Rocks and Caves

This past weekend we went to visit Josh's parents in Kerrville. Josh's brother Michael is living out there now, too and Laurie came out for the weekend from San Antonio, so we were all there together. On Saturday afternoon we went out to Enchanted Rock. Grandma Seefeldt told us it is the second largest rock in the nation. Josh and I had not ever been out there before but Laurie had several times and said we needed to do the caves, too, while we were there.

Here is the rock. This is not what I had in mind. If you ask me, this is closer to a mountain than a rock.
So you hike up this rock, which can be a little steep at times, and get an amazing view.

It was a good trek walking up. Not too difficult, but you definitely had to remember to drink your water. And please be friendly to everyone you meet along the way.


So we got to the top and looked around. Then Laurie directed us to the caves. Now, when someone says 'caves,' I think of a passageway in the rock that you can walk through, maybe ducking or squeezing by protruding rocks at points. Laurie did warn us that there were tight places and that it is completely dark inside the caves (we took flashlights) and she did say we would have to crawl through some places. But still I did not imagine what this cave was going to be like.Here is Josh at the opening to the caves, getting ready to go in.One last look at daylight before plunging in. See how happy and excited we are!

So the caves are really more like a small tunnel under and through the rocks in which you have to contort your body into all kinds of gymnastics positions to get through. Maybe that's a slight exaggeration. There were only a few contortion moments. I can't remember how many times Michael and I said "This is stupid" during the hour long trek. Michael also commented on how dangerous it was. And it's true! If you were to get stuck or hurt under there, I don't know what you could do. There certainly is no way you could get a medic team down there.
See?
But all in all it was fun. Great chance to put our problem solving skills to work as we figured out how to climb over a rock without hitting the ceiling or how to pass a flashlight so that all could see their feet. I ended up having to hold the flashlight in my teeth several times so I could use my arms and my feet to work through some tight spots. We made it all the way through! (Of course, you really had to make it through once you got started because there was no way to get back past a certain drop off.)

Would I do it again? Yes. Would I still think it is a stupid thing to do? Probably.
One thing we were surprised about is the total lack of park rangers or guides anywhere around the rock or near the caves. It was pretty much a free-for-all once you pay your entrance fee. After our adventure under the rock and after Michael commented several times on how dangerous it was, we saw this sign on our way out.Yeah, thanks.

Snow and more snow

*Note: I tried to post this yesterday and I had trouble. So I'm just posting it now.

For Texas in March, we have had quite a bit of snow lately. Monday night it started snowing around 8pm. When I walked the dog at 8am there were still mounds of snow on cars and all in the grass - which is impressive considering that the sun was out and it was in the 40s.

Yesterday, Thursday, a winter storm blew through here. We heard on the radio that morning that there was 100% chance of rain and snow - which we laughed at because 100% sounds goofy. But sure enough, by 11am it was raining hard and not long after that it was sleeting. Then it started snowing and sleeting. The sidewalks at school got frozen and the flowerbeds were all white. Cars had a layer of ice on them. Then it would go back to raining, then sleeting, then raining...you get the picture.

When I got home at 5:30pm this is what our street looked like
And our "backyard"
There was a good layer of ice on stuff and it was cold, cold, cold.
By 11am the next day, Friday, the snow began to melt. But Friday was still a pretty cool day. By now you would not have known there was snow just two days ago.

Crate Training

Josh and I have been really impressed at how well crate training (or kenneling) Sammy has gone. He seems to like his crate and it works well when we travel to visit our parents because he always has his little place. We occasionally muse about how great it would be to crate train our kids someday...and usually people laugh at us.

Well, for all you skeptics out there....






See, it can be done!
In fact, this little guy was so well trained that we didn't even have to tell him to "get in his crate," he just jumped right in and shut the gate himself. And he was perfectly content.


Really, he did go right in. This is our friends' son, Corban. They stopped by on their way to the airport and while we were all talking Corban ran around the house playing with Sammy and then jumped in Sammy's crate and lay down. Sammy wasn't too sure about that.

Friends are great!

A few weeks ago (I'm late posting this one) a good friend of ours from A&M was visiting in the Metroplex and took us to dinner. Adam Fields was my Impact Camp partner for the summer after my freshman year of college and we were friends all through college. His family lives in Kerrville, so sometimes we get to see him when we are out that way. We met him at a little Mexican food restaurant (Shelley, it's the one you and I used to meet at!) in Duncanville. Great food, great stories, great time visiting with an old friend.