Pop's Birthday

So this weekend was my father's 66th birthday, and he came in to town to celebrate. It's always great when my parents come in town for that sort of celebration as it gives my father and i a chance to get away like old times.

The folks were originally supposed to come in on Friday, but like usual they got a late start...a really late start, and ended up coming in on Saturday morning. After grabbing some breakfast at Maudie's, my father and I check out some aerial photography on Google Maps to determine a few good places to put in the canoe. Since it was mid afternoon by this point, we figured we'd spend the day cruising around scouting out places we had seen on the aerial photos. Our first stop was where the Pedernales River crossed 3238. The idea was that it might be a neat boating trip from that point on down to where it crosses under HWY 71. We would later determine that the river would open up way before the bridge, making it a very looong paddle. But hey, worth checking out, right?

When we got to the crossing, the trip looked promising. Fast moving water from all the rain and beautiful Texas river scenery...

the launching point...

The 3'-4' drop...

...and the typical scenery of Texas hill country rivers.

However, it wasn't until we headed over to the bridge that we realized this might have to be re considered. Still we took some time to ear some ripe fruit off of a Prickly Pear under the 71 bridge.



After checking out the spray paint tags where people marked the various flood levels like the flood of 1997, we headed over to Opie's for some barbecue.

After resting up back home, The whole family headed out to Gumbo's for dinner. The food was great, as usual, and we all had a wonderful time.


Great company...


..and killer dessert.

The next day, my father and I woke up at 5:30 and took the canoe out on Town Lake for a little fishin' The air was cool and the lake was quiet. We saw a ton of Red Slider Turtles, some Green Heron, and even saw a nesting Red Tailed Hawk. Though we didn't catch anything worth snapping photos of, there was a lot of activity, and we caught a ton of Brim and a few small Largemouth Bass. It was really great to spend this time with my dad. What's better is that I got to spend time with him doing the same things we did when I was growing up. It goes to underscore how lucky I am to have had a father like that growing up, and how lucky I am to still be able to spend time with that same man.

Happy birthday, Pop.