We hiked the Enchanted Rock with our local friends Chuck & Kathy who have their RV parked on a friend’s farm about a 5 mins drive from the flat. They retired to Ecuador but after 3 years found it rather quite and a bit boring so decided to come back to US for a rethink. Hence the RV on the farm while they decide what to do – an RV version of the Holland/Hendeys! Enchanted Rock is the spirit ground of the Tonkawa Native Americans that rises to 1825 ft and reputedly has creaking sounds, caves, and “ghost fires” on top. It’s part of a 1600-acre park, and is a huge pink granite dome, with trails to the peak and throughout the park. The rains had postponed previous plans to do the climb and our Friday jaunt had a 40% chance of rain, but it turned out to be a truly spectacular day, warm, sunny, with a lovely breeze. When we checked in at the park centre we found out the summit trail was the only one open, all the periphery trails had washed out and were under repair, so the summit it was. Basically a 600 ft scramble up the granite slopes dotted with weathering pits formed by the flaking granite and filled with water/soil that supports cacti, yuccas, shrubs, and grasses. In some of the bigger pools we saw what looked like tadpoles, but were later told they were a type of shrimp!
Spectacular views from the top! Glugged lots of water and then back down to a shaded picnic area for sandwiches, beer, and wine. A great day!
Chuck had mentioned that he and his farmer friend were castrating a young flock of sheep over the weekend, so I asked what was happening to all the balls? Seems they were up for grabs so managed to snag the lot. As we were shortly off to Sedona I blanched and skinned a bunch of balls which went into the freezer and will later be turned into a gourmet dish of sweetbreads! Ann said she is really looking forward to this new culinary experience!
Managed to squeeze in a new restaurant before our road trip – The Nest. It’s located in an old 1900s house a few blocks south of the Main Street crowds, and is run by CIA Chef/Owner John Wilkinson. Small menu but a good range of dishes so decisions still had to be made. The wine list was rather strange in that the whites were predominately Chardonnay with only one Sauvignon Blanc, and the reds were dominated by Merlot and Cabinet Sauvignon; some good wines in there but not what you expect with a restaurant/menu of this level. We started with the flash fried oysters (seeing a trend aren’t you?) which were outstanding – not sure how crust stayed on it was so light and airy – only just containing a warm juicy oyster – yes! Ann then had the fish special – red fish with a crab sauce – which was deemed excellent and completely demolished. I had the sautéed king prawns on turnip mashed potatoes – prawns were ginormous, nicely seared, and went extremely well with the mash. Shared a desert of Mexican chocolate ice cream with creme Anglaise and cinnamon crisps – quite delicious. As the wine had gone by this time we had Irish coffees to finish – one of the best Irish coffees I’ve had outside of the UK – really good.
It’s not raining, and getting a tad warmer here in the Hill Country, but still rather nice!
theangryanglo 