It may be mid-February, but in Texas, it's just starting to warm up for spring. Life is returning after lying dormant for a frozen couple of weeks (regardless of the calendar everyone else uses, winter in Texas is about a month long), and the urge to go was raging within us.
Alas, the camping/canoeing trip we had hoped for was not to be, as overnight lows were predicted to be in the mid-30s. *shudders* Oh, hell no.... So Plan B was to go and wander the Hill Country in some detail, especially the area around Inks Lake and the Colorado River west of Austin. We'd find a hotel room near Burnet or Marble Falls to be home base, trek down Friday night, spend all day Saturday and most of Sunday wandering, and back home Sunday night.
Oh, fickle internet, why did you forsake me? The nearest reasonably-priced hotel room was all the way off in San Marcos! Hmph...hey, wait a second...some state parks have cabins...I wonder how much those are...
Lo, and behold! A cabin at Inks Lake, for the same price as Econolodge in San Marcos. So we might need a space heater to help warm the room, and the bathroom is a short hike away...but what does that matter against stepping out on a crisp but warming February morning to seeing the lakeshore and trees and ducks and deer and...but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's back up a bit.
This trip was to be about many things....showing Angela the twisties Brandy and I had found on our last day trip, finding new twisties as we explored the area further, enjoying another "outdoorsy" trip with all three of us, and de-stressing from a very busy couple of weeks with me out of town on business more than usual. We also were bringing a friend with us, who had just been through a nasty breakup, and planned to use this trip to do a little soul-searching. We hoped to give her the kind of experience that always helped our own souls.
A little last-minute shopping with Angela to pick up some supplies, and packing the car while Brandy was on her way home from work, and finally, on the evening of the 2-month anniversary of Brandy moving in, we piled in the car and were on the road.
First stop, Buffalo Jones for dinner! Since finding this little gem of a burger place in Venus, we have become regulars there, trying to stop by whenever we were heading south. Of course, with Brandy's new schedule, we were arriving much later than normal, and sure enough, they were closed. The girls were disappointed, but rather than drive on by, I figured we'd take a chance on playing the "regular customer" card, and pulled into the gravel lot, walked up and peered in the door. Sure enough, as soon as Dwayne spotted me, he opened the door right up and invited us in as his wife fired up the grill to take our orders. Skittish, squeaky, shy Amanda got the honor of having one of the last two buffalo burgers, as this was her first experience. It was so funny to see her reaction as we explained she was eating actual buffalo meat, that the burger wasn't just called a buffalo burger to have a catchy name. Lemme just add "squeamish" to that list of S-adjectives, as her further reaction of "ewwww" when we told her they also had ostrich burgers was to become a running theme for the trip. I guess not everyone can have the cast-iron stomachs and adventurous appetites that we do.
After much fun chatting with the Buffalo Jones proprietors and a very good meal (as usual), along with several attempts to get Amanda to stop reading a catalog and eat so we could get going, she finally admitted to being full, and we got her a to-go box, said our farewells, and drove on, into the night.
It was a glorious and clear sky, and we knew the stars would be very visible, so that meant a stop in Chalk Mountain was on the agenda. We missed the turn that we used there before, but found another good spot, just off a county road as 67 meets with 220. We piled out of the car, stood in the darkness outside the glow of the metroplex, and looked up.
Infinity.
I know that green is the color of life, the rebirth of the forests and fields from their winter slumber, but black dotted with white, the inverse of frost-covered expanses, holds a different kind of promise. The promise of mystery, of something to explore, no matter how far we look, there will always be more to see. Brandy has described the Hill Country as naturally breeding curiosity - what's around the next bend, behind that hill, down that trail? I grew up in the Hill Country, exploring those trails, climbing those hills, and peeking around those bends. My second love was astronomy...I may not have studied it as deeply as I could have, but the mystery and promise of things to explore always appealed to me, and so I love to take the time to look at a full night sky, even when I'm shivering from the cold. Shooting stars, satellites, constellations, and the Milky Way...there's so much to see, and Amanda was seeing shooting stars one after the other. It was like the universe was telling her, "Everything is going to be all right." Eventually, though, the cold began to get to us, and one by one, we slipped back into the car, with Brandy the last to leave the stars behind.
A quick stop for some cocoa in Hico, and we were at last making our way south on 281. Angela had fallen asleep as per usual, and we had just switched drivers so Brandy could make the second leg to the cabin. Night driving is usually Brandy and I keeping each other awake and is typically when our conversations take a more philosophical turn. On this occasion, we spoke with Amanda about where she's been, where she's going, and offered hope that while things may have gone sour for her recently, there is always opportunity for happiness if you don't let yourself miss it. I spoke of when I had a romance end in high school and spent so much of my energy missing her that I missed several girls that in hindsight were pretty blatantly hitting on me. While unfortunate, I can't regret that it happened that way, as I otherwise might not have learned the lesson I saw later. Be happy with yourself, and it will be easier to be happy with others. If you spend a relationship waiting for it to fail, you might just find yourself unable to see how well it really is going. There is always more out there...whether you see it is up to you.
After an hour or two of good deep conversation, she was feeling basically good about things, and we were finally turning onto Park Road 4, one of our favorite roads to drive...the first hill gives a great roller-coaster sensation, followed by a nice, hilly, twisty road, and even a castle! Unfortunately, it was dark, so we couldn't admire the scenery just yet, but that would come in the morning. Carefully making our way around, trying to make sure we don't hit any deer as we progress, we pull into the Inks Lake park entrance, find the keys to our cabin, and go on a quest to locate our accomodations in the dark...after a while, we found where the cabin numbers were hung, and drove around until we found ours, right on the shore of the lake, and only a couple minute hike from the bathroom. Everyone was sleepy and ready for bed, but we got the gear unloaded, the space heater set up, and one last pause to view the stars over the lake before bed.
Beautiful...and this is only the beginning...
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