To Kill a Mountain Lion . . . With a Spatula

(image from realaspen.com)

We moved from the Rio Grande Valley to Austin almost seven years ago. From the beginning, I was afraid of encountering a mountain lion. T always laughed, but I insisted it wasn’t unthinkable.

Autumn Morning

The view from our window this morning:

Pedernales Falls Milked for All They’re Worth 6

This is the last Pedernales Falls post. Well, the last one about this spot in the state park, anyway.

Toward the left of the main stretch of rocky falls is one of my favorite spots:

Pedernales Falls Milked for All They’re Worth 5

It doesn’t look like the water is very forceful, but people kept drowning around here. The water has formed big holes in the rock under water, and there are treacherous currents. So since the end of the seventies, swimming is no longer allowed.

Pedernales Falls Milked for All They’re Worth 4

When you get down the rocky kind-of-stairs, you come to a sandy beach. This part was a setting in the movie Sharkboy and Lavagirl by Robert Rodriguez. And that’s the only interesting titbit of information you’re going to get. Time to explore.

Pedernales Falls Milked for All They’re Worth 3

The Pedernales River winds across the Texas Hill Country, and at Pedernales Falls State Park it has a wide stretch of rock falls. The word “falls” suggests water falling from a height, but it’s actually a gradual sloping stretch of rock about a mile long, that the water runs over, or slips over. So it’s not as vertically spectacular as, say, Niagara Falls, but it’s still pretty grand, in that low-key Texas Hill Country way. In short, I’m building it up, but I don’t want to set you up for disappointment, either. Because then you might voice that disappointment, and I don’t know if I could handle that, since I’m really rather fond of Pedernales Falls.

Pedernales Falls Milked for All They’re Worth 2

After driving to the parking lot nearest the falls, you have a three minute walk through a cedar forest. On an overcast day it’s always slightly claustrophobic. When the kids were younger, I insisted they stay close, because I was worried about mountain lions. T thinks that’s very funny. But just the other day a mountain lion attacked a horse closer into town than Pedernales Falls. You just never know in woods like these…

Pedernales Falls Milked for All They’re Worth 1

I’m going to be very busy with translations this coming week, and I took about 100 photos yesterday when B and I went to Pedernales Falls, so I’m going to spread them out.

Natural Bridge Caverns

Yesterday we went to Natural Bridge Caverns, in the hill country between Austin and San Antonio. The natural bridge was formed when a sinkhole appeared, leaving the natural bridge on this photo, and the entrance to the caves.

Blanco Lavender Fest 2012

On this, the first day of summer vacation, we went to Blanco, a little town along the Blanco River, where they hold the Blanco Lavender Fest every year. As usual, it was hot, but nice. A real taste of Hill Country. You can click on a photo to make it bigger.

I Can Prove It!

Finally, I managed to take a picture of the deer along the side of the road in our subdivision.

They barely look up when I drive by, but when I slow down or stop, they are all on high alert. I have tried before to take a picture through an open window, but that never works, so this time I kept the window up and just drove by really slowly, clicking my phone camera as I went.

That’s as good as it gets.Three of them are pretty clear, but there are two or three more among the trees that don’t really show.  But at least it’s proof for my friends and family in the Netherlands who probably think I’m exaggerating about the deer.

I’ve got a small translation, so the coming two weeks I won’t be writing much, and I’ll probably be posting a photo every now and then at most. I’ll try to keep up with all the posts I’m following, though.

Hill Country Flowers

Photo from Wikipedia

Lady Bird Johnson was the wife of president Lyndon B. Johnson, who was born in Johnson City, west of Austin. As First Lady she promoted the Highway Beautification Act, and in 1982, together with actress Helen Hayes, she founded the National Wildlife Research Center, a few miles from our home in southwest Austin.

Top Ten Things I’d Miss About Austin if I Lived in Holland

Going for endless road trips without even leaving the country