This morning was warmer than the past few. It was still very cloudy and an occasional drizzle. We haven’t been able to sit outside or eat outside much since we have been here due to the weather, so this morning since it was warmer we enjoyed having our breakfast outside. Kerrville-Schreiner Park was much fuller this morning since it is the weekend. Lots of kids out playing. Parents biking with their kids. Nice.
Today we decided to stay in the park and hike and do some geocaching. There are several hiking trails in the park that wind all over the 517 acres. Today we hiked 11 miles and both of us got over 26,000 steps. Think we will sleep well tonight. Some of the trails went through areas thick with cedar trees. You could smell the cedar as we hiked through. We hiked up to the highest point of the park where there was a beautiful view of the surrounding area. We had a great day in the park!
The weather didn’t look that great this morning. We had some fog and drizzle again but it was warmer. We really debated about what to do today. In the end we decided we would go ahead with our plans to climb Enchanted Rock State Natural Area and we are so glad we did.
Enchanted Rock is about 18 miles north of Fredericksburg, or 44 miles north east of Kerrville on a Texas farm road. Enchanted Rock is a huge pink granite dome, think Stone Mountain. Enchanted Rock rises 425 feet above the base elevation of the park. Its high point is 1,825 feet above sea level, and the entire dome covers 640 acres. Climbing the Rock is like climbing the stairs of a 30- or 40-story building. We might have gotten better photographs with better sun but the cloud cover made for a much more pleasant hike. The scenery is amazing. It’s no wonder this small park gets over 250,000 visitors each year. We had so much fun hiking around on the top. There were other people at the summit but the area is so large you don’t even notice the other people. The granite is beautiful. There are huge pieces of it on the sides of the road and in pastures as you approach the park. There are lots of other hiking trails (about 10 miles) in the park in addition to the hike to the summit we took today. We will have to consider going back for more hiking another day. We will see. The weekends are always more crowded so we may hike more of the trails at the park tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Elk seen on the way to the rock
Click to enlarge the pictures to learn more about Enchanted Rock
See For Yourself
More than Meets the Eye
Island Ecosystems Information
View from the bottom
The Trail Up
One of many pools of water on top
Oasis on top
These two boulders that have not yet fallen off
The rock is always changing
Wild Christmas Cactus grows in the cracks in the rock
Yesterday we went to the local doughnut store for breakfast and then tried a Tex-Mex restaurant recommended by Barb for late lunch. In between we did some hiking in the park. We also did a little shopping yesterday but otherwise it was a quiet day in the park, relaxing. It was a gray cloudy day so not a good day for pictures.
Today was suppose to be better but not so much. We had heavy fog this morning and light rain or drizzle most of the day. Fortunately for us it stopped while we were in Fredericksburg walking around town but started back about the time we were heading back to the truck to drive home. Light rain continues now and the fog is again thickening.
With the drizzle, we decided it was an indoor day and we went to Fredericksburg to tour the National Museum of the Pacific War. This is a very well done museum. We found our experience much like our experience at places like Pearl Harbor. It’s a very good experience, well done. We are glad we went. It isn’t something you can say is fun. It is very sobering. It is however, very important that we all remember our history. If we do not, we will repeat our mistakes and poor choices.
Naval gun in the outside display area
Out in front of the museum is this surfacing sub display
The museum is arrange chronologically, starting with the many years of conflict leading up to the war
Many little known facts are presented
Famous words
A captured mini-sub from the Pearl Harbor attack
About the mini-subs
There is a room dedicated to the Japanese Americans living in the US during the war
A display about Civil Defense during WWII
There are rooms dedicated to each major battle
Many actual weapons from the war are on display
B-25B – the type of aircraft flown in the Doolittle Raid. That raid cause little physical damage, but proved to the Japanese population they were not immune to attack.
An actual Australian tank used in the war
Of course there has to be a Jeep on display
The war was also fought in Alaska
One of several excellent video displays
TBM Avenger – the type of aircraft flown by George H. W. Bush
Information about George H. W. Bush and his service
One of the few surviving PT Boats is on display in a mockup of a PT Boat tender
The Pacific Battle Zone where re-enactments are staged
Nearing the end of the timeline of the displays
A mockup of one of the bombs used to end the war
The reasoning leading to the use of the atomic weapons to end the war
This sign and quote at the Pacific Battle Zone are a reminder
Japanese Garden of Peace
Plaque explaining the Garden of Peace
A vintage recruiting poster
The sobering visit to the museum today reminded a lot of our visit to Pearl Harbor a few years ago.
After the museum we had a great late (3:00) lunch at a local sports bar and grill. The sandwiches were great with a good German potato salad. We saw some more exotics that we have not photographed driving back to Kerrville, but the rain and low clouds kept us from getting any pictures. Maybe another day. Another good day in Texas.
The wind howled last night and kept us a wake part of the night. It was a cold north wind but had passed through by the time we got up this morning. It was again cold, at 31 degrees, but the sun was shining and it warmed up quickly again. It was 10 degrees cooler at 51 today so we decided to walk instead of ride bikes for exercise today.
We started the day by going to Mary’s Tacos, rated as serving the best breakfast taco in Kerrville. We have to agree they are very tasty, quite filling and very reasonably priced. We got two tacos for $5.00 including tip which we ate in the truck in the parking lot. There is no seating at Mary’s. We figured we could go back inside and order another if we were still hungry but decided one was enough. We will probably go back for another visit before we leave Kerrville.
Mary’s Tacos
Inside Mary’s Tacos
Chorizo and egg taco
After leaving Mary’s, we decided to drive through some of the subdivisions Ross took us through to see if we could get pictures of some of the exotic game animals here. Never thought we would be doing wildlife photography in Kerrville. We knew there were the usual whitetail deer, raccoons, etc, but endangered, and very endangered species – that surprised us. We don’t know all the facts but there are ranches that are raising these animals. Some were close to extinction a few years ago and now there are nice herds here in Texas. And surprising to us, because the ranches are raising these animals they are also allowed to hold hunts for people who have the money to pay. Lots of money. We might pay for a “safari” if it were a photography “safari”. Anyway, we found a number of animals, some of which were behind tall ranch fences and some who have escaped and are roaming freely in subdivisions. Can’t help but think that there are going to be problems in years to come with all these non-native species roaming around. Please do not flame us for this post. We are simply taking pictures of what we have found. We took some of the pictures in Kerrville and others as we drove down to Bandera and Medina. The drive to and from Bandera and Medina was pretty and interesting.
Scimitar Horned Oryx and Addax
Scimitar Horned Oryx
Herd of blackbucks in their brown coloring
Single brown blackbuck
Large herd of axis deer
Emu
TX-16 scenic drive
The drive from Medina to Kerrville on Texas highway 16 is listed as one of the three breathtaking drives you must take in the Hill Country. It is scenic and we are glad we made the drive but we think the people who rate these things have never made the drive up the crooked side of Pine Mountain. They grow apples in Medina and we stopped at one of the roadside stores and sampled a few apple items and bought some apple soft serve ice cream. We just couldn’t resist.
We saw several of these flood gauges on our drive
Love Creek Orchards store
Inside the store
Of course, more samples
Interesting sign about the local apple industry
Apple soft serve ice cream
We also drove out to Ingram today where there is Stonehenge II, a somewhat faithful replica of the original Stonehenge in England. Interesting story.
Stonehenge II and Easter Island statue
Stonehenge II
Looking into Stonehenge II
After the visit to Ingram we came back to the park and while we were out walking spotted a few more exotics roaming one of the fields in the park. Fortunately we still had a camera with us. Of course there are many, many deer here in the park and we have gotten some good photos of them, too. Some right outside the front window. Another good day.
Another blackbuck seen on our evening walk in the park
Deer out our front window
Found our last cache of the day while hiking around the park
