Bluebonnets along back country roads in Fredericksburg, TX.

Nature didn’t exactly cooperate with us while we were in Austin. First we stopped by the Congress Avenue Bridge at dusk to watch the nightly flight of the roughly 1.5 million bats who live there. Only the bats didn’t appear until after dark, which is to say they didn’t really appear to us at all.

The following day we drove to the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center; a huge mistake. Notwithstanding wildflower blooms everywhere along roadways, and a claim on their website that over 20 flowers were blooming at the center, we paid $9 each to see this:

Money well spent. The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, TX took $9 each to see this scrub.

I don’t blame the bats for being tardy, or the flowers for not blooming on schedule. I do blame the humans who work at the Wildflower Center for charging full admission without warning when they know perfectly well there is nothing to see.

Our advice? Skip the Wildflower Center altogether. It’s expensive, unpredictable, and, most importantly, you can see fabulous wildflower displays along the back roads for free. Ask at a visitor center for the best routes, which is what we did once we arrived in Fredericksburg where nature didn’t disapoint.