Corn Bread and Pedernales State Park

Thursday, February 4, 2010

It was another rainy day in Hill Country today.  The area received another 1 1/2” of slow steady rain in the 24 hour period as of 06:00 PM.  Some of the low level water crossings that we crossed are looking like they are ready to overflow with water runoff.   We moved down the highway towards Fredericksburg and the location of the National Museum of the Pacific War.  We camped at the Road Runner RV Park just outside of Johnson City.  After we had set up, we went to Pedernales Falls State Park.  When we were in the park office, this guy thanked us for coming and spending our money in Texas then told us how lucky we were to be at Pedernales Falls when the river was so high.  Apparently last summer there was barely a trickle going over the area and today it was a raging torrent.  He pointed out a warning poster on the wall; which warns people of flash flooding on the river.  When we drove down to the falls parking area we could hear the rush of the water over 300 yards away.  We took the easy downhill walk to the falls and it was really worthwhile.  The walk back to the parking lot was a little more strenuous and got our heart rates and breathing up.

There is a bird blind established in the park where the birds are fed twice daily.  There are so many bird species that I couldn’t remember all of them.  I did see that this is where our gold finches from Stephenfield must spend the winter months and there were all kinds of cardinals flying around.  There were hundreds of song birds. Really quite a neat place.  I wonder if the volunteer there thought I was a “birder” as I was carrying the camera and I was wearing my “dorkey” hat.  But as soon as I started asking questions it removed all doubt and he knew I wasn’t a birder and must have been just a regular dork!  Janet has remarked several times about listening to the song birds in the morning when she wakes up.  Of course in my case, I can’t hear a damn thing without my hearing aids.

We stopped at the Super S grocery store and picked up some veggies.  I also picked up a “corn bread” mix.  I had heard of corn bread on the movie the “Green Mile” and had wanted to try it since then.  It wasn’t all that great or maybe I just didn’t make it correctly. Anyway it has cured me of my desire for corn bread.