It was a delightful, sunny day in SE Texas today. The temperatures were in the 70’s and there was a great breeze. We went exploring. Our initial destination was La Grange for fuel but we didn’t even get that far when we ran across Walhalla Meats, where Peggy wanted to stop and shop. It was disappointing compared to our visit to Bellville Meats and we won’t be returning to Walhalla. They charge high prices and offer funny-looking goods. It will be Bellville Meat Market for us until we depart the area.
After the fuel stop, we headed northeast across some gorgeous Texas countryside sporting large, rolling hills of grass and oak trees with very nice ranch houses. There are creeks crisscrossing the terrain. We spotted turtles lingering in the sunshine at the edges of waterways, some crested caracaras, big scrub jays and the usual complement of black vultures, otherwise known as the Texas Air Force. There were plenty of whoite tailed deer around. Some roadside ranches have herds of exotic deer, kudus and other critters with pointy horns.
After a bit, we rolled into the Round Top area which was in the midst of preparations for a regional antique sale scheduled for the end of the month. The locals were setting out the framing for tents and pavilions that were intended to fill up both sides of the road for about 2 miles. The locals apparently have purchased stuff at previous antique shows and set it up as Americana lining the road on both sides. There seems to be a run on the types of barn ventilators we have seen previously in Pennsylvania. Maybe these folks bought options on Amish barn ventilators when they get replaced.
We finally turned around and headed home after visiting Somerville Lake between Somerville and Gay Hill (no kidding). We did not spot any overtly gay persons while there. Somerville Lake appears to be a large, man-made reservoir and is quite large. They have boat launching, a marina, a store, ample day-use facilities and mostly primitive campsites. The staff was very nice about letting us go into the park to sniff around without cost.
The area northeast of La Grange is beautiful and the residential and civic architecture is fabulous. We were here on a beautiful day and it looks like a place we would like to linger, had we more time.
We shot a few pix. Check them out by clicking here