Around a month has passed since I last reported weekend doings in a piece that joins remarks about an anniversary celebration, remarks about gallivanting around San Antonio, remarks about a trip to the Bandera Canyonlands, remarks about gallivanting around Austin, trashy remarks, remarks about a different trip to the Bandera Canyonlands, remarks about a different gallivanting around San Antonio, remarks about orchestral work, and remarks about my daughter’s performance. It might well be thought there’s some kind of pattern at work in such adventures as I have, and the events of the past weekend do nothing to dissuade that thinking.
Photo by Hubert Nowik on Pexels.com
As has become something of a tradition for my wife, my daughter, and me, a trip to Foxfire Cabins in Vanderpool, Texas, took up a long weekend in August for us. (My daughter’s school was closed for the county fair and rodeo, affording us the time.) This time, we were joined by my wife’s mother and stepfather, as well as the one of my daughter’s friends who had gone with us before. As on previous visits, we made points of tubing the Frio River at Happy Hollow, visiting the Frio Bat Flight southeast of Concan, and hiking in Lost Maples State Natural Area. My wife and I also spent an early morning laying out and staring at the nighttime sky as the Perseids meteors hit their peak. And there were the usual grilling and swimming-hole enjoyment to be found, too, so that it was once again a good trip (even if I was decidedly glad to be back home, sleeping in my own bed and drinking coffee from my own pot).
While we were on site and in the area, the weather was unseasonably pleasant. That is, high temperatures only ranged into the mid-90°s F, and there was a breeze blowing for most of the duration. Now, in previous years, temperatures ranged into the triple-digit ranges (°F, of course), as is typical for the Texas Hill Country, and winds would die down in the midafternoon, making for stifling heat. I’ve lived more years than not in the Hill Country, and my wife’s not far behind me in that. Nor yet is our daughter. We’re more or less used to August being, well, August hereabouts, to Aestas being decidedly intense in her performances in the natural amphitheatres we call home. To have her give a more laid-back show was quite welcome; it was easy to take it as a sign that we were doing exactly what we needed to do while we were there.
Coming home, my wife and I discussed the future of such trips for us. We do find them good to take; having the time away (and Vanderpool is away, with data access sharply limited by the terrain) helps us to focus on ourselves and our connections to each other, and the surroundings are a collective reminder of the beauty of the world, something also good to address. But our daughter is growing up, and it’s not so much (at this point, at least) that she doesn’t want to be with us on such trips as that she is involved in programs that will impose obligations on her at this time of year. She remains in band, and the local marching band (in which she expects to participate next year) performs in the parade preceding the rodeo. She is an athlete, and if she continues to be one, she will have more practices to attend. Those are not her only activities, either, and they are of increasing importance as she approaches high school and has to made decisions that will impact the rest of her life. All of this is to say that she may not be able to go with us, or that we will have to adjust our scheduling on the trip, at least for a while.
It will be well worth doing, I think, to make that adjustment. Busy as she is, my daughter deserves time to rest and reset herself, and the natural beauty that the Hill Country offers–and summer isn’t even the place at its best–is a powerful aid to doing so. Busy as my wife is–not least of which because she has to deal with me and my quirks–she deserves no less, and likely more. For my part, it is good that I get them where they need to go. And if it is the case that I benefit from going along with them, from dipping my feet into rivers that flow cool amid the summer heat and cook over fire outside so that where we sleep can stay just a little bit cooler and more pleasant, that’s not a mark against taking another such trip.
A note for full disclosure: I wish I was a compensated spokesperson for any of the places linked above. Alas, I am not so fortunate in that. Maybe I could become an influencer?
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