Long walk with Stella

One of the last mornings Paige and fam were here, Stella and I decided to go on super long walk. We went on the trail between the houses. She took some fun pics of a bunny that she posted on the photo stream. This was a fun walk.

Kayaking

For different reasons Rick and I haven't gotten to take out the kayaks much this summer. We were at the lake 3 weeks ago kayaking with Paige and family, and then also boating. So we were super surprised to get to the lake and see how much it had gone down. Since we have had water at the boat ramp we use, I'm never seen the lake this low. We need a wet fall.

Hiking on Great Hills Trail

When Paige was here I was looking for short, 2-3 mile hikes for us to do with the ggrrls. This one is off of Great Hills Trails by the Arboretum.  It had lots of ups and downs, stream crossings, lots of trees and was just a fun 2.3 mile hike.

Rick and I decided to do the same hike. The deer were in the playscape area and later wandered onto the road; people nor cars upset them so they must be used to humans.

Missed the entire month of July

I was busy, out to Utah for a couple of weeks then back to Austin with Paige.

Scott and I flew back here with Paige and ggrrls. Kincade came a week later, then Scott went back to Utah. He stayed for 2 weeks. Kincade also stayed for 2 weeks and they overlapped for a week.

Paige was here for 3 weeks. We had a lot of fun. I think the ggrrls were getting tired of being here, out of there routine and beds and friends at the end. I'm glad they stayed for so long, it will be the last time. This time next year we will have already moved to Utah and been there for a few months.

I'm really not looking forward to moving us to Utah. It will be our first major move since Idaho that we have done on our own without the company picking up the tab. It will be a chance for us to declutter and make sure we are taking only that stuff that we really want.

Rick and I are both super looking forward to him retiring and us living in Utah with 2 of our kids. Jason will never leave Indy and Chris and Aly will be in Seattle. So lots of fun traveling to see them.

Pizza Grandpa's bug arrives to its new home

It was delivered at 9:30 on Sat night. Rick was happy to get it home to Texas. We had an orange super beetle we bought together even before we got married that I drove; I loved it. This is a 1977, ours would have been a few years older; it seems so small now. I don't remember it being that small. Also noisy. It doesn't have AC, ours didn't either.

New hiking paths

Over a year ago Rick and I, quite by accident, discovered a new hiking area. It was quite fun, lots of Texas trees, cedars, live oaks, and another tree with an unusual seed ball. I need to do research and discover its name, but I do see it all over and kind of looks like a live oak. Anyways...

When we first discovered the trail it had just rained a bunch the night before and the trail was muddy and slippery, had steep places with uneven rocks so we didn't go far. It was before Rick got his hip fixed and he didn't want to fall.

This morning at 7am we got up, drove there (not far, just off 620). It was overcast, temp had dropped from the high 90s to 70s this morning, but still warm and quite humid. It begins in a nice park, concrete sidewalks, then to an asphalt trail, and then to a path, rocky and dirt. I had read some reviews on it back then and one review said it eventually led to a meadow and perhaps you might see some wild pigs.

We began walking, got to the meadow about 1 1/2 miles (by the steps on my Fitbit), which was actually quite small, to a fenced gate that said it was the Balcones Refuge area, fragile plants and such, no one allowed in. Saw no wild pigs (really wanted to see one, drag it home and throw it on the Traeger).  OK. We turned around and headed back. We came to a turn in the path and I turned. Rick said that wasn't the way, and he led on straight following a trail. Soon the path got smaller and smaller, rockier, weedier. We had to jump across a small stream. I told him I didn't remember it being this narrow. Finally we were ducking under tree branches, tripping over rocks and other forest debris. I said I don't think this is the right path. He went ahead, now there was no trail (we had been joking about getting lost and the zombies getting us).

Eventually we turned around and went back to the path that forked and took the other fork. About 15 feet from the up path was our path, turning right. It was a little tricky to find going the other way, I understand even more how hikers in larger wilderness areas can get onto wrong paths so easily. We got on the path leading us back to the park and all was well. The entire hike, including wrong turn, was 3 miles. We were both dripping with sweat from the humidity. Good thing it was early, overcast, and not hot.

The path is really quite pretty, with the trees almost forming a cave-like covering that went for most of the trail. Definitely want to return, perhaps with Paige and/or Jason. I will be so sad when we can no longer do our walking (hopefully will be 20 years from now).

These are the seed balls from the tree I want the name of

The below pics show the trail and the beginning of the wrong path, then the right one.