A few months back, I mean in the year 2009, the dudes and I took a Sunday drive to Enchanted Rock.  I dug these photos out of the archives to share lest they get lost forever.

For all of you that don’t live in Texas (or in or around the Austin area), let me tell you a little about Enchanted Rock through these pictures.  On this cold and rainy day in Austin these photos are just what I need to put a smile on my face.

Enchanted Rock is truly a gorgeous and special place to visit.  It was a family first and the memories were enchanted indeed.

Here’s a little taste of what we saw.

The dudes going over the water crossing to the trail.

The king craw daddy greets us!

We are going up to the summit approximately 425 feet (130 m) above the surrounding terrain to elevation of 1,825 feet (556 m) above sea level.

On our way we met our buddy Mr. Lizardo.

Ascending the rock

A view from about halfway up.

Views for miles and miles….

Look closely -see that little gazebo?  That’s where we began!

A millipede named Milli.  We make a lot of friends on our hikes.

A view from the top.

These are vernal pools created from years of erosion. Vernal pools create little biomes of life, where plants and critters live. This is also where Izzy likes to hang out.

A gnarly tree.

Cool granite rock formations.

C$ and I taking a sun and sky break.

Come back here you little Gremlin!

Sky for days. If you reach up you can touch the clouds – I swear.

Ahh. Vernal pools = nature’s bath.  The only time she likes to get wet.

The whole zesty crew.

Bye enchanted rock and thanks for the good time!

I have to share my excitement with y’all!  Yep you’ve guessed it – I get to share some zesty pictures that I took with my new camera; a Nikon D5000 to boot.  YEEHAW!  Now don’t get too excited I am still learning the fundamentals.  All I can say now is WOW, this camera takes some amazing photos.  Expect to see great things in my future posts.  In the meantime, sit back, relax and enjoy the view…

As most of you know and those of you who don’t, I am from Northern California.  I had the privilege of spending part of the holidays with the Clark Clan, my parents and a few friends hiking the Tennessee Valley Trail Head to Muir Beach.

I encountered the beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean, as well as was able to hang out with my mushroom loving friend and be in nature.  My other favorite place to be outside of my zesty kitchen.

This beauty was found at the trail head – about 10 feet in elevation.

The name of this is – Oh, I blew it!  Hee, hee. Just kidding.  It’s common name  IS actually called a wood blewit (Lepista nuda).  Try saying Lepista nuda 10 times really fast and you will blow it.

My friend Heat, identifies and collects wild edible mushrooms.  But I wouldn’t recommend gathering ‘em unless your a pro like her!

Speaking of friends, I would like to introduce my dear friend, Red-bellied newt (Taricha rivularis).

My nephew actually became friends first with this cutie.

Hello there newt, nice to know ya!

This is a view along the trailhead which climbs to about 900 feet.

This was a 4.3 mile hike with a total hike time being about 2 hours.

The views are amazing and the hike itself wasn’t too strenuous. Well, minus the few times I had to literally stop and catch my breath – which had nothing to do with the trail and had everything to do with spending copious amounts of time in my zesty kitchen.

But we’ll talk about that later -0r- not.

For now we’ll just keep hucking,

until we have to stop to take a picture and catch our breath.

And take another picture. Which is really code word for continue to catch my breath.

The view really does leave me breathless.

WOW.

I call this picture “ocean path”.

It keeps me truck’n along to our destination, Muir Beach.

I call this picture lunch.  But really it’s Muir Beach where food and more good times await.

Thanks for joining me.

Zesty love,
Robyn