we were ready for some serious adventure, so we set out for austin. along the way there were many songs to hear. in fact, it was Jax’s job to remind us at the end of each song that we needed “more songs!” he just doesn’t trust that ipod to keep on playing. as we got closer to austin, it started raining like crazy. sadly, we hadn’t closed the zipper cover on the car top bag as carefully as we might have (read not at all) and it got pretty full of water. this led to wet boots and further adventures later in the weekend.
on saturday night, our good buddy Audrey let us sleep on her floor. Dave and Monica hung out with us too. plans to hit the cool swimming holes were scuttled due to weather, but we had a good time sitting around and chatting. Jax and Audrey had a great time being silly. dinner at Whole Foods, a quick run to REI and some time spent at Book People rounded out the evening. it was great.
sunday morning, we put our stuff back into the car (now a bit drier) had lunch with some friends and then headed off to Pedernales Falls State Park. we got a great camp site hidden under some shade. with camp all set up and ready, we set off for the river. along the way we saw plenty of people on “bi-seek-uls” and we said “hi puppy” to the our passing canine friends.
it was a short walk to the water, but the grade down to the river was pretty steep if you’re not quite 3 feet tall.
we got to the bottom of the hill and discovered that there were “big, big rocks” in the water. some of them needed to be moved around a little and someone had to splash the water. a certain little boy even decided to really get into his work and lick the rocks. this was not advised by the parental units on hand but we all know how far that goes.
with the water thoroughly tasted and redistributed across the clothing of our keen adventurers, we headed back to camp where we watched the fire and got some much needed rest.
the next morning, we set out for the falls. it wasn’t a bad hike down and Jax seemed to really enjoy it. there weren’t too many places where he could get out and hike, but he had plenty of “big, big rocks” and “wagater falls” to point at so he was pleased. there were also plenty of folks to whom we could say “hi people!” and “more people!”
there were some rocks we had to climb.
and a couple of dicey jumps.
but we survived to tell the tale.
we followed one of the trails along the river and let the dude run free.
and run he did. in fact, he hiked well over a mile. we were so proud of him for setting the pace.
there was a fantastic picnic spot by the river’s edge under a tree.
the peanut butter sandwiches went down smoothly in the surrounding silence.
at the beach, there were more rocks to be tossed around and Jax single-handedly re-routed the river.
oh, and Stacey was there too.
another night in camp with some serious rest. we were very tired campers and the weather was nice and cool. there was much snoring and Jax even slept in his very own sleeping bag for the first time. in the morning, we had some oatmeal and went to find the trail that overlooks the twin falls. it was a really, really pretty view.
we took a quick family photo at the overlook.
we left the falls behind and broke camp to head off to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. we’ve been there before, but there were several trails we didn’t get a chance to hike the last time and it seemed like a good, close place to put in a couple of nights. and it was!
the trail we took around the main rock led us to some serious tests of climbing skill!
and some tests of our letters! again, Jax was quite the hiker on this trail. he covered most of the ground around the rock itself.
we hiked around the lake…
and found our way down into echo canyon where we took a left turn and started our ascent. we made it to the top pretty quickly and fortunately, there was a puddle to inspect.
Jax hiked over half of the way down Enchanted Rock all by himself. he’s not one to quit and it took quite a bit of work to convince him that it was time to get back in the carrier.
back at camp, we relaxed and made some popcorn.
and then some of us just passed out from all of the fun.
before we left on thursday morning, we saw four deer running in the dry riverbed near our camp site. this was pretty handy as Jax had been going on and on about “deer” since we first set up camp. on our last trip to Enchanted Rock, there were plenty of deer for a not-quite-walking Jax to check out. it was good to see that they were still there. he also mastered the bridge that crossed over to the site and the steps that led up to it. for a kid who lives in a house without stairs, that’s a pretty big deal!