We first went to Llano on our way to Inks Lake State Park, and were impressed with their trust system RV parking in the city park for $15. It was a pretty park, right on the river, and included water and electric hook-ups.
Music was inside an old movie house.
Llano is only a half an hour from Beth and Don’s cabin, so when we saw that they were having a Bluegrass Festival on Memorial Day Weekend, we decided to check it out on Saturday during a cloudbreak.
Unfortunately, it started raining again as soon as we got there. What locals swore was normally a popular event for both locals and tourists was now a sputtering dud. There were a few die-hard vendor booths, and we bought some fresh-picked green beans for dinner and some elk-horn chews for Bailey. The music was inside an old movie theater, and we took a peek, but decided we didn’t really want to pay the $15 to sit inside to listen. (The theater was icy cold and we were wet.) Instead, we went to a local diner for lunch. We finished just in time for free cobbler and ice cream servings in the town gazebo. (Normally Bluebell Ice Cream sponsors the festival, but they had recently had to shut down production due to a massive and controversial recall, but locals stepped up with homemade.)
A hotel of railroad cars.
Llano is actually a very cute historical Texas town, so before we headed back to the cabin, Beth and Don showed us a few of their favorite spots. The railcar hotel where they’d stayed once. Another hotel supposedly frequented by Bonnie and Clyde in the 20s. A house, now café, that was made famous by the filming of “Chainsaw Massacre.” A swing near the bridge that’s part of a national project to inspire fun (Red Swing Project). And a flooding riverbed decorated with stacked rocks.
Even in the rain, Llano was fun. We made our way back to the cabin before the real downpour began.