critter.

Those are some pretty good sized snakes. At top is a boa; at bottom is a python. The brave man next to the cage is my fearless son-in-law, Michael.

Wall-O-Snakes. These are harmless (left) and venomous (right) snakes of the Concho Valley

Donna found a small turtle

Exterior of the Nature Center, with a bit of Lake Nasworthy showing in the right background

Fort Concho

Recently, our daughter and her family spent the weekend with us. We spent Saturday visiting a couple of sites around San Angelo, starting with Fort Concho.

Fort Concho was established on the south bank of the North Concho River in 1867. Like other military posts in this part of Texas, it was created to protect settlers and immigrants as the frontier pushed ever farther west. In 1889, the fort was abandoned as the Indian threat no longer existed.

Today, Fort Concho is a National Historic Landmark. It is an active place, with numerous events taking place there throughout the year. The day we were there, for example, the Texas Mesquite Association was holding an arts festival in 2 or 3 buildings of the fort, so we were able to browse their goodies as well.

Fort Concho is an integral part of the history of San Angelo. It was a leading factor in the establishment of numerous business on the north bank of the river, an area now consisting of downtown San Angelo, including historic Concho Avenue. Downtown San Angelo is a wonderful place to park your car and just wander around. There are wonderful and interesting shops and numerous places to eat.

One of the best ways to learn about what life at Fort Concho was like is by reading a novel by Elmer Kelton, a noted author I've mentioned more than once in this blog. His novel The Wolf and the Buffalo deals with old Fort Concho, the rowdy town of Santa Angela across the river, the "buffalo soldiers" of the post, and the Comanches they encountered in the settling of the west. It is a great story, and shows with historical accuracy what life was like on the Texas frontier.

Any trip to San Angelo would be incomplete without a stop at Fort Concho.

Officers' Row

Uniform display in the Visitor Center

Hospital

Post headquarters in center, with quartermasters' quarters and commissary to the left

Enlisted men's barracks

The Museum of Telephony is located in one of the officer's quarters.

Some of the beautiful mesquite items on display at the Texas Mesquite Association's art festival

Biking Around Lake Brownwood SP

On our second day at Lake Brownwood, Donna went fishing near the fishing pier (see map). I've never liked fishing, so I decided to take a bike ride around the park. I had a great time.

Of all the places we had been the previous week or more, none had wildflowers any better than this park. That is not to say that the park had larger spreads or more, but the stands I saw were thick and bright.

I rode every paved road in the park, including the roads that led down to the cabins. Following are the pictures I took on my ride.

A good stand of bluebonnets at the entrance to the Willow Point campground

Notice how far below the fishing pier the water is. If you look closely, you'll see Donna seated between the end of the pier and the water line. She has yellow clothing on.

Another good stand of bluebonnets in the Willow Point campground

Notice the rich color of this patch of bluebonnets on the road that leads to cabins 14-17

One of the park cabins

The park has many facilities, including 17 cabins, 10 screened shelters, and numerous campsites. Unfortunately, most of the buildings are old and in need of repair. The current economic climate, however, has hit the park hard.

Screened shelters

The Group Recreation Hall

I like this picture with the bluebonnets framed by the dead mesquite limb

Lake Brownwood State Park

Lake Brownwood State Park is a 537 acre park located on Lake Brownwood about 20 miles north of Brownwood, Texas. There are few state parks in West Texas with full hookups for RVers, and this park is one of them.

We picked an excellent time to visit. Upon arrival, only 3 other RVs were in the Council Bluff campground where we would spend the next 3 nights (see map). In all, there are 20 campsites in this campground. Before leaving Fredericksburg, we used Google Earth to view the campground in order to find the best campsites. So, when we arrived at the park, we had a short list of 3 sites were were interested in. As luck would have it, our top site was occupied; it would turn out that that site (number 78) was, indeed, the best site, at least for this time of year. Instead, we opted for site 88, which had good shade from Black Jack Oaks.

Our trailer in site 88

As you would expect, the lake was way, way down. Formed by Pecan Bayou, a tributary of the Colorado River, and Jim Ned Creek, the lake is rather scenic, with hills and limestone outcroppings, at least in the area where we camped.

You can tell from the shoreline how far down the lake is. This was taken from a bluff near our campsite.

We enjoyed our time at the park; it was just what we were looking for. Few people were at the lake since we were there Monday through Thursday. The morning we left, only 7 sites in our campground were occupied, all by older people. Donna fished several times, while I enjoyed riding my bike. We also did some very short hiking. Mostly, we just enjoyed the quiet, cooked on the grill, and enjoyed a campfire. It was a good way to end our trip.

I took a lengthy bike ride around the lake, snapping pictures of whatever interested me. Those pictures will be in the next, and final installment, for this trip.

Brownwood, Texas

The next and final stop on our trip was Lake Brownwood State Park, located about 20 miles north of Brownwood. After spending 4 nights in a commercial park in a town, we were looking forward to some time in a park.

We were up fairly early on Monday, April 16. Although we didn't have a long drive, we wanted to get to the park as early as possible in order to get a good spot.

We headed north on US 87 out of Fredericksburg. We crossed the San Saba River about 20 or 25 miles out of town. For the 10 miles or so between the river and Mason, we saw good stands of wildflowers, probably the best we had seen thus far.

Mason is a lovely little Hill Country town. In a way, it is a smaller, less known version of Fredericksburg. It was settled largely by German immigrants, many of whom were talented stone masons who were instrumental in the construction of numerous buildings in the area, including Fort Concho in nearby San Angelo. Like many other towns along the edge of the frontier, a military post was established here. Fort Mason was located on a hill in the southern part of present day Mason in 1851.

Mason was the site of the famous "Hoo Doo War", which could basically be described as a feud between German ranchers and ex-Confederate soldiers. Johnny Ringo, who would later face off against the Earp brothers in Tombstone, Arizona, was involved in the feud.

The most famous native son of Mason is Fred Gipson, the author of Old Yeller and Savage Sam. The story lines and settings came straight out of the rugged countryside of Mason County, which was located on the Comanche frontier.

Today, Mason is a quiet community with a beautiful courthouse and some sturdy stone houses that reflect their German builders. Ranching and farming dominate the landscape, but the downtown area has some interesting businesses to attract the tourist passing through. Sounds like another trip to me.

Next town was Brady, which touts itself as the geographical center of Texas. Brady is a bustling community of about 5,500 people. We stopped briefly at the Walmart as we entered town to replenish our supplies. We've passed through Brady off and on for over 20 years but have never really spent any time there. There is a lake on the west side of town I've always wanted to see, but have never taken the time to do so.

After our stop, we got back on the road, taking US 377 the remaining 40 or so miles to Brownwood.

Brownwood, the home of Howard Payne University, is another of those places we've passed through for years. We've spent the night there many times in our travels across Texas, but we've never taken the time to do the tourist thing. One place we've always wanted to stop is Underwoods Cafeteria. Underwoods is sort of a legend in the area, and we've promised ourselves we would stop one day. On a recent trip through town, we planned to stop; however, on arrival we discovered it was closed on that day of the week. This time, however, it was open, and we enjoyed it.

Underwoods doesn't serve the best food around, but they do serve some good, homestyle food. There are basically half a dozen or so meats on the menu, and you select the one you want. I opted for German sausage while Donna had a hankering for fried chicken. After that selection, then you get unlimited side dishes. I had mashed potatoes, corn, and chile beans, and all were good. Cobbler is also included; from the selections of apple, peach, and blueberry, I chose the apple, and that was an excellent choice. Service is excellent, and our drink glasses were kept full and the warm yeast bread kept coming. It was a good day.

After the meal, we stopped for gasoline, then headed to the park.

Fredericksburg, Texas

I've mentioned elsewhere on this site that Fredericksburg, Texas, is one of my favorite cities in Texas.

Fredericksburg has a truly interesting history, which begins with the German immigrants who settled the area in 1846, built the town we know today, and named it in honor of Prince Frederick of Prussia. For years, residents of the community refused to learn English, and they attempted to insulate themselves from state and national politics. A German language newspaper was printed well into the 20th century.

Today, Fredericksburg is a thriving community of over 10,000. It's Main Street (Highway 290 running east/west) is lined with shops visited by tourists. On Main Street, you can find several German restaurants and bakeries, gift stores, book shops, arts and crafts shops that sell items ranging from candles to quilts and everything in between, a brewery and winery, and many other shops of interest.  Bed and breakfast establishments are scattered throughout the community, many just a block or two off Main Street.

Attractions abound throughout the area. These include

• Luckenbach, the legendary town purchased by Hondo Crouch in 1970 for $30,000, and later memorialized in song by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, and the site of Jerry Jeff Walker's breakthrough album, Viva Terlingua!.
• National Museum of the Pacific War. Fredericksburg, by the way, is the hometown of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who signed the surrender documents with Japan to end WWII.
• Fort Martin Scott Historic Site, a pre-Civil War military outpost on the Texas frontier.
• Wildseed Farms
• Fredericksburg Herb Farm
• Various restaurants serving up Hill Country fare, German food, and other cuisines

The Fredericksburg area is being touted by some as the "New Napa" because of the number of wineries in the area. And there are a few breweries as well. A list of area wineries is found here.

And don't forget the fresh produce and fruit available in season. Fredericksburg peaches are popular throughout the state, but they grow other fruits and vegetables there as well, and most stands can be found along US 290 between Stonewall and Fredericksburg.

The above is just a sample of some of the things we like about Fredericksburg. These and many others keep us returning to this quaint German town again and again.