The Wilderness

We were busy this past weekend here in Texas. Our first, Charles William, turned 5 years old on Friday the 18th. Despite the fact that Liz and I can't possibly be that old, it is fun to see him grow and mature. He was very aware of the event and the fact that he was turning five--especially because it meant that he will be starting school this year. Joey is also very aware of this (uh oh).

If that weren't enough, our church held a Father and Sons campout Friday night, that I and the boys attended. They were sooooo excited in the days leading up to the campout, especially after we got the camping gear out and set up the tent to check it. I'm not sure what Charles was more excited about--his birthday or going camping. We struck out Friday afternoon for the Hill Country State Natural Area near Bandera, TX. The Texas Hill Country is one of the most beautiful places I've seen, and this time of year it is especially lush. The Edwards Plateau is what makes up most of the Hill Country and is characterized by limestone hills, cold clear artesian springs, and deep caves. In fact, two of these caves right here near San Antonio house the two largest bat colonies in the world. The bat colonies are so big that they actually show up on the Doppler weather radar every night as they leave their caves. The biggest (in fact, the biggest gathering of any mammals anywhere in the world) is the Bracken Bat Cave, which is only 20 miles from our house. The second largest in the world is the Frio Bat Cave, where they were secretly developing the "Bat Bomb" during WWII (really! click the link!). A different project (Manhattan something-or-other) won out over the Bat Bomb--too bad... Another common feature of the Hill Country are the deep aquifers, including one of the most well-known and prolific aquifers in the world, the Edwards Aquifer, which happens to be San Antonio's water source.

One of the funnier recurring themes was the boys' addition of "The Wilderness" to everything we talked about. For example, I would say, "are you guys ready to go camping?" and they would quickly add, "to the WILDERNESS?" When we got there and set up our tent, the boys looked around at the different groves of live oak and juniper and asked, "Dad, is THAT the wilderness?" They treated it so ominously, like there was going to be a spooky forest somewhere that was definitely "the wilderness." Then, at the end of our hike the next day, as we were going to the car, I asked them if they enjoyed the wilderness. Charles said, "YES Daddy, I really did," then after a beat and in the sweetest way asked, "Daddy, what's the wilderness?"

Anyway, we set up our tent and went on a quick exploration hike around our camp where we identified heron, coyote, raccoon, and deer tracks, and caught a scorpion. Charles found and caught a baby red spotted toad. We cooked our dinner (hot dogs) over the campfire and made smores. The boys weren't thrilled with the smores, handing them back to me after a few bites. I realized that smores really are overrated. I mean, I love the time-honored, traditional IDEA of smores, but they're messy and gross. Oh well, I guess as long as there are campouts there will be smores (and vienna sausages). We had a long campfire with skits and songs and then spent some time with friends talking, playing, chasing fireflies, and even celebrating Charles' birthday with a few candles that Liz sent along stuck in a pecan roll. Charles was delighted when his buddies belted out Happy Birthday to him. It was a beautiful night--perfect for sleeping under the stars so we opened up the top of our tent to have nothing but sky above us. The three of us went to sleep sharing a queen air mattress and listening to the coyotes howl and the whip-poor-wills sing.

The next day we woke up, had breakfast, played some games, and went on a longer hike to the top of one of the taller hills. We tried to count all the different wildflowers (lost count at twenty-something), turned over a bunch of rocks to find animals, and enjoyed the perfect weather. The boys loved camping and want to do it again soon, which is just fine with me. Here are lots of pics (click on them to see a larger version):






Now for the stuff we found under rocks:

A really cool looking caterpillar... That would rear up to bite you if you touched it.
These spiders looked like they belonged at the bottom of the ocean.
Under a single rock we found a scorpion, a weird orange centipede, and three crab-spiders.
An especially scary looking spider protecting her eggs (about as big as a silver dollar)

A big orange and black butterfly sitting dangerously on an ant mound.
Another caterpillar, this one much more relaxed than the first.
And of course, on the way home, we passed a herd of Texas Longhorns grazing. I yelled "HEY COW!" rather than "MOO!" and he/she stopped grazing and actually posed for the picture!

Finally, two collages of a few of the wildflowers we saw. There were dozens more that we didn't get: