swimming

Water World. Austin & Surrounding Areas.

in

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/

Mustang Island, Texas

we had high hopes of camping at padre island national seashore this weekend, at seventy miles it is known for being the longest undeveloped barrier island in the world. unfortunately as soon as we drove up to the beach we were greeted with deep soft sand, something we couldn't tackle with our small car. so we turned around and headed to the always reliable mustang island, but we shall return someday when we have a four wheel drive vehicle. 

after cruisin' the packed beach for a suitable spot we set up camp and cooled off by jumping right into the waves; well as much as you can cool off in the waters of the gulf coast in the middle of summer. 

the night was spent swimming under the star filled sky and around the camp fire where hot dogs, s'mores and stories were shared. 

Field Trip - Swimming Holes

in

although most of texas has been in a severe drought for the past few years there are still plenty of places to stay cool. we had some friends from philadelphia in town for the fourth of july and took full advantage of the beautiful weather by hitting all the swimming holes in the austin area. below are some photos from jacobs well in wimberley, pedernales falls state park and lake travis.

 

Wimberley, TX

as summer winds down we are trying to get as much swimming in as possible. so we headed west to wimberley to hit a few swimming holes. first stop was blue hole, which had crystal clear water and rope swings!

     

next we headed to jacob's well which actually feeds blue hole. it's hard to tell from the picture but this thing is deep! jacob's well is at least 120 feet deep and splits off into different arteries, some of which still have not been explored. it is regarded as one of the most dangerous underwater caves for scuba diving in the world.

wimberley also has a great little downtown, so we swung through to check out the shops.more in the gallery.