Enchanted Rock

Enchanted Rock, near Fredericksburg, TX, offers breathtaking views of the hill country.  There's only one way to experience those views and it involves a lot of sweat equity! But I promise that is well worth climbing to the top of this granite dome.

We go to Fredericksburg several times a year but this Spring Break was our first trip to Enchanted Rock. I've always heard the folklore and legends associated with Enchanted Rock. The name alone is attibuted to the supposed spiritual and magical powers of the rock.  They say it's haunted by the ghosts of Comanche Indians who lived & fought on Enchanted Rock. Supposedly at night you can still see the light from their campfires flickering on the rock. Another legend tells how an Indian princess threw herself off the rock and her ghost now haunts the area. You can read more about these lengends at the Texas State Historical Society's website Enchanted Rock Legends.

So when some friends invited us to spend a day climbing Enchanted Rock with them, we eagerly said yes.  We loaded up dad's backpack with water bottles and sunscreen and began the hike from the parking lot to the bottom of the trail.

The summit is 1825 ft above sea level and there's only one way to get there ... straight up the rock face!

The kids were kind enough to let us old folks take a couple of breaks along the way to catch our breath! This was about halfway up.

Some of us who are more agile and athletic enjoyed exploring the surrounding area while the rest of us (ME)  rested.

http://kxan.com/2016/03/21/authorities-ask-for-help-finding-enchanted-rock-graffiti-suspects/

"What kind is it?" -- Snakes in Texas

If you live in Texas long enough, you're bound to see a snake or two crawling around.  We see about 5 or 6 in our yard every year, usually in Spring or Fall when the babies are born.

The past few weeks I've seen lots of neighbors posting pictures on social media of snakes that they've found in their yard or swimming pool.  Someone always asks ... "What kind of snake is that?". Well, there are lots of snakes in Texas!  A better question to ask is "What kind of snake ISN'T it?". What people really want to know is if the snake is venomous! 

We saw the snake above during a family outing.  He was quite aggessive, puffing up and hissing at us. We still have no idea what kind of snake it is.  But we knew immediately that it wasn't venomous!

I am no snake expert, but living in Texas all my life has taught me a few things about snakes.

Did you know that there are only 4 venomous snakes in Texas?

 * Coral Snake

* Rattlesnake

* Cottonmouth

* Copperhead

The best lesson I learned as a child ... and one that everyone who lives in Texas needs to know ... is how to identify the venomous snakes.  If you can learn to identify those, then you don't need to worry so much about all the others.

They're fairly easy to identify, too.  The coral snake has its very distinct red and yellow coloring. And the other three venomous snakes are all Pit Vipers -- rattlesnake, cottonmouth, & copperhead.  Pit Vipers have pits on their heads that sense heat.  Because of these pits, they also have wide, triangular shaped heads that are typically bigger than their body.  So whenever you see a snake, look at the head!  Most of the time that will tell you real quick if it's dangerous or not.

CORAL SNAKES

"Red and yellow, kill a fellow."  Remember that rhyme from childhood?  That's all you need to know to stay away from coral snakes.  In fact, I've told my children that if they ever see a snake with those colors, RUN.  Don't stick around to see if the second part of the rhyme applies ... "red and black, friend of Jack".

Thankfully its distinctive coloring makes it easy to identify a Coral Snake.  It is also the only venomous snake in Texas that is not a pit viper. Therefore it is the only venomous snake with a small head.

Coral Snakes are typically not aggressive, but its bite is very dangerous.  A friend was taking Bluebonnet Pictures with his wife and sons when they saw this coral snake hiding under a rock.  So always watch out when taking those annual bluebonnet pics!

RATTLESNAKES

We see rattlesnakes more than any other venomous snake around here.  There are several different types of rattlesnakes in Texas.  But they all make a rattling sound as a warning that danger is near. Although I've heard that they may strike without a warning if taken by surprise. 

A few years ago, my daughter was riding her bicycle on the sidewalk up and down our street when she heard a rattling noise.  She glanced down and there was a rattlesnake coiled up in the grass right by the sidewalk!  Thankfully she was able to ride away without getting bit.

But it's those baby rattlers that you really have to watch out for since you won't hear their small rattles. Did you know that a bite from a baby rattler can be just as bad, if not worse, than a bite from an adult rattler?  Baby rattlesnakes are given a full supply of venom at birth.  And while an adult rattler can control the amount of venom it injects with each bite, a baby rattler is likely to inject all of its venom!

It can sometimes be difficult to identify the baby rattlers since they don't have all their rattles. One night I was walking up the sidewalk to our front door and saw two baby snakes in my path.  I was startled and screamed for my husband to come kill them.  In the morning we got a closer look at the snakes.  Although they looked similar in their coloring, especially in the dark, you can tell upon closer inspection that one of them was a baby rattlesnake.  See its wide head and thick tail with the beginnings of a rattle?

And last Fall we found this dangerous little guy crawling up the front porch. Thankfully we were coming back from a golf outing, so my husband made good use of his 7 iron.

I remember a few years ago, the local news reported on a woman who had been bitten by a baby rattlesnake.  She had picked up a potted plant in the gardening department of a big box store, and it crawled out and bit her hand. There have been several other similar incidents reported over the years.  Ever since hearing that story, though, I make sure to NEVER bring potted plants into the house directly from a gardening center.  I always leave them outside until I've had a chance to re-pot them in my own decorative pots.

COTTONMOUTH aka WATER MOCCASIN

I've seen a few of these vicious snakes when camping near rivers and lakes.  They usually don't stray far from water.  Cottonmouths aka Water Mocassins are also pit vipers. You can identify them by their thick dark-colored body ... and contrasting white mouth. Thankfully I've never seen its "cottonmouth".

A cottonmouth can be quite aggressive if cornered or threatened.  But it might just leave you alone if it doesn't feel the need to defend itself. So we always splash around and make lots of noise whenever we're in the water so that they'll know we're coming and (hopefully) swim away.  My sister swears, though, that one swam right over her legs when she was tubing in the Frio River!

Copperhead

These pit vipers round out the deadly four in Texas. The copperhead snake obviously gets its name from its color. They also have the wide head of a pit viper. Just know, the copperhead snake is one of the most likely to bite! 

Thankfully I've never seen one of these.  But my cousin was bitten by one when doing yard work.  He reached under some shrubs and felt a bolt of lightning shoot through his arm.  Thankfully he recovered, but he was in the hospital for several days.

Baby copperhead snakes also have a distinctive yellow tail.  Like the rattlesnake, baby copperheads are very dangerous!  They are very active when born and will bite anything they can.

A good resource for learning more about venomous snakes can be found on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website . . . http://tpwd.texas.gov/kids/wild_things/wildlife/snakes.phtml.

 

The Cross at Kerrville

Have you heard of the Cross at Kerrville?  It's a 77-foot cross located at the top of a 2000-foot hill overlooking the Texas Hill Country.  "The Empty Cross" is located at the intersection of IH-10 and Hwy. 16 in the Sculpture Prayer Garden and can be seen for miles.

We visited this Sculpture Prayer Garden when driving home after a recent camping trip.  The sculpture garden is currently home to the giant cross, a prayer rock garden and several beautiful sculptures.  Some of our favorite sculptures included "Mary, Mother of Jesus" which shows Christ's mother clutching the crown of thorns; "The Coming King" which shows Christ returning as King with a sword of victory in his hand; and "Divine Servant" showing Jesus washing the feet of Simon Peter.

Right now, the Sculpture Prayer Garden is a work in progress.  The final plans call for a large, landscaped garden in the shape of a cross.  It will have walking trails, sculptures, a chapel, an amphitheater, and a visitor's center; at the center of the garden will be The Empty Cross.

Before leaving the garden, we walked along the Prayer Rock Garden.  This rock garden started spontaneously when visitors began writing prayer requests on rocks and leaving them along the pathway, much like people leaving requests at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Today there are thousands of such rocks lining the path. And every week volunteers come and pray for those requests.

So using the markers provided onsite, we each found a rock and took a moment of silence to prayerfully write our requests and leave them with all the others.

After returning home and doing some online research about the garden, I learned there are documented miracles happening here daily.  Yes, I believe in miracles! (Ask me to tell you sometime about my youngest sister, Jamie.)  Here's just one link to a story that San Antonio's KENS TV news did about the spiritual phenomena taking place at the Cross in Kerrville. http://www.kens5.com/home/Kerrville-cross-site-of-miracles-164937776.html.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, this garden is home to beautiful works of art and is well worth a visit. And for those who want a special time of prayer and meditation, then this is definitely a place you'll want to visit!

London Calling

Last July we decided to visit London with the kids.  They are both big fans of Doctor Who, Sherlock, & Harry Potter; and I am absolutely fascinated by Downton Abby & all things Royal.  So a trip to London was something we were all excited about!  

And our timing couldn't have been better because the world was awaiting the birth of Prince George.  All of London was on Baby Watch while we were there.  Our hotel was just down the road from St. Mary's Hospital where he was born, and crowds were already camping outside waiting for the birth.  We missed being there for the birth by 3 days!  But I did come home with a souvenir mug.

One of the best things we did in London was hire a private tour guide to show us around the first day.  We used the company British Tours  http://www.britishtours.com and loved the whole experience.  Our tour guide picked us up in a private car at our hotel, Hilton London Metropole, at 9:00am.  He took us to see Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament & the Tower of London.

   

Our guide also took us down to one of the tube stations and showed us how to use the London Underground system.  Being from Texas, that was a new experience for the kids. They loved riding the tube, and quickly became experts at reading the underground map and figuring out which line to ride and where to make our transfers.  The phrase "Please mind the gap" soon became part of their daily banter.

 

We quickly found a favorite restaurant in London, The Dickens Inn.  Our tour guide actually recommended it to us and he was spot on.  It's located at the docks near the Tower of London in a beautiful 18th century, 3-story building. The bottom floor is a tavern, the second floor houses a pizzeria and the top floor is the grill.  We ate fish-n-chips and burgers in the grill.

We even found a little taste of home in Victoria Station and my son would not leave without his $15/dozen glazed donuts. (The exchange rate was NOT in our favor!)

Throughout the week, we visited several palaces, including Buckingham Palace where Queen Elizabeth lives and Hampton Court Palace, home of King Henry VIII.  

Hampton Court was lots of fun to tour and see what life was like in the 16th century.  But our favorite part of the tour there was the garden maze.  I was like a lost rat wandering through the maze, but the kids quickly figured out how to find the center.

After a few days of touring old palaces, my son asked if we could go see "something from this century".  So off we went to Warner Bros. Studios for the Harry Potter Tour.  We had made reservations for the tour months in advance since it had only opened recently and tours were quickly selling out.  The kids were absolutely entranced to walk through the Great Hall and see all the sets used to film the popular movie series.  And even though I've never read the books or seen the movies, I also found it quite an entertaining afternoon.

And, of course, our trip to London would not be complete without a little shopping. We hit Bond Street, Regents Street, Hamley's Toy Store, Harrod's Department store and more...

One afternoon, we even had the chance to go visit some friends in nearby Watford for a Texas-style BBQ. My son loves BBQ ribs in England as much as he does in Texas!

My daughter's one request while in London was to go to the theater and see a play.  So one afternoon we were able to get matinee tickets to go see Wicked.

Even though we were there for about 10 days, we didn't even begin to see everything we wanted to.  Nor did we get to ride the London Eye...the line was too long the night we were there. So I'm sure we'll be back soon.