Spring Break 2011-Day Three

We were up early and set about getting ready to leave Meridian and head south to Pedernales Falls. On our way we were stopping at Longhorn Cavern State Park to explore the cave there. As we turned onto Park Road 4 outside of Burnet we found ourselves on a roller coaster ride. The hills were more like drop-offs and the road was very steep up and down. Jayme suffered the ultimate humiliation of being passed by a Prius. We were pretty surprised at how expensive the cavern tour was but we really wanted to see it so we plunked down the $50 ticket price for the 5 of us (even Pattie was a child price) and waited for the tour to begin.


SO WORTH THE $50!!!!! Our guide was funny and pointed out so many things it felt like watching a tennis match. My only complaint was that it moved so quickly. I would love to have the time to move through slowly and really see it. We loved it and Pattie did a great job walking through on her own. It is about a 1 ½ mile round trip and she did almost the whole thing on her own two feet. She got very sleepy at the very end and I carried her out of the cavern (and up 52 steps!).

On the road again! Again! To Pedernales Falls State Park and our next stop. We had visited the park on a day trip two summers ago and added it to our list of places we wanted to return to someday. We got there just before the office closed for the day and were assigned to a very pretty campsite. There were several Ashe Juniper trees in our camp that had been rubbed smooth by years of kids climbing them and my three were no exception. Raley climbed as high as the branch strength (and my heart) would let him. We set up camp and took a quick bike ride around to see how many other campers were with us and then took our puppy on a walk to the river.

There was a trail that led down to a crossing spot for the 4 mile loop trail that began in the camping area so we went down that. Other than me almost busting my butt (and Jayme’s cell phone that was in my pocket) we didn’t have too much trouble on the way down. We saw some deer in one of the unused campsites and another buzzard roosting spot. It’s so odd to never know something exists and then to see two in different places back-to-back. Back at the trailer we ate a quick dinner of corn dogs before toddling off to our beds.

Outside Longhorn Cavern