Even in the cold months, there are grasses and flowers in bloom somewhere in Texas. The weather is sure to change on a dime; and you never know if you’ll be wearing a sweater or a tank top in the winter months. We Texans whine about the weather and wish for the cool fronts when the holidays come around (and even in the summer), but there is an UP side to the warmth. Most all of the year, you can take field trips – despite the weather!
The field trip in this Field Trip Foto Friday Spotlight was taken in April of 2005 with our homeschool co-op. It was a long drive, but worth the trip! There were hundreds of different wildflowers and photo opportunities galore! I have at least 50 photos from this trip and all of them are wonderful. It was so hard to pick just a few for this post. You’ll have to check out the links at the bottom to see a few other shots that I’ve already posted on the blog previously that were also from this trip.
On the day that we went to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center they were offering a very interesting Lady Bug educational scavenger hunt and allowed us to do lady bug crafts in their education room after our hike. We had a picnic lunch before we started out and stopped along the path to smell the flowers (no picking, touching, or frowning upon them allowed). Most of the plants had identification markers so you could learn about them along the way. They had wonderful limestone rocked grounds, towers to climb (OH! The VIEW!), a small museum to visit, and clean restrooms. Over all, this was one of my favorite field trips of the year… just enjoying the beautiful outdoors and stopping to take pictures along the way!
Because of the mild Texas winters, the center is only closed to the general public on Mondays each week, New Year’s Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, for a nominal fee you could technically plan a field trip there any time of the year. I would suggest going in the spring when you can take advantage of the lovely bluebonnets (like we did), however. It looked like they light the plaza up for the holidays from their website (very pretty!), so maybe a winter trip would be fun, too. Visit their website at the link above for more information (volunteering, native Texas plant information, field trip group rates, events, classes, etc). The website also has information about their magazine and gift shop, where I’m sure you can learn about Texas wildflowers even more!
This is one Texas hill-country field trip that you definately won’t want to miss.
Quick Links:Bluebonnet Blues
Thursday Challenge: Golden
We must be close to each other. We live near the Wildflower Center. We haven’t been yet, but I’d like to. Maybe this spring…
Oh wow! Looks like a really cool field trip. We almost stopped on our way through Texas several years ago and now I really wish that we would have! If we ever make it back through Texas, I'll be sure to reconsider. 🙂