I've been looking forward to visiting with my friend from Nacogdoches, Loretta. It turned out that she is in Austin just now, helping out her daughter, Teresa, in caring for Joseph and Isaac, two very active little boys. That was very convenient for us, since our route north takes us through Austin. We stayed at McKinney Falls State Park last March and really enjoyed it, so we were happy to take advantage of the opportunity to stay there again and to get together with Loretta.
We had originally planned to get together tomorrow, but the weather forecast included a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms, some severe, so we rescheduled for today.
We had our choice of hiking trails. First we headed to the lower falls and then walked past the Smith Visitor Center. We saw lots of wildflowers, including plenty of bluebonnets, along the way. Then we entered the Rock Shelter Trail. That led us to the upper falls, where a fellow hiker took our photo.
We spotted these turtles sunning themselves on a log.
We ended up on the Onion Creek Trail. As we were passing the primitive tent campsites, we saw a woman with binoculars raised, looking up into the trees. She said, "There's an owl up there." Loretta got this shot of the bird (which Ken enlarged).
Along the way, Loretta's IPhone hiking program piped up every mile to notify us of our time and distance and pace. After a five-mile hike, we greeted Ken and fixed lunch. It was wonderful to reconnect with Loretta, and now that she's spending time in Austin, it will be easier to see her a bit more often.
I am actually writing this blog on Tuesday, since our internet connection was essentially worthless yesterday. However, that did encourage us to sit outside and read while enjoying the trees and fresh air.
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