Pedernales Falls

We spent last weekend doing lots of rest and relaxation in the Texas hill country.  Friday was a school holiday, so we took advantage of the long weekend to head about 3 hours northwest of Houston to Blanco.  

I tried using Air B'n'B for the first time, and it was a big success.  For less than a hotel room, we stayed in a 2 bedroom "bunkhouse" on someone's 20 acre property.  We enjoyed a huge porch, lots of birds, a firepit, friendly owners, and an outside cat who loved our attention.  

It was a great set up with plenty of room to spread out and relax.  Breakfast was included.  We found eggs, English muffins, oatmeal, orange juice, milk, coffee and bacon all ready for us in the kitchen.  We will definitely look into using Air BnB again.

We arrived Thursday night, then got a start out to Pedernales State Park on Friday morning.  The weather was cloudy and cool, with rain threatening to arrive later in the day.   We loved the hill country views and saw quite a few deer.

The wildflowers were in full bloom.  We didn't see too many bluebonnets, but plenty of other colors filled the fields.  I loved seeing the bright yellow flowers on the cactus.  I used to know the names of all the wildflowers back when my Biology students did a wildflower project every year.  Now the names are all a little fuzzy.

We walked down lots of steps to a swimmable area of the Pedernales River.  We didn't bring our swimsuits, but the water was warm enough for swimming.

Jack and I put our feet in the water for awhile.  There were lots of tiny fish nibbling at our toes.  It felt a little creepy, but I thought of the people who pay for pedicures with the fish biting their feet.

 We hopped in the car and drove further into the park.  We hiked down more steps and trails to get the Pedernales Falls.  It was so pretty.  There are lots of warning signs around the area about flash flooding.  Even with clear skies, the river can rise quickly.  They had pictures showing all the exposed rock like in the photo below and then a muddy, raging river just a few minutes later.

We walked along the rocks and just took in the view.  There was a native plants college class out making observations with their professor.

After all that hiking around, we headed over to the town of Wimberley to get "Linner."  It was around 4pm, so our breakfast was wearing thin!  We ate at the Wimberley Cafe, which was a traditional diner restaurant with yummy comfort food.  Wimberley has a quaint town square with lots of shops and art galleries.  They have a display right now throughout the town showing 6 foot tall cowboy boots decorated by local artists.

The property owners told us about a swimming hole on their land.  They had dammed up part of the Little Blanco River, making a perfect natural swimming pool.  We didn't have our swimsuits, but that didn't stop us.  Yes, mama went swimming in her capri jeans!  No photos of that though!

When we got back to the house, Jack had fun hunting for frogs and tadpoles in the waterfall pond.

I brought lots of s'mores supplies, so we got the fire pit going.  Michael decided that he needs a Texas sized fire pit like this one!

Day one in the hill country was in the books!

You can see the other day of our hill country weekend here:

LBJ Ranch

You can check out all our family vacations here:
Our Travel Page

Linking to:

Take Me Away - Calypso in the Country