Stonehenge II

After my frustrations from my hikes being unsuccessful, I tried a different route this week. I decided we were going to take a day trip. Toby and I love exploring Central Texas. There are so many cool things to see in do in just a couple of hours drive.

For awhile we've been wanting to check out Stonehenge II, so that would be our destination for the day with stop offs at any places that looked interesting along the way.

Along the way we passed our favorite winery, Arc De Texas. We decided to stop in for a glass of wine on this cold, crisp day. Our plan was to sit on the roof top like we usually do, but on the way up we decided to keep warm in the indoor sitting area. It was really nice and warm in there and we still had a great view of the hills. We were the only ones in there so it was really nice to have it all to ourselves....

Next, we drove into Fredericksburg and had lunch at Hondo's. We had planned to eat there last time we were there on Toby's birthday several months ago, but they were closed. The food and atmosphere was good. Their cole slaw had jalapenos in it, it was very tasty.

We arrived at Stonehenge II in Ingram, Texas. I had envisioned it being in a pasture in the middle of nowhere, but found it located on the premises of an art center. Later, I found out that it did, in fact, reside on a large piece of private property at one time, and it was rescued by the art center because of it's threat of being destroyed...

We checked out the inside of the art center.....

Behind the art center ran Johnson Creek. It was a pretty creek, so we walked along it for a bit...

Next, we drove into Kerrville, Texas which was very close to Ingram. Toby and I were pretty impressed with Kerrville. It seemed to be a nice city...not too big, not too small. There is a large 8 mile trail that runs along the Guadalupe River, which runs through the city. We walked a bit of the trail, then walked across the river to walk a bit of the city. We enjoyed Kerrville so much, that we talked about going back and exploring it more...

The trail that runs along the Guadalupe River....

It was really a beautiful area...hills, bluffs, the river.

Once we got back into Austin, we stopped in at our downtown Baby A's location and had dinner and drinks. We sat at the bar and chatted with our bar tender and a tourist who was in from New York City. It was great conversation.

We had a really nice day, and hope to get back to Kerrville soon.

Crappy Hikes and A Good Fight

Mother Nature has not been a friend to us this year. It never fails, the weather decides to rear its ugly head on our "weekends"

Last week I had a hike planned that we ended up canceling because it was rainy/wet. I most likely would've bit the bullet and went on ahead and went if it had not been cold too. I don't mold well to being wet and cold at the same time.

So, we decided we would do like the old folks do and go walk the mall. My dad and his wife walk five miles a day in their local mall. Keeps them spry in their old age.

I have to say, walking the mall is not my thing. It was rather boring and there are no challenges like hills or rocks to climb and nothing interesting to look at like animals, interesting vegetation or waterfalls. It made me realize how lucky I am to live in an area where I don't often have to resort to walking the mall. Mall walking will only be used as a last resort for us.

There was an interesting old van in there, but no information to say why it was there...

The next day it had stopped raining, but I decided that our original hiking idea would not be a good idea after the rain. The hike is prone to being muddy and I'm not a fan of walking in sticky mud. So, I chose another hike that I had spotted on the way to our last hike to Crockett Falls that appeared to have a paved trail.

Unfortunately, shortly after we got there we discovered the San Gabriel had risen because of the rain and a good portion of the trail was closed....

 Here's where the trail was blocked by the overflow from the river....

We decided to turn around and go back down the trail the opposite way in hopes that it would give us a good hike. Unfortunately, it was only a couple of mile hike and not really all that interesting, but at least it was somewhere we had not been before.....

We also had a water line break underground and had to have it fixed. $800 later we now have water pressure back and hopefully a lower water bill. Annoyingly, they had to dig up all my front landscaping, so now I'm going to have to figure out what to do to the dug up area to make it visually appealing again...something I'm not very good at...

For the past year Toby has been training in boxing, so recently he was able to enter the Tattoo Gloves fight. I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to watch, but once I saw he was getting the best of his opponent I couldn't take my eyes off it. I was really proud of him and his dedication to all the practice it took to get ready for the fight. All his hard work paid off. Aside from his belt, he also won some nice prizes....

Here's a link for anyone who wants to watch the fight.

Every time Lucas and Emily come to visit, Emily always goes and buys a puzzle to work on. They get them done in a days time, so after they left, it inspired me and Skye to go buy one. Three puzzles later, we're still working on puzzles. It's something we both enjoy doing together....

This week, I have a day trip planned. Stay tuned....

Well, Hello

Well, it's almost mid January, I was lost, but not gone forever.

Christmas came and went and was uneventful. Lucas and Emily came for a short visit after Christmas. I was only able to get a few random photos....

Lucas and Skye played some board games. Poor Skye, she loves board games but can never get me or Toby to participate.

Lucas with his Matthew McConaughey look going on..

We went and ate lunch at Uncle Julio's downtown and saw this cool looking art on a building...

Here's a picture of Lucas and Emily on their last vacation in Vancouver...

Yesterday was mine and Toby's 19th wedding anniversary, although I like to say it's our 20th because we lived in sin for a year before we actually tied the knot. We decided to go on a hike since that's something we both love to do, so we hiked to Crocket Falls. The last time we hiked to Crocket Falls was 10 years ago and we had a dog and kid in tow. It also the trail I tripped over a rock and cracked the bone in my knee cap. It's a really rocky hike..

There were some beautiful views of Lake Georgetown....

The old geezers even stopped for a celebratory anniversary selfie...

The water level was really high on the lake, so when we got close to the falls we had to take our shoes off and cross a small creek. A lady had spotted a snake there, and it had hid underneath the rocks in the creek, but from her description it sounded like it was just a water snake so I wasn't really worried about it. Toby and I debated whether we were going to cross, then decided to chance it because neither one of us wanted to turn back when we were that close to the falls.

After we crossed the creek, the falls weren't far at all. Unfortunately, because the lake level was so high, the actual falls were under water. There was another small fall nearby that was nice though....

After our hike we rewarded ourselves with another one of our favorites activities, drinking....

Here's a map of our hike, it was an out and back hike...

Here are a few other photos from December....

Me and Bo looking really old. He's older than I am in dog years and he has more gray hair than me...

This little bird kept trying to fly into our window. I think he was just learning to fly...

One morning the moon was so beautiful. It was weird to see it so bright in the morning....

One of my goals this year is to do a bit more hiking in areas we haven't been before, hopefully I can reach those goals.