Austin - Hamilton Pool Preserve and Rosie's Tamale House

Wow! E picked Hamilton Pool out from some online resource, so we put it on the list. What a beautiful spot! It is a bit out in the country, about 1/2 hour from Austin. There is an $8 charge per car that comes in. A short trail leads sharply downhill on limestone steps and dirt. Then a short path takes you through huge rocks to the pool. This is one of the most amazing features I have seen. The overhang is huge! There is a path around the entire overhang in the back. A stream drips over the top, ensuring water for plants that grow on and under the overhang.

From the back you get a great view of the swimming area. There is a small limestone sand and pebble beach. Kind of hurts your tender feet, but a pair of flip-flops would help a lot. The water is really great. While we were there the sky got dark and the wind came up. A young woman ranger appeared and told people that if it rained more than 1/2 inch she would have to get people out. They have to test for bacteria (takes 24 hours) before allowing people in again.  While it rained people took shelter under the overhang.

This gives you a better idea of the depth of the overhang. It is really deep. I couldn't begin to image how this formed, as the canyon was neither terribly deep nor wide. There must have been some immense drainage going on. As we looked at the underlying rock, it seemed to be a softer composite, rather than a harder limestone.

Some of the drips come down from large stalactites. The rock must be a little porous, as not all of the stalactites appear at the lip of the overhang.

A bunch of swallows live here, in these mud nests. They are located in a sheltered spot under the lip of the overhang.

Starting just below the pool is a stream that contains bald cypresses. This is kind of amazing, finding trees that require wet conditions in the middle of what amounts to a limestone hill desert. The trees are beautiful. They have gnarly roots and knees. They extend all down the stream.

The pools are really beautiful. The light rain continued while we were walking down the trail. It kept things realtively cool and refreshing, and kept dimpling the pools.

This pool had a prehistoric look, with the rocks and cypresses!

At the end of the path is the Pedernales River. We were surprised at the amount of water and at the width of the river. It was very peaceful here.

After the park H had a hair appointment - for a free haircut. She thought it would take about 1 1/2 hours. We began to get kind of antsy after a while (no pun intended). We were reduced to watching a herd of ants take away a spilled peanut.

Eventually, after 4 hours, tons of text messaging, and a few snarky visits to the cutting room by me, H came out transformed. She now has short hair (and it looks beautiful)!

By then it was 9:30PM and we were worried about getting dinner. We had planned to go to Rosie's Tamale House, famous for guess what? Tamales. They took us in without a problem and fed us in a very short time. We were kind of starved and finished very quickly. Everything was really good. The tamales, of course, were superb. One of the recommendations we saw on the web was "the best gooey TexMex in Texas". Confirmed!

Austin - Mount Bonnell and Threadgills

Mount Bonnell is in the northwest of Austin, looking over Lake Austin. 100 odd steps up from the parking is a very nice picnic area and a set of paths looking over the lake. Right at the top of the steps is this area looking over the lake.

From here and along paths going both ways there are wonderful views of Lake Austin.

Lots of million dollar + homes out here. The lake is surprisingly placid. We only saw one or two boats while we were up there picnicing and walking the paths. There were a bunch of girls up there quacking on cell phones instead of looking at the scenery (go figure).

We went over to the original Threadgills for dinner. I first heard of it in an Amex commercial long ago. Then when I spent some time in Austin I went there for dinner a couple of times. This is a terrific place, providing down home country cooking. They also have the best veg side dishes you can find.

We had chicken-fried steak, fried catfish, salisbury steak, and pecan-crusted chicken for dinner. It was accompanied by creamed spinach, garlic cheese grits, lots of fried okra, and scalloped potatoes.

Austin - 6-July

Today's adventure was the Austin Botanical Garden, located off Barton Springs Road on the other side of Town Lake from Austin's downtown. This is a beautiful garden, located on the side of a hill, covered by live oaks.

There are a series of outbuildings here, brought here to exemplify Texas History. Strange to me was the idea that a lot of Swedish people came here. This is an example of a log cabin built by early settlers.


















For a relatively dry place (not much seems drier than limestone hills), there are a lot of water features in this garden. There are falls, lily ponds, a Japanese garden, running streams, and more.

 Since this is limestone country, most of the garden displays pathways, walls, and structures built of limestone. Strangely, the limestone has this sort of quartzy looking inclusions. They display strange crystal structures. I'll have to ask my geologist sister to comment. (Apparently, this is calcite. The little diamonds in the lower left are indicative of the cubic crystal structure.The other shapes; who knows why they are there?)

Part of the garden is designated for a dinosaur exhibit. This one is early, I guess. 

 

Close to the dinosaur part is this little pool with a tiny gazebo, inhabited by mud daubers.

  

 

There are some animals and insects about, too. We saw a coyote skulking through the brush, along with hearing birds, and seeing a bunch of dragonflies and damselflies.

My favorites are always the water lilies, though. They are really elegant.

Austin - Yesterday adventures

Saturday is the Austin Farmer's Market day. This is held in the middle of town (on 4th and Guadelupe - Republic Park). The focus is on organic food. Apparently there are a lot of small farms around Austin devoted to making good food.



































 The produce is top-notch.

There are also cheese and bread makers. We took the loaf closest to the camera home with us. It was very good, whole wheat, and well-baked (even bubbles, good crumb, sesame on top).

For kids and adults there is a bit of entertainment. Here are the finishers of Heat 1 of the zucchini races. This ends the age-old question: "Does a human get both feet off the ground when galloping?" Note the zucchini batons in hand.

There is quite a bit of music, too. These guys were playing a fine country blue-grass set.

This young lady was hawking something by walking up and down, but I did not catch exactly what it was. She was obliging for a picture. (She actually thanked me!)

There was a little something for every one. Here is a store with Chinese lettering on the boxes. We know not what is inside.

Then we were off to the Bob Bullock Museum and the Story of Texas. This is a terrific museum, with a couple of movie theaters. We saw the Star of Destiny, a story of the Texas spirit. The seats rumbled with the thunder and lightening, and we were misted during the Galveston Hurricane part of the presentation. Sam Houston (or the actor playing him) sounded suspiciously like George W. Bush.

In the middle of the atrium is this huge inlay with a variety of the historical features of Texas' history.

The building itself is quite a monument.

















It seems you can only get a decent picture of the Texas Capitol from the middle of a huge street. Careful!

For din we went to the Iron Works. This is Texas barbecue at its best. Iron Works is in a galvanized tin building that used to be a blacksmith shop. Some of the tools are still inside. The place is raw, simple, and makes outrageously good bar-b-que, Texas style. That means slooooow cooking, smoke, and really good quality meat. No fat and gristle here. They serve up a plate cheap, $7-9 with potato salad, beans, a slice of Texas sweet onion, some  bread, and all the jalapenos you can stand. Order at the counter, put it together with a Dos Equis or a Shiner Bock, and it's close to heaven. The meat is smoky, tender, darkened on the outside, and unsauced (unless you do it). Brisket, pork ribs, chicken, sausage, and more are available. Like much of Austin, this is close to the green belt. It is a couple of blocks from Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake/Lake Austin, and right next to Waller creek that winds alongside a walkway down through Austin to the lake. It is cool and shaded by the trees, some of which grow up through the porch roof.

Austin - 4th of July

We started our day walking down the Barton Creek trail. There is an entrance close to where H and D live. Barton Creek is dry (unusual for this time of year). It is a limestone creek with a pock-marked, shelved, and occasionally graveled bed. There is a bit of wildlife to be seen and lots of bird calls to hear.

There are some really nice houses built up along the cliffs. They must have a beautiful view when the creek is running.

There are shaded stretches mixed with open, sunny, limestone gravel paths. Watch your sunburn! There is a ton of poison ivy along the path, but also some interesting flowers.

















When you get to the bottom you are at the Zilker Park. There is a paid entrance to the spring-fed pool, but also another example of Austin's dog culture. Below a small dam is a pool devoted to dogs. They swim, bark, shake themselves off, and generally have a good. Lots of kids are here along with adults, enjoying the water, too.

































As with children, some owners are very careful with their animals.

In the evening there were fireworks. We prepared by leaving a car and folding seats in a park early in the day. Then we took the bus (nice - really good AC) down to the park. Then we walked over to the Auditorium Shores. The exhibition hall flanks a park, including an area where dogs play on the shore of Town Lake (also known as Lady Bird Lake). The report indicated that 100,000 people were at the event. The Austin Symphony, which usually plays in the auditorium, played outdoors. They ended up with the 1812 Overture, complete with cannons firing. They ended around 9:30PM when the fireworks began.

Lots of vendors were there, everything from little lights on a string to light savers to these baloons.




























These pics were taken with an exposure time of around 1 second. They show feathered edges to some of the fireworks, rexulting from the decay and fall of burning particles from the path of the bursts. This was a good show! Lots of ooohs and ahhhhs from the crowd. Lots of applause at the end.

The finale was intense, as usual.
















Here are the ghosts of people leaving at the end of the display, along with the Monarch building lights shining through all the firework smoke.