Of course, all of that would require I had been awake for it. We did get to camp at 4 in the morning, after all, so it was an amazing enough feat that we rose around 10 as it was. Well, I woke to see a half-naked Amanda on the other top bunk writing in her journal, and in the process of getting out of bed and making some orange juice (from concentrate!), everyone else started making somewhat more conscious movements. Today, the plan was to drive around the area and see what uplifting sights the Hill Country had to offer us, to best cheer Amanda up. To save money on dinner, we had brought along ingredients for chili and a slow-cooker. I dropped in the still frozen chunk of ground beef and the sauce and spices, then we loaded up and headed out for breakfast.
It's always interesting to see people's reactions the first time they go to a tacqueria. Some, like us, see the menu that we can barely understand and start picking things at random to try. A few are more hesitant, but if they at least know what they're getting are still willing to experiment. Still others see things like goat, beef cheek linings, and pork skin and go "eeeewwwww!", then either run screaming in terror or order something "safe." Well, at least Amanda didn't run screaming in terror...she did stick with potato and egg breakfast tacos, though. I actually hadn't known there were chicarrone breakfast tacos (think pork rinds, but not dried up), so I had a couple of those as well as barbacoa. A little sweet tea to round it out, and we thought about where we wanted to go for the day.
One plan for the weekend was to take highway 1431, which was full of twisty roads, gorgeous vistas of the Colorado River Valley, and was simply a fun drive. We opted to save that one for Sunday and instead went a bit north, passing through many little farm roads, including a county road we had thought would be a shortcut, but turned out to be a dead end. At least we got the amusement of driving right past a herd of cows milling around the road...we were inside the fence, after all. We mooed at them a bit, then made our way eventually to Colorado Bend state park.
On driving in, all we could see was the dust kicked up by the car in front of us on the chalky, gravelly dirt road. We saw a watering hole, and hiking trails, and were driving a bit faster than we technically should have. You see, we'd been in the car a while, and it had been a long time since we'd passed any kind of gas station or anything else which might house a bathroom....the urge was building, and at that moment, all we cared about was actually getting into the park, finding park headquarters, and finding relief. Damn, that was a really long, bumpy road, and for much more time than we would have liked, we weren't seeing any real signs of civilisation. Finally, though, the road dipped down (a steep, curvy hill -- the 5 mph limit wasn't just kidding around), and we entered the park proper.
Wow.
Some scenes give such a sense of majesty that words cannot do them justice. A limestone cliff face towered over the park, like a canyon with only one side. The river was shallow here, and it rippled over stones scattered throughout its bed. Grassy banks sloped down, along with a few little waterfalls of their own, but the eye ignored much of that and was drawn back time and again to the wall, analysing it, finding handholds and footholds, as that was a surface that demanded to be climbed. Maybe not today, but soon, an attempt must be made.And then a bit of reality set back in.
"The bathroom! Gangway!"
Miraculously, I think we remembered to lock the car before abandoning it. After we were all feeling much better, we took another look at the scenery and knew we had to go play in the river. Yes, the water was ice cold, but no problem...it was shallow and I had my boots on. Of course, it was just deep enough I would have gotten wet anyway, but I managed to carefully balance my way across on very slippery rocks. I waved at the girls, then sat down and relaxed, looking out over the river bubbling along in front of me.
A moment later, I heard a squeal, and looked over in time to see Brandy rising drenched out of the frigid waters of the Colorado River, with a dripping Amanda perched on her back. Apparently, she had leaped on, calling out, "Carry me!" Brandy did okay for a little bit, but those rocks are more slippery than they look, and the water much deeper than it appears. After reaching the bank I was on, Brandy was quickly out of her jeans, with her socks and boots drying near them.
I went and visited with Angela for a while, back on the original side of the bank, as she was uncomfortable with the slope of the ground down to the water...maybe next time. After a bit, I went back, this time saying the hell with it and just slogging through the river, setting my boots out to drain and my socks to dry once I got over there. We spent who knows how long just pocking around the rocks and cliff face, joking with some fishermen on their way upstream -- wise men...they had waders, and just generally having a good time. Eventually, though, it was time to depart, and we prepared to wade back across the mighty Colorado.
Deciding my boots and socks had absorbed enough of the river for one day, I hitched up my pants and waded across barefoot.
The river opted to remind me that it was still late February. I found that barefoot, it was not only very, VERY cold, but also that river rocks are unpleasant to cross without something on your feet....note to self, buy some aqua shoes at some point...I don't think I could feel my toes by the time I was delicately stepping on the gravelly shore like someone walking across burning coals for the first time. I squeezed another quart of water out of my socks, which I had carried across with me....I think they got wetter just by being close to the water. I also poured a gallon of river water out of each boot, then went ahead and put them back on. I then paced about, skipping a few pebbles while I waited for Brandy to cross....I think Amanda was up the shore somewhere...then we went back and sat with Angela for a bit before we were ready to get back in the car and start making our way back to camp....hurray for Angela's homemade trail mix!It was quite a pleasant meandering drive back to Burnet, and when we pulled into town, the sun was well past down....we might not have planned originally on a campfire, but what the hell. We bought some wood, some marshmallows, and some Little Smokies to roast, then continued back to the park, where the chili was delicious, built a fire, and relaxed a bit before finally drifting off to sleep.
