”The Big Rock”

Well, here’s the tale of our first hike of the day.  Well, after our hike to breakfast at the hotel.  OK, and after our hike to the little building at a place called Enchanted Rock.  (I looked around for Harry Potter, or at the very least Hermoine, but didn’t see any of that crew.  So no help on why or how this big ol’ rock got enchanted or what the enchantment looks like).   Why the little building?  Why, to get our entry permit, of course.  I’m now an officially registered Old Guy with the State Parks system.  Half price (rounded up to the nearest dollar) for me and a guest.  Oh, yeah, and there was the hike from our car to the bathroom before we got started.  Always a necessary precaution.

So finally we were ready.  And off we went.  We hiked to the very top of enchanted Rock.  Yep.  We finally made it to the site after no less than four unsuccessful attempts.  And I gotta say, that’s one huge hunk of rock.  No steps here.  Some of it of pretty steep, too.  A few overnight campers we saw told us they had watched a high angle rescue the night before.  Apparently some lady had slipped and fell into a crack up there somewhere.  Wasn’t us, Nathan.  The view was incredible, but it was really windy - chilly windy - up on top.  On our way down we decided to take a short cut - a side hike to the lake we had seen from the pinnacle of the peak.  What we didn’t know at the time was that trail was supposed to be closed Dow after some flooding wiped some of it away.  We groped and stumbled our way through piles of rock and unknown directions.  I told Chris to trust my ability when it comes to finding water.  After all, I was born on an Island.  She trusted the hidden trail markers more.  And she found them, too.  Great eyes.

The lake was a very nice plus.  I touched the water.  Kind of a tradition I have.  Then. We picked up another trail that led roughly back to the front gate.  The highlight of that trail had to be the marmot sighting.  Haven’t seen one of them since we lived in Colorado.  Oh, we also met some ladies from Pearland.  They said they were from Houston until we told them we were from Galveston.  Then they suddenly remembered the real name of their town.  I guess they figured we should know where Pearlnd was.

So, the aftermath of the journey?  Well, that health monitoring app on my phone says I walked 4.6 miles.  I think climbing a mountain confused it, though.  It added that I went up 34 flights of stairs.

We tried two different places for lunch.  No place to park at either of them.  Seriously?  One would think there are a few tourists in town.  We finally ended up at a steak house we found.  Chris ordered a chicken fajita salad.  They brought her steak fajitas.  She complained, and the manager had the cook throw a chunk of chicken on the grill just for her.  My meatloaf and fried okra was great.

After lunch we went to one of those big metal chicken making places.  Chris almost bought a metal bluebonnet, but she was afraid it would rust into nothingness by the end of the summer.  She’s probably right.

From there we stopped by the Wildseed Farms and looked at ... bluebonnets (Imagine that).  Oh, and a filed of red poppies.  And we saw some white and some maroon bluebonnets.  I still say that can’t be a thing ... by definition doesn’t a bluebonnet have to be blue?  We met a couple from Wisconsin and took a picture for them hanging out in the red poppy field.  They returned the favor.  Oh, and we bought some jam and honey to replenish our supply.

It was kind of early, so we drove around trying to find something else to do around town.  What we discovered was that we have already done everything we are interested in doing.  I guess that’s a good thing.  Now we can move on to a new place.  So we headed back to the hotel to crash and watch some Astros.  Bring on tomorrow ...

Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Father, that’s a great spiritual image of what we were feeling physically last night.  Thanks for your rest.  Amen.