Day Trippin - Land of Enchantment - A Place Apart

No, not New Mexico, today we went Enchanted Rock State Natural Area!  On my quest to look at rocks this is one of my favorites.  It is a huge, pink granite rock that is about 425 feet that you can climb all the way to the top!  It is actually a large batholith that has been exposed due to erosion.  I won't bore you too much geology stuff just because I am just now realizing that there are only a few of us that get excited about a rock.  Really, I thought this stuff was exciting to everyone but, hubby has just recently told be differently.  hmmm, I didn't know.  In any case, this formation is a batholith and was due to a volcano and its magma. 

We went to the park rangers office that has the whole history of the batholith and the who, what, where, when's and all about erosion and what to look for.  I will say that Molly was not interested so, not too much time was spent here.  Raymond and myself have been here a few time pre-Molly so it was okay. 

Start of the hike...lots of sass and energy here.

There are two different trails you can take.  You can climb up the rock or you can hike around the rock, we chose to hike up the rock.

Going strong.

Getting steeper.

 It is not too bad but it does get to be very tiring carrying 30 lbs on your back, meaning Molly only wanted to walk for a little bit before she starting saying "my legs are tired".

And we are done.

Lots of drama, here.

After all this hard work, we had a picnic and headed home.

Day Trippin - Keeping Austin Weird

This day trip was a bit different because, well we go to Austin everyday.  However, this day trip was to find murals.  We were a bit short on time so we only went to the obvious before we headed for lunch.  The Greeting from Austin Postcard Mural is a tourist favorite mural so we just had to find it.  Of course there is very little room to take a good photo for an amateur like myself but, in any case, I can check this off my bucket list.

This mural, Hi, How are you? is down around the UT campus.  It became famous when Kurt Cobain wore a t-shirt with the mural on it, but it was done by Daniel Johnston who was a musician and an artist.  This was done for one of his albums and a local music store asked him to paint this (or something) on the side of their store.  The record store is no longer there but the mural has stayed with the support of local Austinite's.

MOOOOOO!

Okay maybe not so much a mural but, you know I love this cut out things.  This is at Phil's Ice House that has a playground and Amy's ice cream at the restaurant.  We had burgers here and finished it up with a diet coke and was able to get out of there without getting any ice cream.  I know, how could I?  This is a childhood passage that I just robbed my daughter of.  Next time, I promise.

When we were at the Greetings for Austin mural I walked across the street in hopes of getting a better picture.  Molly wanted to take a better picture too so she came with me.  My hilarious husband told Molly and I to pose for a picture.  I did not know what was written beside us on the wall, only when I went to look at the pictures.