Whole Foods -- check
We needed some supplies. Where else should we go while we're in Austin but the flagship Whole Foods Market on North Lamar Boulevard? The chain was born here in Austin, and corporate HQ are upstairs. Of course, I loaded my cart with $175 worth of Whole Food Goodness, which, at Whole Foods, is enough to fill one and a half medium-sized reusable shopping bags. I *almost* added a bag of locally grown, organic, grain-fed, cage-free, hormone-free, no-MSG mesquite wood for our campfire. Almost.
A bonus! We found an REI store and a yummy locally owned bookstore -- Book People -- within a block of Whole Foods. So, even though our shopping errand started off as "just running to the grocery store for a few lunch items," we spent the rest of the morning hanging out there.
True Texas barbecue -- check
We headed west into Texas Hill Country, aiming for Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, about 75 miles west of Austin, for a good hike. In Llano, we stopped for lunch; our guide book pointed us to Cooper's Barbecue, and it did not disappoint. Outside, under a corrugated metal roof, sit about a dozen huge smoke pits. We started there, at one of the smoke pits, where the smoker-guy showed us our options, including pork chops, pork tenderloin, pork ribs, beef brisket, sausage, and jalapeño sausage. We chose brisket, and he cut slabs of it right there and slapped it all right onto a tray; no plate, no paper, nothing.
From there, we went inside and we pushed our trays full of meat down a cafeteria line, where we were able to select from, in this order, about five different kinds of cobbler, two different kinds of macaroni and cheese (bacon and jalapeño bacon), and then coleslaw, beer and drinks. At some point our meat was all wrapped up in paper, and at checkout we were handed not plates but sheets of butcher paper off of which to eat.
We ate at one of several long, sturdy picnic tables in the cement-floored, no-frills dining room, where the condiments included a bag of soft, white Wonder bread, squeeze-butter (my favorite!) and a gallon jar of pickled jalapeño peppers. The brisket was fabulous, all crispy and crunchy on the outside, fall-apart tender on the inside; and the jalapeño-bacon mac and cheese -- well, how can that not be the best thing ever invented?
Enchanted Rock -- check
From Llano, we headed south about 20 miles to the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, where we embarked on a short but steep hike -- which Keith dubbed the "Brisket-B-Gone hike" -- up 425 feet to the top of this colossal pink granite dome, where we enjoyed sweeping views and were cooled by the stiff breeze.
Pedernales Falls State Park -- check
We drove about an hour back east to get to Pedernales Falls and spent the rest of this hot, sunny afternoon splashing in the Pedernales River in a spot where the water cascades over limestone boulders and meanders through cool, deep pools. The kids had more fun than they've ever had at any water park. Clare spent almost the entire time industriously constructing and fortifying a damn with rocks to increase the flow of water through one spot while Charlie spent his time sliding through the resulting gushing water chute; and Natalie lounged in one of the quieter pools. It was an absolutely delightful afternoon. We finally dragged ourselves away from the beach at about 8 p.m., ate a picnic dinner in the parking lot and then headed back into Austin. We pulled into our campsite here at McKinney Falls at about 10:30 p.m.
There's a 60 percent chance of rain tonight, which is enough to make us pull out the rain fly and cover up the tent. By definition, the fly severely decreases the amount of circulation in the tent, so it's going to be a long, stuffy night in here. It doesn't seem as hot tonight as it did last night, maybe because rain is coming.
Holy frick. It's going on midnight. On my way to and from the bathroom just now, I spotted two scorpions. I'm pretty sure my maximum is one scorpion. And I'm already over my limit.
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