“Sunset Deck” Marble Falls, 2020
Mariko and I took a short drive to watch the colors change over the Texas Hill Country at Sunset Deck. It was really beautiful!
The View from Sunset Deck
“Sunset Deck” Marble Falls, 2020
Tag: ATX
“Sunset Deck” Marble Falls, 2020
The Great Outdoors Garden Center
“Sunny Flower” Austin, 2020
Mariko and I made a trip down to South Austin to visit The Great Outdoors Garden Center. It is an excellent nursery! First, their COVID-19 precautions are good, all the employees are masked up, there’s sanitizer available, and they limit the number of people on-site at one time. That being said, the selection of plants is wonderful, with plenty of native species, and they even have a greenhouse full of houseplants. It’s probably the best selection of houseplants I’ve ever seen, although I admit to not going to many nurseries. They also have a large selection of wind chimes, which sounded so soothing and beautiful that we ended up buying a small one.
We don’t get out much because of the pandemic, but The Great Outdoors Garden Center was a relatively safe place to visit and shop. Besides the wind chime, we bought several small plants and succulents. Exciting!
“Nursery Cat” Austin, 2020
Artsy Bathroom
“Artsy Bathroom” Austin, 2020
Just wanted to mention that the art in the men’s bathroom at Ramen Tatsu-ya in North Austin is amazing. And the ramen is pretty good too. 😆🍜❤️
“Ramens” Austin, 2020
Hiking Indiangrass Trail at Doeskin Ranch
“Indiangrass Trail” Marble Falls, 2020
Today I loaded up my backpack with 30 pounds (14 KG) of gear and went for another hike at Doeskin Ranch. This time, I added the one section of trail that I missed last time: Indiangrass Trail.
“Cairn” Marble Falls, 2020
The 1.5-mile trail splits off from the Shinoak section and heads down into a nice little valley and even through a little forest tunnel. It was really cool! In fact, I’d say that Indiangrass trail is my favorite section of the Doeskin Ranch trails.
“Cactus” Marble Falls, 2020
I mentioned that I had a heavily-loaded pack, and that is I will be carrying this amount of weight on our Big Bend trip. The only things I didn’t put in the pack were my external battery and cables, and extra underwear/socks/base layers.
When I first got on the trail, my hip started hurting a bit and I was thinking that maybe I should turn around and not stress it. After all, I did run 4 miles the day before. But I continued on a bit, and adjusted my shoulder straps to take more of the weight off of my hips. This was the trick, and my hip pain went away and I would go on to complete the hike without any discomfort. I felt great!
“Trail Light” Marble Falls, 2020
So now I know that 30+ pounds of gear on my back is do-able, and so my confidence is high. Knowing that we won’t be rushed during our Big Bend hike is good too – we can take plenty of rest breaks. As long as the weather is nice, we should have an excellent trip!
The Horror
“Horror” Austin, 2019
📸 At my favorite bookstore, Book People.
