inks lake

Water World. Austin & Surrounding Areas.

have you ever felt like a tourist in your own city or town? i constantly find myself looking around austin in complete awe of everything it has to offer. even after three years here, the people and places continue to amaze me. do i really live in this dream world? from swimming in barton springs to grabbing a coffee at brew & brew, i feel like i'm on vacation everyday(and thats saying a lot since i do have a full time job). these feelings were amplified two weeks ago when an old friend came down to austin from portland, maine. 

she spent the night in an airport due to severe thunderstorms, i blew out my tire an hour before i was supposed to pick her up, the normally bright blue texas sky was under a thick cover of grey clouds, but the string of bad luck leading up to her visit wasn't going to stop us from making it the best weekend ever. 

from the moment she rolled into town until her early morning flight home, we were nonstop. friends, food, drinks, hiking and a lot of swimming. 

a secret swimming hole, barton springs, commons ford and inks lake. our days were based around staying cool and having fun. i usually get burnt out showing people around austin and the surrounding areas, but when it came time for her flight home i didn't want the weekend to end. i was doing the same things i normally do when i stay in town, but it felt like i was on a vacation as well. the feeling of pure amazement and enjoyment in your own city is a beautiful thing and i'm happy that austin can still offer that to me. 

 

check out kanya's adventures in maine by clicking here. http://www.hillsandtrailsco.com/

Field Trip - Inks Lake State Park

 texas never ceases to amaze us. 

with the water levels of our normal haunts forever dwindling we set out in search of something new.

driving through the winding roads of the texas hill country we came to a vista and before us lay inks lake, one of the bigger bodies of water we've seen in the past few years. surprisingly this lake is almost untouched by the multiple year drought that we are currently in the midst of. 

boats, canoes and kayaks making their way through the middle of the lake, swimmers lining the shores, and tree covered peaks in the distance. it was actually a scene quite reminiscent of lake winnipesaukee in new hampshire where we both grew up. 

we made our way to devil's waterhole where we spent the afternoon jumping off the surrounding cliffs and basking in the big texas sun. 

 inks lake is only an hour outside of town and yet this was our first time there, it is truly inspiring and surprising that texas has so much to offer. even after two years full of exploration there is still so much of this big state that we have yet to discover and experience.