On Saturday, I took a daytrip out of town up near the Temple/Belton area.
My first stop was Chalk Ridge Falls, which surprisingly isn't a state park.
It has a few miles of hiking trails, some of which are along a river.
On the way to the main attraction, the Falls.
To get that picture, I had to actually walk in the water. I had seen that I might need to do that, so I brought a pair of flip flops to walk in the water.
Because you had to walk in the water to get this close, and since it wasn't a hot day, I only saw 2 other people this close.
To get to the falls, you had to go across this "Bouncy bridge", as I heard a kid describe it.
Being spring time, there were also flowers in bloom.
I ended up hiking about 5 miles, mostly along the river/creek. I saw plenty of birds, and some fish in the creek, as well as this strange looking tree stump.
Note: the tree was dead.
Another tree I saw, had large bark...I meant to see if I could figure out what the tree was. If you have any ideas, email me KCWheeler@995thefox.com
I put my dinosaur in the bark...
After all that hiking, I was famished, so i went to Miller's Smokehouse to get some lunch.
I got the sausage and brisket. both were quite tasty.
On the way back to B/CS, I stopped by the Dancing Bee Winery for a tasting.
For $10, you got 6 tastings of your choice, and the glass as a souvenir.
They make both wines and meads, so I did 3 reds and 3 meads for my tasting. I liked the merlot the best.
The meads were interesting...they had quite a variety to choose from. They even had one made with LOTS of hops. (Since I don't like hoppy beers, I avoided that, but the person next to me got it, and said it had a hoppy aftertaste)
I got their regular award winning mead, which was excellent, a caramelized mead and an apple mead.
After the tasting, i decided to try their "Texas Two Step", which was a combination of mead & wine. I was very interesting. I decided to get a bottle, since it was such a unique flavor. (honey and red wine)
The place is ALSO a honey farm, and they actually had an area where you could bring a glass jar, and get it filled with fresh honey. (like a beer keg...but with honey)
It was also very convenient, since it was right off the road I was driving on. On the drive I saw lots of blue bonnets, but I took this picture at the winery.
All and all a fun trip out of town....about 3 1/2 hours of total driving...1:45 there and 1:45 back. Not to bad for a Saturday.
K.c.-ya!