Beating the heat

Last night some people that we got connected with here in Austin (the mother of the family is related to someone we know in Peoria) took us with them as they went on rounds to bring food and other things to a few of the underpriveleged in eastern Austin. This is part of a program called Mobile Loaves and Fishes, which started 13 years ago in Austin and has grown into a multi-million, multi-state operation. It was, well, I guess "fun" sounds trite, but it felt good to see that sort of thing in action. Today we drove into the hills west of Austin to a popular swimming hole called Krause Springs. The rolling western hills have their own sort of beauty, even in drought. The rocks, yellow grass and short junipers (they call them cedars, whatever they are they smell kind of nice) are not like what we are used to seeing Peoria. Actually, we were reminded of the area north of Beijing where we saw the Great Wall of China. People have built a lot of really expensive-looking homes along some of the ridgetops, a bit of a contrast with last night. I wonder how they will be decked out at Christmastime? We caught a glimpse of Lake Travis in the distance - even from far away you could see how the drought has significantly dropped the lake level (roughly a foot a week). The Pedernales River is maybe a trickle (I think we saw some sort of floating docks or houseboats sitting on the riverbed). Anyway, at Krause Springs the hot dry landscape opens into a small valley. Water trickles over a lush-looking waterfall made of travertine and flowstone into a big pool along a creek. The valley also features large cypress trees, prickly pear cacti, and a bit of small wildlife. The rocks on shore and in the creek could be slippery, and, well, hard as rock, but there were a couple of nice small caves to explore and a rope swing (Kris did it a number of times - see movie below - and I did it once). It was a pretty fun way to spend an afternoon on perhaps the hottest day of the year. The bridge pic is of the Pennyback Bridge, a sort of local landmark.