I Came to See The Famous Bluebonnet Trails, but Discovered so much more…

22 Apr I Came to See The Famous Bluebonnet Trails, but Discovered so much more…

Today we took a road trip to Ennis, Texas.

Does every person love their state flower as much as Texans do?? I love Texas Bluebonnets! There is something so special and unique about them. Maybe part of it is knowing they don’t last longer than about 4 weeks out of the year. If you haven’t taken your annual Bluebonnet pictures HURRY, RUN! Get to Ennis as fast as you can! It’s not too late! This was about an hour and fifteen minute day trip drive for us from the DFW metroplex. I knew we were getting close to Ennis when I began seeing fields, sides of highways and rolling hills full of beautiful Bluebonnets. In fact, if you don’t have the time or desire to drive to Ennis, you can find some AMAZING fields of Bluebonnets between Mansfield and Midlothian all along highway 287. Even more specifically, check out the fields around Creekside Church and the roads all around TexPlex Park.

I should have planned to start our day trip sooner, but since I didn’t, we didn’t have time for ALL the Bluebonnet trails. More about that in a minute…

Our first stop in Ennis was to the Ennis Railroad & Cultural Heritage Museum. If you have a child, or grown up child, who loves trains, this is a fun place! I happened to have both child and grown up child locomotive enthusiasts tagging along this trip with me. This adorable museum was extremely easy to get in and out of, no huge crowds. It was very affordable at $3.00 a ticket for anyone over 12. Half of my crew was free! It was just large enough to keep you interested, and just small enough that the kids didn’t get bored. Some of the highlights for us included a bell for the kids to ring, a telegraph to tap morse code, a short video, model trains on display, and a caboose to climb on. Unfortunately, due to COVID, the caboose doors weren’t open during our visit. The nice lady working there said they hope to open it back up soon. She also gave us a great tip to come back at Christmas for Ennis Lights. Santa comes to visit the museum, and the caboose is full of Christmas activities and cookies for the little ones. Sign us up!

After the visit to the museum, we took a slight detour to a little kolache shop down the road. This was my Dad’s idea. If you know my dad, then you know he has a GIANT love for fruit filled kolaches. Let’s call it what it is…an obsession really. And he doesn’t eat kolaches from just anywhere, he has his favorite places. Kind of a picky kolache guy lol. Love you Dad! I have to agree with him on this though. I think if you tried the kolaches at The Kolache Depot, it might become one of your detours as well! My personal favorite was a cherry filled kolache.

Back to what we came for…the Bluebonnets. We headed downtown to the Visitor Center, where we picked up maps of all the Bluebonnet trails in the area. I have to say, downtown was a really cute! There were several boutiques and restaurants to choose from as well as a theatre. I wish I had more time to explore it.

I was torn about lunch options because Rooftop 101 was calling my name with their fun rooftop patio seating overlooking the main drag, but Bluebonnet City Grill had been highly recommended to us. After all, we did come to Ennis for Bluebonnets, right? It seemed that an eatery following suit with the theme of our trip was quite appropriate. Bluebonnet City Grill was our final decision, and I do not regret it one bit (I will be back for you another time Rooftop 101)!

Bluebonnet City Grill has an amazing $8 lunch special. I chose the chicken fried steak with 2 sides. If you love home cooking, you will love this grill! I was so full by the end of it, I couldn’t even muster up enough strength to take a picture of the peach and apple cobbler, key lime pie, and banana and chocolate pudding we finished with. SHEESH, that’s some good eating ya’ll!

Did we ever actually see any Bluebonnets!?!? Yes! We saved the best for last. Just a short drive down the road from lunch, following the “West Trail” on our Bluebonnet trail map, led us to Bluebonnet Park. This was a great place to finish our half day trip. This park has a large pond, several playgrounds and a pavilion, with Bluebonnets scattered in every direction. This particular park only had a few thick patches of Bluebonnets, but several rolling hills and fields with the Bluebonnets scattered all around. We explored around the pond and wooded areas. If we would have started our day earlier, we could have fit in exploring the “North Trail” and “South Trail” which looked like much longer stretches of roads. I can only imagine how gorgeous the wildflowers are along those sunny stretches. Another reason to come back next year. Ennis, I’ll be back! Next time with my stretchy pants! Haha!

I promise you don’t have to love Bluebonnets as much as I do to enjoy a trip to Ennis. If you love anything outdoors, anything cute and quaint, anything historic, anything delicious then you will love this little slice of Texas. Here are a few other things I plan to come back and see:

• Texas Motorplex
• Lake Bardwell
• Festivals-check out their website for a complete list of ALL the festivals. Ennis is seriously festive! https://www.visitennis.org/

My camera is full of Bluebonnet pictures, my tummy is full of delicious food, and my head is full of ideas of all the places around town I want to come back and explore. I hope you book a super fun and adventurous trip to Ennis TODAY!

God bless Texas, and God bless Kolache Depot!!!

Have you been to Ennis? What activities did you enjoy??? What questions do you have about our trip?? Would love to hear from you!