That rock... it's enchanted
Andy and I introduced Luke to the joys of camping this weekend. We reserved a campsite at Enchanted Rock State Park -- which is about 17 miles outside of Fredericksburg, Texas -- and spent a night there.
We decided to leave late on Saturday -- partly because we wanted Luke to nap before we left; partly because we had errands to do; partly because we didn't want to get there when it was so hot outside; but mostly because we were so unprepared... we had nothing ready.
That's me and Andy -- leave everything to the last minute. We got halfway down the block 3 times and returned 3 times for things we forgot... and we STILL forgot a flashlight. D'oh!
Oh well, at least we remembered pillows. It's not fun to forget those.
The drive out to Enchanted Rock isn't far -- Fredericksburg is just 73 miles -- so we're talking about 1 1/2 hours. I was not impressed with some of the towns we drove through, but Fredericksburg has changed! It has tons of cute little shops and wine tastings, and I would LOVE to take my mom there the next time she's in town. (Mental note -- idea of something to do with mom.) BTW -- the rest area just 1 mile outside of the Johnson Family ranch and state park is REALLY nice. It has free wireless -- not what I expected on 290 through Stonewall.
The campsite at Enchanted Rock is also really nice. We picked a spot near the creek, under the trees. The tent we recently bought is HUGE! It would easily fit more stuff than what we had, and Andy was very excited to be able to stand up all the way inside it. We settled in and cooked a dinner of buffalo burgers, sweet potatoes and squash. Delicious! Andy remarked than he never ate that well camping out as a boy scout. But the flies were relentless -- and I drooled over one of those enclosures you can get from REI -- like a mini screened in porch. After cleanup, we went for a short walk, and then back to the campsite for some shut eye.
Unfortunately, the boy scouts in the campsite next to us weren't ready for bed and made a HUGE amount of noise. I was ready -- I had earplugs -- but the noise kept Andy and Luke awake. They stood outside watching the moon and listening to the crickets. I finally got Luke to sleep by singing to him and getting him to relax and succumb to his own exhaustion. The boy scouts were still going strong well after 10. I fell asleep soon after Luke, but Andy told me the next morning that another scoutmaster came over and gave them hell for being so loud after 10. "I am shocked that this would be going on after you kept the whole place awake last night!" Heh-heh... too funny. Wish I had been awake to hear that.
I had a tough time sleeping, and tossed and turned most of the night. I woke up with the birds this morning and listened to them chatter for a while before getting up. Neither of the boys was interested, but they finally woke up (with some encouragement). We decided to have a snack and go to the summit trail early, before it warmed up.
Walking up the trail, Luke was fascinated by this little stream. He wanted to follow it and watch it for a long time. Finally we convinced him to keep going up. Andy ended up carrying him. We showed him lichens and told him about the granite we were walking on. Enchanted Rock is about a billion years old. We got about 3/4 of the way up before Luke told us he wanted to go back to the campsite. We stopped for a photo and a snack, trying to talk him into walking the rest of the way. ("It's so close." "No! I don't want to.") Well, it's important for him to have some control. We didn't drag him there for us... we brought him there for him. It's his experience.
At the bottom of the hill we stopped at the stream again, and we spent a long time looking at it and exploring. Andy said, "Isn't is interesting how most people totally overlook this stream, because they only have eyes for the top of Enchanted Rock, but Luke, you've found an incredibly interesting world right here." He was so right.
We packed up and headed home after that. Luke was so tired and sleep-deprived that we knew it was important to get home. We stopped only for a fast breakfast at the "German Bakery Restaurant" in Fredericksburg. Eh, it was OK.
Luke fell asleep in the car. I felt like I could have, too.