An Enchanted Day

You might well wonder where this picture was taken -- in a wind tunnel?  We have quite the silly hairdos!

The answer is, we were atop this giant rock. 

Yes, those little specklike things on top are actually people!  Enchanted Rock is a granite dome that rises 425 feet above the surrounding Texas hill country, covering an area of 640 acres.  That's a lotta rock!  To climb it, you begin by following a trail through a brushy, boulder-strewn area...but when you get to the rock itself, the trail comes to an end and you just start walking up. 

It's steep, but actually not as bad as I thought it'd be...pretty much just a giant hill, only made of rock.  Nonetheless, I thought taking a break halfway up would be a smart idea!

Several times I would reach the horizon of what I'd thought was the peak, only to see that it actually stretched away much further than I'd imagined!  Of course Alfie found all this quite exhilarating.  He behaved well on leash and seemed to enjoy taking in the new experience, all the while keeping to his guide-dog "rules" and working through any obstacles that cropped up.  If there's one thing for sure about Alfie, it's that he loves a good challenge...so this was right up his alley.  He wasn't the only dog to make the hike -- we passed a couple of terrier types on the descent -- but he pretty much ignored them (yay!) 

All in all, it was a great day...and a fun new experience for all of us!

We're on top of the world!

I came, I smelled, I conquered!