Thursday, April 8, 2010

An Enchanted Day

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

my face is next to Alfie's as I sit on the ground, he's standing; our hair is blowing straight back in the wind

The answer is, we were atop this giant rock. 

a large gray dome of rock against bright blue sky; the base is surrounded by scrubby trees and there are teeny little people climbing in the distance

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. 

I'm standing on a hillside of smooth granite, offering a treat to Alfie as he sits beside me, his ears blown back in the wind

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!

We're silhouetted against the sky as I sit on a low rock, Alfie sitting in front of me, my daughter standing nearby

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!

My daughter and I are seated on the flat top of the rock, which stretches across the horizon; we're far away so you can see it's really huge; Alfie's standing next to us
We're on top of the world!


closeup of Alfie's face as his fur is whipped up in the wind, giving it a decidedly spiky look; he's panting and bright-eyed
I came, I smelled, I conquered!

6 comments:

L^2 said...

How fun! Alfie looks like he really enjoyed it.

Sierra Rose said...

Beautiful spot!! Love the windy hair doos!! :)

Hugs and snaggle-tooth kisses,
Sierra Rose

Lisa and pups said...

Maybe he can teach Hosta to ignore other dogs!! Looks like a neat adventure! Love the hair!

Lauren said...

Sounds like a great hike- there must be a lot of amazing views up there. I love the pictures, especially that last one of Alfie- he's SO cute.

Good boy, Alfie for ignoring the dogs. Don could learn a thing or two from you :)

Brandon - The dog with a blog said...

Looks like a lot of fun!

Becky Andrews said...

Is this by chance by Fredricksburg? We walked to something like this when we were there ... thinking it might be here? Love the last sentence ... I came, I smelled, I conquered! So cute.