Category: Travel

Muleshoe Bend Recreational Area

Bluebonnet fields on the banks of Colorado river

It was sunny this Sunday, and we planned to go to McKinney Falls State park. We’ve been wanting to buy the state park pass. I called them up right before leaving to make sure they had those on hand. Imagine my disappointment when the staff person told me they won’t be letting in my more people that day. My husband wasn’t ready to give up though. He decided we’ll drive to Muleshoe Bend Recreational Area. It was only a 45 minute drive, and we can always drive back if they don’t let us in. I’d never have done this before, but my husband makes me adventurous. That’s how we found ourselves sitting in the middle of a field of Bluebonnets on a warm Sunday afternoon.

Imagine the view from the houses on that hilltop!

Muleshoe bend is managed by the LCRA, and has miles and miles of trails and camping for the night. We started down the trail named “The great escape”. We ended up turning back at the one mile mark because it was hot and I was tired. This is the drawback of sitting in one place all day I guess. Regardless, the hike was enjoyable and I’ve been going on walks since then… 😅 I think I’ll make it farther the next time we take a hike. There were wildflowers growing along the trail everywhere. We saw scores of beautiful butterflies and tiny fast moving lizards! The trees haven’t recovered from the difficult winter yet, but they’re on their way…

I thought he’d wear the cap, but oh well…..
The trees are still bare, but the ground was green with fresh grass…
Pockets of wildflowers among dry grass and cactus

We had lunch in the pretty bluebonnet meadow. Of course, I have to describe the picnic we had. We only took mini burritos and stir fried jicama, but it was efficient and fast… The burrito contained a mix of beans, tomatoes and onions for the protein and some julienned carrots for the veg. I added garlic powder, onion powder, cumin powder and chili powder to the bean mix for flavor. I only had street taco tortillas, so the burritos were small. This proved to be a blessing since they were easier to handle! We had a burrito each after getting home too, and I admit that’s when I remembered I needed a picture… 😂

Beans and carrot mini burritos 🌯

I don’t have a picture of the stir fried jicama. We ate it before I remembered to take one 😅. It’s a very simple recipe to make. All you need to do is peel and julienne a medium jicama, and stir fry it with a little sugar, lemon juice, soy sauce, salt and grated ginger for 3-4 minutes. It’s a rest recipe for spring and summer. It’s refreshing and stays crisp for a long time. It also doesn’t spoil easily under the hot sun… Let me know in the comments if you’d like a post on this recipe!

Bluebonnets swaying with the light breeze
There were birds gliding overhead…

It got pretty hot by 2:30, so we decided to head back. My husband suddenly started craving pizza on the way. So we took a short nap and then went to a local restaurant for dinner. I must say, it’s still hard to go out and eat. Fortunately the place we went to still had ordering from the table, socially distanced seating and everything was being sanitized. We sat at an out of the way table, and the mild lighting as the night came on was pleasing. After a beer or two each, and a huge tomato, mozzarella and Rosemary focaccia, I was ready to hit the bed… We ended up taking our entire pizza to go! 😂

Strings of lights lit the outdoor seating area
Tomato, mozzarella and Rosemary focaccia with Marinara sauce on the side

This is a slightly different post than I normally do. I highly recommend heading down to Muleshoe bend recreational area if you live around Austin. It’s a nice drive down too, especially in wildflower season. So let me know how your trip went to these amazing Bluebonnet fields and if you’d like to see more of these travel blog posts!😬

Fog on the Pacific

This Fourth of July, we drove up to Oregon. Oregon is exceptionally beautiful. There are miles and miles of beaches, and acres of splendid forests.

We stayed at Brookings, a small town on the border of California and Oregon. Our Airbnb was perfect for a weekend getaway and extremely cozy. Additionally, we were just minutes from the beach and the downtown! A downtown which had a Lord of the Rings based brewery! It’s called Misty Mountain Brewing and any LOTR fan would love being here…

We weren’t in Oregon to drink though. So we did go out and hike, swim and just lie on the beach. We also saw a couple of seals in the river at Gold beach and a whale too! A ranger told us that sometimes whales get stuck in the river when the waves are high. They eventually make their way out, but the rangers keep an eye out anyway. He also happened to be chasing after a guy fishing in a rickety old boat. Here’s a (bad) picture of the seal!!

The coast of Oregon is absolutely breathtaking. Miles and miles of rugged coastline make for some of the most picturesque places in the US. Not to mention the amazing features the ocean has carved over hundreds of years!

Natural Bridges Viewpoint

Brookings also happens to have one of the best breakfast places I’ve been to. Definitely get breakfast at Mattie’s Pancake House. Don’t be deceived by the name, their shrimp Benedict omelette is to die for!

Having seen these amazing places, one would think I won’t find anything better for the weekend. However, I did see something equally interesting on our drive back. It was early morning and we were driving along the coast. The interesting part was the view outside my window. The ocean was replaced by one unbroken blanket of fog.

Who would think there’s the Pacific ocean beneath this fog? I had forgotten this part of living on the coast when I moved to the Central Valley. The fog reminded me of what made me fall in love with the west coast in the first place. When the fog rolls in the evening during summer, the coast turns into a completely different place. It’s such a change from the humid and hot afternoons!

It’s a pity we might lose this coast soon, a result of our greed and extensive power of consumption. Soon sea level rise will wipe out most of our beloved coastlines and we still refuse to see the truth. It’s a pity that we won’t be able to save everything now, whether we change or not. It’s a pity that writing about this in a blog won’t change anything. It’s the least I can do though…..