The three seasons of the Burnet Bluebonnet Festival

Even though we were in Burnet, Texas, for only four days, we feel like we have experienced three different seasons. When we first rolled through town it felt like a hot summer day. Because of temperatures up to 95 degrees and winds gusting around 30 mph, we spent most of that first day inside the motor home. We felt like we got to experience Burnet in the summer, and it wasn't great. Now we understand better why they pronounce this town's name "burn it" because it's probably burning hot in the middle of the summer. Our only picture of this hot-season-day would be of the field of wildflowers at the entry of our campground.

We did some cooking and laundry, and made plans for the next couple weeks. Even when you're on perpetual vacation, we sometimes need a day inside with the air-conditioner to take care of chores.

We were glad that the next two days delivered delightful spring weather. After all, we're here to celebrate spring wildflowers! The reason we made this stop is because Burnet is the "Bluebonnet Capitol of Texas." We didn't make that up--it came straight off the chamber of commerce trailer. And we're pretty sure that Texas is the Bluebonnet Capitol of the World.

We found that Burnet hosts a Bluebonnet Festival in April, and that's why we are here! We had a beautiful spring day to celebrate the opening of the festival. The newest addition to the courthouse square is this larger-than-life-sized picture frame. It allows visitors to be framed in a portrait at the festival.

You've got to love a Texas festival that starts with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer! Next on the agenda was the pet parade.

Prizes were given for costumes and creativity, and it would be hard to pick a winner.

We also enjoyed the fact that the reason for the festival was not ignored. The local library hosted the wildflower exhibit, with specimens picked from the nearby fields.

We found the names of some of the flowers we have been seeing lately. This is a picture of the unusual flower we took the day before. Now we know that is antelope-horn. Not surprisingly the butterflies love it because it is a relative of the milkweed--the favorite food of the monarchs.

We will be hanging out around the courthouse square for the next several days. Besides checking out the vendor booths and the food court, we are mostly interested in the music at the Bluebonnet Festival. Our beautiful weather day has turned into a beautiful evening, and we went to the opening night street dance. We are experienced street dancers, and tonight was one of the best dancing bands ever! Gary P. Nunn is a long-time Texas country icon, and he put on a great show! We stayed through the last song of the night because we were having so much fun dancing the two-step with our Texas friends in the streets of Burnet.

The next morning we had to experience our third season, as winter seemed to arrive with vengeance. We awoke to rain and thirty mph winds and temperatures in the 40s. As it was not ideal weather for a parade, it was delayed for about an hour. Then we got a slice of dry weather for the shortened parade.

The expected school bands and the Army cavalry cancelled because of all the rain. We also found out that some of the floats literally floated away in the rain. One of our favorite grocery store chains--HEB--still participated in the parade with their souped-up grocery cart.

We had high wind advisories for the rest of the day (and night). It was hard work, but we managed to do some more dancing in the street as the afternoon's entertainment performed on the two stages in Burnet. We especially enjoyed the music of a 16-year-old Texan named Trey Gilliland. We'll be watching for him in Nashville, because he certainly seems to have the talent to make it big. We got in over four miles of walking on this wintery day, just going between the two stages of entertainment. We also watched the afternoon western gun fight.

We didn't return for the evening bands the second evening for two reasons. One reason was the $15 per person admission charge. The  second reason was the blustering wind that caused the wind chill to dip into the low thirties. That's too nippy for an outdoor concert even for a couple of dedicated two-steppers like us.

It was still cold the next morning, as we bundled up for the Bluebonnet Festival church worship service. Denisa even got out her insulated underwear and gloves for the 9:00 service outdoors on the courthouse square. We're not enjoying this winter season in Burnet!

It's hard to remember back to the warm first days when we arrived in short sleeves and took this picture with the giant bluebonnets!

It feels like we have been here longer, since our four days have felt like three seasons. In spite of the changing weather, we give the Burnet Bluebonnet Festival a big thumbs up! We had to leave before the wienie dog races on the last afternoon, but it feels like we saw everything else. So now it's time for us to head on down the road for more seasons of adventure.