A great birthday.

Thanks so much everyone for all of the birthday wishes yesterday — really made me smile!

The weather cooperated — 47 degrees and just a light misty rain now and then — so Scott and I set off on our hike — YAY!  Just like last year, we started at St. Edwards Park (off Old Spicewood Springs road, for those in the area) and hiked through to Bull Creek Preserve (ends at 360) and back.   I took pics on and off throughout the day and thought I’d share.  I really needed the hike — so nice to get away from the hustle and bustle and relax.

I love hiking this time of year — the weather is so cool that you don’t have to lug around tons of water like you do in the blazing heat of summer.  And if you get too hot, you can just take off a layer. Plus things are more subtle — it’s not like spring, where the wildflowers scream for attention.

So much beauty is to be found if you stop and look — like these  sugarberries all decked out for Christmas.  (We ate one, and I have to say that they didn’t live up to their name — yuck!

Or the  variations in color as you look up a canyon — we hiked in and out of canyons all day

The sycamores all festooned with their ornaments

All the different greens, like the junipers + mosses

Splashes of color from the red oaks, cherries and buckthorns

The yummy bark of this cherry

Speaking of cherries, there were many more than what we thought — with their glowing yellow leaves

Plus everything smelled so good, ahhhhh….

Oh and! Just to prove it to my friend Laks, here’s the map at the 360 side…

Like last year, we had to hustle to make it back to the truck before dark, ha ha!

What a great hike!

By this time we were starved (plus we’d been talking about food all day — we ate our apples, pecans and crackers too early this time, ha!)  So we picked up J from work and went to one of my favorite local places —  Kerbey Lane Cafe — mmmmmm, cowboy queso!

I ate my main meal too fast to get a photo — oops! — harvest scramble with tofu, black beans, and Mexican rice.  So tasty.  And of course, chocolate cake to finish.  YUM!

What a great day!

(Hike pictures taken with the point + shoot, food pics taken with the iPhone.  Both are not the best in dim light, but so much easier to carry.)