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Still Need a Better Hill
Dec. 9th, 2012 07:55 pmTried out the Blunn Creek Preserve yesterday. Supposedly there's a bridge that is remeniscent of Frank Lloyd Wright and a volcanic overlook.
We started at the south end, where I had read there was much more parking than at the other entrance. I found zero parking. So, I made a U-turn and parked on a nearby residential street.
It's a nice wooded area with a hiking trail through it. After a sign educating us about how non-native trees take over a habitat, we saw piles and piles of small trees chopped down and stacked at the edges of the trail. Perhaps they are getting rid of the invasives? Only some were oak. And there was a whole area on one side with every single tree cut down except for two feet of their trunks. So this is not currently the most scenic trail ever.
Course, splintery mulch from these trees was covering the trail. And there were briars.
I would have never guessed that there had been volcanic activity if there hadn't been a sign claiming that a peak in the trail was a "Volcanic Overlook." It all just looked like regular dirt and rock.
We never got to any bridge.
On our return, we saw a car parked at the side of the road, so I guess that's the parking.
Overall, this is not going to be a part of my plan to go over the hill next month and take my friends with me.
**
A friend's mom decided to go over the hill literally on her fiftieth birthday by climbing Mt. Rainier (she lives in Seattle). I decided this was an awesome idea and I wanted to steal it. But I didn't want to climb Mt. Rainier. For a long time I thought I'd like to take a road trip with a bunch of friends to the highest point in Arkansas (it's pretty, and I hadn't been there yet; I've already been to the highest point in my state). But I don't want anything that complicated right now.
On the other hand, I'm not quite willing to settle for Mt. Bonnell, the highest point in my city, which consists of basically a staircase up the side of a hill. It might be okay for a picnic lunch outing except that it's (about to be) winter.
Enchanted Rock is better, but not in town, and I don't really want to be in that much wind in the dead of winter. A friend offered to let me join him in climbing Mt. Kilamanjaro this summer, but yikes, no.
I'm looking for some fun, low-cost local activity to share with friends.
I'm starting to get overly creative now trying to go with this hill theme. Here's some brainstorming that is coming up short:
* The Austonian (possibly the real highest point in town--it's the tallest building; is climbing 55 flights of stairs a fun time? The stairwells probably aren't even open to the public)
* Corazon at Castle Hill (a restaurant I kind of like)
* Hills Cafe (a restaurant I've never been to)
* Mansion at Judge's Hill (some sort of luxury hotel)
* The Y at Oak Hill (a place where two highways intersect, in a "y" shape)
* Capitol Hill (Texas' capitol is not called that, but it's sort of on a hill)
* Betrayal at House on the Hill (a haunted house board game)
* hill of beans
* Bohnanza (a bean-trading card game)
* "Hillbillies in a Haunted House" (Austin Lounge Lizard song)
* "Notting Hill" (a movie I barely remember)
* Oak Knoll Drive, Woodcrest Drive, Autumn Ridge Drive, Juniper Ridge Drive (the last part of the route to friends' house, which I like because it's easy to remember to keep turning at the streets that sound like trees on a hill)
* Marble Slab Creamery (a recommended ice cream place I've never been to--which is more reminiscent of a tombstone than a hill)
* Upper Crust Bakery (my favorite bakery in town--which also has nothing to do with hills, though my favorite item, the ham-and-cheese brioche, is sort of shaped like a hill)
I do not want some sort of luxury "special" birthday experience. And I don't want a bunch of jokes and gag gifts about old age and death. I just want a nice low-stress get-together with friends.
More thinking is needed.
Cake of the Day
This cake is sort of hill-shaped:
We started at the south end, where I had read there was much more parking than at the other entrance. I found zero parking. So, I made a U-turn and parked on a nearby residential street.
It's a nice wooded area with a hiking trail through it. After a sign educating us about how non-native trees take over a habitat, we saw piles and piles of small trees chopped down and stacked at the edges of the trail. Perhaps they are getting rid of the invasives? Only some were oak. And there was a whole area on one side with every single tree cut down except for two feet of their trunks. So this is not currently the most scenic trail ever.
Course, splintery mulch from these trees was covering the trail. And there were briars.
I would have never guessed that there had been volcanic activity if there hadn't been a sign claiming that a peak in the trail was a "Volcanic Overlook." It all just looked like regular dirt and rock.
We never got to any bridge.
On our return, we saw a car parked at the side of the road, so I guess that's the parking.
Overall, this is not going to be a part of my plan to go over the hill next month and take my friends with me.
**
A friend's mom decided to go over the hill literally on her fiftieth birthday by climbing Mt. Rainier (she lives in Seattle). I decided this was an awesome idea and I wanted to steal it. But I didn't want to climb Mt. Rainier. For a long time I thought I'd like to take a road trip with a bunch of friends to the highest point in Arkansas (it's pretty, and I hadn't been there yet; I've already been to the highest point in my state). But I don't want anything that complicated right now.
On the other hand, I'm not quite willing to settle for Mt. Bonnell, the highest point in my city, which consists of basically a staircase up the side of a hill. It might be okay for a picnic lunch outing except that it's (about to be) winter.
Enchanted Rock is better, but not in town, and I don't really want to be in that much wind in the dead of winter. A friend offered to let me join him in climbing Mt. Kilamanjaro this summer, but yikes, no.
I'm looking for some fun, low-cost local activity to share with friends.
I'm starting to get overly creative now trying to go with this hill theme. Here's some brainstorming that is coming up short:
* The Austonian (possibly the real highest point in town--it's the tallest building; is climbing 55 flights of stairs a fun time? The stairwells probably aren't even open to the public)
* Corazon at Castle Hill (a restaurant I kind of like)
* Hills Cafe (a restaurant I've never been to)
* Mansion at Judge's Hill (some sort of luxury hotel)
* The Y at Oak Hill (a place where two highways intersect, in a "y" shape)
* Capitol Hill (Texas' capitol is not called that, but it's sort of on a hill)
* Betrayal at House on the Hill (a haunted house board game)
* hill of beans
* Bohnanza (a bean-trading card game)
* "Hillbillies in a Haunted House" (Austin Lounge Lizard song)
* "Notting Hill" (a movie I barely remember)
* Oak Knoll Drive, Woodcrest Drive, Autumn Ridge Drive, Juniper Ridge Drive (the last part of the route to friends' house, which I like because it's easy to remember to keep turning at the streets that sound like trees on a hill)
* Marble Slab Creamery (a recommended ice cream place I've never been to--which is more reminiscent of a tombstone than a hill)
* Upper Crust Bakery (my favorite bakery in town--which also has nothing to do with hills, though my favorite item, the ham-and-cheese brioche, is sort of shaped like a hill)
I do not want some sort of luxury "special" birthday experience. And I don't want a bunch of jokes and gag gifts about old age and death. I just want a nice low-stress get-together with friends.
More thinking is needed.
Cake of the Day
This cake is sort of hill-shaped: