This is just one photograph of many we took this day in Big Bend State Park, about 40 miles west of the national park.

In the town of Terlingua earlier this morning, we stopped at a rock shop for Sheryl to browse the local offerings. The man who ran the shop asked what our plans were for the day - we told him we intended to hike into Santa Elena Canyon - a quintessential hike in Big Bend National Park. He asked if we knew about the drive west from Terlingua to Presidio - about 50 miles - along Rt 170. He informed us that it was rated by National Geographic as one of the top 10 scenic drives in America. And the bluebonnets were in bloom as they had just had some rain a week earlier. Sold! It's rare to be in the right place at the exact right time, so we packed up some lunch fixin's and we were off on the sole road heading west out of Terlingua toward Presidio.

From the start, the road was very hilly as it hugged the Rio Grande and the lush vegetation that lined the river. He told us it would be easy to find the bluebonnets - you'll see them when you get to the "big hill". As you can imagine, there's no sign to tell you when you get to the big hill, but it's unmistakable. The big hill has a grade of 15%, making it the steepest highway in all of Texas and it was along this roller coaster road that we found thick patches of the State Flower of Texas. We're told that they are highly aromatic, but we were perhaps a little stuffy with preseason allergies and didn't catch the strong fragrance.

The blooms are an electric blue and reminded us of mini lupine blooms.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 100-400mm f/4.5/5.6L IS @ 370mm, 1/320 sec @ f/5.6 ISO equiv 800, Calumet 8000 Carbon Fiber Tripod, Gitzo G1276 Ballhead