Out and About

Quiz: Any guess as to what this is a picture of?



We drove out to Pedernales Nature Park in Johnson City, Longhorn Cavern State Park and Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery.

Pedernales Nature Park is a very small LCRA Park that used to be an RV park. The roads and RV pads are still there. The Pedernales River runs along the back of the park and is a good place for ducks and other birds.



American Kestral


This might look like a leaf but is actually an American Snout!


Canvasback


Mute Swan

Our next stop was Longhorn Cavern State Park.

There is a pretty nice 1 mile loop trail that we walked. The drought is very obvious along the path.


Ash Juniper (commonly called Cedar)


Live Oak

There are some wonderful CCC buildings in the Park.









Remember the quiz question? It was taken here at the Observation Tower:


Spiral Staircase - from the top looking down!




Almost to the top!


View from the top.



After Longhorn Cavern State Park we drove 6 miles down the road to Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery.

Stay tuned for Inks Dam pictures.

Pedernales Falls State Park - Part 3

Blotched Water Snake (Nerodia erythrogaster transversa)
This snake has been able to hang on in many areas where major sources of surface water have been eliminated.

This non-poisonous water snake can reach up to 58 inches long. This one was probably about 36 inches long. While Mark was sitting on the river bank this snake started swimming straight toward him.







I hope you enjoyed our trip to Pedernales Falls State Park!

Pedernales Falls State Park - Part 2

Pedernales Falls State Park is a little over 5,000 acres. It was opened to the public in 1971.

Due to lack of rain there isn’t much water going over the falls right now. It’s still a beautiful area.



This limestone is over 300 million years old.





There are fish trapped in some of these deep holes.




They are hard to see but there are fish in here!

They no longer allow swimming in this area. It’s quite dangerous around the falls if the river is running hard.





We also did a little hiking in the park.





The trees are getting their Fall colors.




We're still taking pictures! Stay tuned for Pedernales Falls - Part 3

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

This is one of the two turkeys at the farm. When I asked what their names were I was told that one of them is named Christmas and the other Thanksgiving. These two guys have been around a few years and I'm guessing they will be here next year too.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Teri

Our Beautiful Sign

You might remember back on June 21st I published a post about the beautiful sign that John Cockrell made for us.
We have found the perfect place to hang it! Right on our front deck in Medina.







John's business is Really Neat Carvings, Rustic Signs by JC.
Email: jkbrittanies@aol.com

Pedernales Falls State Park - Part 1

We haven’t been doing much sightseeing since we’ve been going out to Medina on our days off so we decided to head out to Pedernales Falls State Park this morning. There are two really nice bird blinds where we sat for quite a while. Over 150 species of birds have been seen in the park. The endangered golden-cheeked warbler nests in the park, arriving in mid-March.



It seems like it’s been a while since we’ve been birding. Here are some of the birds we saw on this trip:


Spotted Towhee, Western Scrub-Jay


White-crowned Sparrow, Rufous-crowned Sparrow


Orange-crowned Warbler, Lesser Goldfinchs


Ladderback Woodpecker - Male and Female


Field Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow


House Finch, Carolina Chickadee


Black-crested Titmouse, Black Vulture


Carolina Wren
This isn't the end! Stay tuned for Pedernales Falls - Part 2