Llano (TX) and Willow City Loop – March 2012 (Mum & Dad Visit Texas, Part Two)

DAY TWO:  Wednesday, 28 March 2012

The weather was a little bit drizzly today.  Mum made the comment that when I came up to New York last June to escape the heat, I’d come to a rainy area, and it was symmetry that this year when she came to Texas to escape the cold weather, she came to a rainy area.  I reminded my parents of the common phrase down here, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.”

We left Round Rock and headed west for today’s destination.  We were a bit north of Mansfield Dam, and passed Buchanan Dam.  Another section of the Colorado River, this dam created the aptly-named Lake Buchanan.  As we passed by, it was hard to see where the entrance to the dam’s park area was, so we zoomed on by as we headed towards our target:  Llano.

Many places in Texas have Spanish-sounding names, because this used to be Mexican territory.  But I’d noticed since my arrival in Austin that many places which should be pronounced in the Spanish-style are mis-pronounced.  The “explanation” I’d been given was the Texas settlers purposely started to say the names wrong, all except for Seguin (because he sided with the settlers against the Mexicans).  That being said, the double-L in Spanish is a “Y” sound, but the town’s name is pronounced like it just starts with an “L.”  So it’s not “Yano,” but “Lano.”

We located the visitor’s center, which had had a small railroad museum.  The visitor’s center gave some interest information about the area, especially how the most deer hunting (and processing) in Texas takes place here.  The people in the visitor’s center told us to be on the look-out for various deer statues scattered throughout the town square (and other areas), as each one had a different design.  This was similar to the horses we’d seen in Saratoga, and the guitars in Austin, and the pig-like critters I’d seen in Sedona.

One of the funniest things we saw in the visitor’s center was the Basselope, which was the pride and joy of the area.  A rare Texas critter, much rarer than the rabbit-like Jackalope, they informed us it was caught from a body of water “not far from here.”  And such it was such a rare find, it needed to be stuffed and mounted.  There was also a photo next to it showing the critter being pulled out of the lake.  Needless to say, we found it pretty amusing.

We started to walk across the bridge to the main section of the town, and about half-way across I decided it would probably be a good idea to run back and grab my pull-over rain-coat.  Dad had left his back at the hotel.  Mum and Dad waited for me on the other side as I trucked back to the car, and then caught up with them.  Sure I used up some extra breakfast energy, I know I earned quite a lot more steps on my pedometer.

Llano had the nice courthouse in the town square, like the other Texas locales we’d visited.  I liked how this had a number of war memorials out front to.  There were monuments to those from the area who’d served in all the conflicts since the Civil War.  That gave us a number of things to check out, before we went inside the courthouse.  There wasn’t a lot to see inside the courthouse, because much of it was office space.  We could get up the bell tower, but the support bars across the windows made if difficult to take any decent high-elevation shots.

One of the interesting things in the courthouse was as we went up the stairs towards the bell tower, we were then able to see into the closed court room (due to the vent window over the door).  The sign on the door mentioned it was a closed session to due to it being a divorce proceeding, but I’m sure during some “high profile” case smart people sat on the stairs to get a better vantage point.

Anytime we visit one of these places, we always find something of interest which we need to take a picture of.  That’s just part of the fun of coming to some place you don’t know.  While we did take pictures of the deer statues as we found them, we noted one particular merchant establishment with a very interesting name.  We’re not sure what type of items would be considered “stuffology” that would be sold at their store, we got some amusement out of it.

When we were walking over towards the old jail, it started to sprinkle on us.  We took shelter in a coffee shop called Fuel to get a light snack.  The sprinkling was light, so we continued down the rest of the way.  The jail house was in the process of being restored to allow visitors, much the way the old jail in Gonzalez was.  The people had the visitor’s center told this before we came down, and that it expected to be completed a few months from now.  I still liked the design of the deer statue out front.

The rain started to get heavier, so Mum & Dad took shelter in the booth for the bus stop.  I trudged back to the car (more miles on the pedometer), and shot back to pick them up.  Near the visitor’s center was an old pioneer cabin and the Llano County Museum.  The cabin didn’t have much in other than a small table and bed, and a bunch of cobwebs.  The museum has some interesting artifacts from the town history, from a list of all the rancher brands that had been used, stones and arrowheads found in the area, and gear from the World War II era.

One of the things Mum found interesting here was a display that had actual recipes which had been used by people at the turn of the (previous) century.  There as was a recipe for “cocoa fudge” that one her relatives had been made for her when she was a little girl.  We had some fun trying to get the lighting and angles right so the picture would turn out so Mum could read it (with the intent of making some later).

We left Llano and headed south on Route 16, towards Fredericksburg.  It was still drizzling, but not too bad.  Following this route, it would take us to the Willow City Loop.  The gentleman in the Georgetown visitor’s center had told us that we needed to so in a specific way, in order to give us the best view of the area.  I had my MapCo handy as I cruised down the road, but still managed to pass by a sign that seemed to point towards Willow City.  Had it not been rainy, I would’ve been able to see it earlier, and have slowed down enough to make the turn.

I’d gotten the feeling that might’ve been where we’d wanted to exit from, so I decided to drive a bit further to see if there was another route.  Figured if we hit Fredericksburg, then we’d just turn around to go down the road we’d seen.  Our patience was rewarded, as just a mile or so down Route 16 we saw a larger sign and turn-off for Willow City.

Willow City is a small hamlet of probably a dozen houses and a saloon.  It didn’t start off being very much to see, but we continued to follow the road (which is the “Loop”), we went over some very hilly and rugged terrain.  The Loop was a total of thirteen miles, and while some of it was wooded sections, the large majority was hillsides filled with wildflowers.

The road of The Loop was pretty much a paved farm road which allowed people access to their fields.  While there were some gates to separate the cattle from the road, there was a special type of grate across some sections which would keep wandering bovines contained to that area.  I know there’s a specific name for it, but the design wouldn’t allow for stable hoof placement, thus not allowing the cows to venture out.  In most places the road was just wide enough for two cars to pass each other slowly.

Through the light rain, we could see fields of green filled with swatches of blue, and other colors.  More than the blue bonnets Mum wanted to see, there were other types of wild flowers here.  We’d gone in the correct entrance, as the majority of the up-and-down hilly drive was going down hill.  I knew Argent’s brakes were given a work out, and it was better than what his transmission would have to do creeping up the inclines at slow speeds.

This is a pretty popular thing to do, as there were a number of other cars heading through The Loop also.  Most were going the same direction as us, which was good considering how wide the road wasn’t.  There were some shoulder areas which had enough room to pull a car mostly off the road.  That allowed people to get out and take pictures.  I imagine if it hadn’t been raining, there would’ve been more people wandering about.  The wet ground was something to take into consideration when looking for a place to pull off.  A couple cars had parked themselves in such a way, they could’ve easily been stuck in the mud if they had spun their tires too much or didn’t have four-wheel drive.  The response time of the auto club’s roadside assistance can be pretty long if you’re out in the middle of no where, with no landmarks to allow them to find you easily.

That was also the thing which made the drive nice.  Excepting for the other cars, the road, and the occasional fences we saw, there were few human-made objects visible.  From the information we’d heard, it was “suggested” that you don’t wandering into the fields of the wild flowers (as not to disrupt them), but there were other grassy areas you could sit to enjoy the view.  I’m sure on a warm sunny day, people come out here with their picnic baskets.

Since I’m pretty sure-footed, I did venture out on the rocks of the nearby stream beds in attempts to get better angles for pictures.  I was smart enough to avoid the wet sandy areas so I wouldn’t get my shoes covered in mud.  There was already going to be some tracked inside the car, and that was unavoidable, but it could be minimized.  I did locate a nice rock to stand on to do my standard “praise the sky” pose.

We moved slowly through The Loop to be able to enjoy it, but not so slow that we held up other people.  I think we spent the appropriate amount of time there.  Once we’d come back around to Route 16, since we were pretty close to Fredericksburg, we headed there to be able to some place to get a warm snack.  Beyond that, there was no reason to spend any other time there, as by the time we got back to Round Rock, we’d be looking for dinner.  The tip that we’d been given at the Georgetown Visitor’s Center certainly paid off, and was well-worth the drive.

More information can be found on the places we visited at:

            Llano:  http://llanochamber.org/

Willow City Loop:  http://www.fredericksburgtexas-online.com/WillowCityLoop