Easter weekend

Days 64 to 71, 10th to 17th Apr 2009:

Good Friday, a holiday here in the States. All of us had plans for the slightly longer weekend. The previous night after class, i sent Shifa, Su Yin and Jocelyn to the airport as they were going to Los Angeles. Shangar, Irwin, Magda and Lukasz were off to Mexico; Omon and Wen Ting were going to Dallas while Melissa and her boyfriend were going to Big Bend (a national park). So what was i up to then? For practically the first time, i actually opted to go camping. This from a guy who didn't even want to go to Taman Negara. Guess people change when they grow older, ha ha.

So at 6am Friday morning, i found myself behind the wheel with Hannah, Cécile and Melanie on the way to our first activity for the day - kayaking in Bastrop, a small town near Austin. After about two hours, we switched drivers and arrived in Bastrop with an hour to spare before the actual kayaking. Bastrop is a nice quiet little town where the buildings were charming. Of course, there is also a modern part where you could find a Walmart and other large retail stores. We had a bite and coffee at the local diner and it was quite a comfy and welcoming diner in my opinion.

With our stomachs filled and the girls charged with their daily dose of caffeine, we proceeded to the office of Rising Phoenix Adventures. From there, we were bundled into a van with a family of four and taken to the river where we were to start our little adventure. Along the way, our friendly kayak instructor, Bill fed us bits and pieces of interesting information about Bastrop.

After receiving some final advice and instruction from Bill, we pushed off. I was in a tandem kayak with Melanie as she was not confident to kayak alone. The river was suitable for beginners like ourselves as the flow of water was slow to medium and in certain areas was relatively calm. The family of four went ahead of us and was soon out of sight while we paddled slowly and just took in everything...it was just really relaxing and a change to be out here. We saw a lot of tortoises sunbathing and managed to snap some pictures of them. We even encountered some snakes and looking back, i realised i shouldn't have gotten so close to them. Cécile was closest to them and was taking some pics of them when i butted in, putting her at risk. Lucky for us the snakes just escaped into the water instead of retaliating.

A paddling we go

Attempt at an artistic shot :p

The other two lovely ladies

We took approximately a little over two hours to finish the course, since we were just leisurely paddling and drifting away. It was a truly relaxing and good experience. With the first activity completed, we continued our journey on the road to Pedernales Falls State Park, which was where we were to camp. Along the way, we stopped at another recreational park to have our lunch which consisted mainly of bagels and sardines.

It took us about an hour plus to reach Pedernales. After checking in at the rangers' office, we continued to the primitive camp site (meaning no bathrooms but with a chemical toilet nearby). It was a two mile hike from the parking area to the camp site, which took us about half an hour to 45 minutes if i remember correctly. The remainder of the evening was spent setting up the tents we rented. I had no previous experience with tents and sad to say didn't really manage to help much with setting it up, except for taking them out of their bags and spreading it out. The girls had a three-man tent, while i had a two-man all to myself. Dinner was again bagels and sardines, with some other side stuff. We retired early that evening, going to bed around 8.30pm.

Wolf Mountain Trail, our home for the next two nights

My two-man tent...which Cécile set-up while i was trying to set-up the other tent

The next morning, we hiked along Wolf Mountain trail. It was quiet and serene with the occasional bird chirps. We didn't really see any animals apart from birds though and that was a bit disappointing. The only other fauna we saw was a deer during our hike to the camping site the previous evening.

Hiking along the trail

After about two hours of hiking, we hiked back to the parking area and drove along the road to Pedernales Falls as there wasn't much to see if we hiked there. After parking, the falls were just a short hike away. It was rather a nice place, though did not quite fit in with my idea of waterfalls like the ones i'd seen in Malaysia. For one, the falls weren't exactly rushing at high speed (though there were flash flood warnings posted around the area) and the water was green instead of crystal clear due to the low energy in the pools. Still, it was beautiful and serene. There were quite a number of people about; some with kids, others with dogs. We picked a spot and sat down to a lunch of...yup, you guessed it...bagels with sardines (Cécile had pita bread though).

Pedernales Falls

After our 'sumptious' lunch, we continued to hike downstream in search of an area called Cypress Pool, which was supposed to have a scenic lookout point. We didn't really find it, or else we passed it without knowing so finally we hiked back to the parking area via a different route. We had already done quite a fair bit of walking so far, but we weren't finished yet. We got into the car and drove to another camping site, one with bathrooms and toilets and designated lots for people's RVs (Recreational Vehicles, sort of like a mobile home/camper on wheels). There were quite a number of people here, mostly families and their dogs. After parking at a suitable place, we journeyed on to Trummel Crossing, a place where we could cross Pedernales River. We had to take our shoes off to avoid getting it wet and boy was the water cold or what! So cold, to the point that my feet nearly went numb after that and yet kind of refreshing. From there on, we continued our hiking and chatting until it started to rain. Cécile and I had both brought our umbrellas so we shared it with the other two girls. Another hour or two passed by before we finished our little tour and went back to the car. At this point, we were quite tired so we decided to take a shower and call it a day.

That night, it rained but i was ready for the colder temperature as i had rented a sleeping bag (designed for freezing weather). During the night, I was woken by rustling sounds. Some unknown creature was scavenging for food in our trash bag and quite frankly, it was a bit scary listening to the sounds. As i later found out, both Hannah and Cécile were also awake and feeling the same way. It was so quiet that i could even later hear the creature sniffing around close to my tent. The only one who slept through the entire incident was Melanie. We never did guess what it was that ransacked our garbage bag.

Morning arrived and the sky was still gloomy. I didn't exactly have the world's best sleep with the hard ground sticking into my back and waking up each time it rained but i was rested enough. With the threat of rain again looming, we quickly started packing and taking down the tents. Sure enough, it rained halfway through our packing. It only stopped after we had started our hike back to the car.

With our plans to visit Enchanted Rock threatened by rain and shortage of time, we decided to just head home and stop along the way at any place that was interesting. After breakfast at another area close to the modern camp site called Twin Falls, we started our drive home. Talks of having a huge and greasy Texas BBQ meal began circulating after almost three days of only bagels, powerbars and sardines. So a stop at one of the BBQ restaurants we saw on our way here earlier was planned.

A little before lunch hour, we pulled into McKinney Falls State Park to have a look. The sun was out in full strength now and the threat of a storm that was predicted a few days earlier had seemed to pass. Feeling encouraged, we took our swimsuits along as we hiked a short distance to the lower falls area. The girls didn't hesitate to plunge right in while i decided not to as i was a bit squeamish after seeing the green water, ha ha.

Group picture time at McKinney

After getting their fill, we got back on the road. Talks of Texas food resurfaced as everyone was now getting hungry. We passed one or two restaurants on our way out of Bastrop but decided to go for the next one we could find, which was about an hour later and closed as it was Easter Sunday. Finally, we scrapped the idea and stopped at a restaurant called Schobel's sometime around 3pm. After three days of bagels, the food was a welcome change. With our hunger satisfied, we continued home and arrived in Houston around 5pm.

Monday the 13th of April came and we were back in class. With the theoretical part behind us, now the real processing had begun. Everybody was still high off their respective holiday adventures and not exactly looking forward to class. But go to class we did. The rest of the week was spent scratching our heads trying to get used to how the processing works. Essentially, it was a little like programming and we had to learn how to code and modify the scripts to get the jobs to run. Rather hard at first, especially if you need to code it from scratch but gradually became easier as we only had to modify existing scripts. Still, it can be quite interesting, so we'll see what lies ahead of us in our final four weeks.