Family Fun 3 - Pedernales Falls State Park

It was lovely having Amy with us for our last weekend in Austin. Since she lives in Manhattan, we wanted to do some non-city things. On Sunday, we went to the Hill Country again for some hiking.

Danny had work to do, so the rest of us drove out to Pedernales Falls State Park, about an hour from Austin. At the trailhead, there were signs with dire warnings of flash floods, but the Pedernales River was low, and the “falls” were mostly exposed rock. Stone steps led down to the riverbed, where there were several large pools with colors ranging from dark green (deep) to light blue (shallow). We walked through sandy areas and picked our way across limestone boulders and slabs. The river had carved interesting and beautiful curves into the stone.

We then climbed back up and hiked a loop trail, first along the river, and then through meadows filled with wildflowers. There were many varieties of flowers, but the most abundant were the deep orange Indian blanket (also called “firewheels”). Spring is definitely my favorite time to visit Texas!

Danny joined us back at the cottage, and we rested and did another of our favorite family activities - watching videos together. This time, it was a comedy-fest featuring Ryan Gosling on Saturday Night Live; we started with his hilarious monologue and went on from there.

Later, we walked to Canje, a Caribbean restaurant with a Guyanese chef, where Mei joined us for dinner. The frozen hurricanes were dangerously good. The meal was delicious, especially the ceviche, the oxtail beef patties, and the melt-in-your-mouth roti. It was a memorable finale to our family weekend.