Happy Holidays,
The Artist Couple
On the evening of December 12 and early morning of December 13, the Texas sky lit up with a spectacular Gemini meteor shower. This is said to be one of the best meteor showers of the year. Because of this, and the fact that we spend way too much time in our (somewhat) boring apartment, we decided to go camping at Pedernales Falls State Park. This was Topher and my first time really sitting down and watching a meteor shower, and it was magical. This was also our first time camping in Texas (definitely beats winter camping in Wisconsin.) We didn't see any crazy colored meteors, just the usual whites and yellows, but you can't complain about the hundreds of shooting stars we did see in only a few hours. Sadly, we only had my camera (Nikon D5100), which to our surprise wouldn't take any photographs of the night sky. We had planned to shoot some long exposures but even on manual mode, with the correct setting it wouldn't allow us to take any photographs and insisted it was "too dark." The latest of only a few letdowns about this camera (I think it's time for an upgrade.) We set up camp in one of the 4 primitive campsites in the park. These are about a 3-3.5 mile hike into the park and if you're starting your hike out in the dark like we did, make sure you know your way around ahead of time. The maps at the park head quarters aren't the most accurate, and it took us about 45 minutes just to find the right trail. We were lucky it hadn't rained more the day before because there are 3 river crossings (without bridges) you must hike through before the campsites. We camped underneath juniper trees (the perfect climbing trees) and set up our hammocks right on the bluff overlooking the Pedernales River. It was a little cold that night (low 40's- is this even considered winter?!) and the Park doesn't allow ground fires, so all we had for warmth was a little hobo stove that lasted us about 3 minutes before we got tired of stoking the fire every 30 seconds. We ended up just using hand-warmers and drinking a lot of vodka and Bloody Marry Mix to warm us up during the magnificent meteor shower. Just like every camping trip we take, I wish we could have stayed longer to further explore the many miles of trails the Pedernales Falls State Park has to offer. Even with no fire and the chilly breeze this trip was worth every second. Spending a romantic evening side-by-side in hammocks, sipping bloodys and stargazing with your best friend, is a day worth living over and over.
Happy Holidays, The Artist Couple
3 Comments
Glenna
12/20/2015 03:25:02 pm
Love the photo of you two in your hats!
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Thomas
12/21/2015 11:51:45 am
Sounds awesome! You guys are both SOOPERSTARZ, miss you both!
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Sara & TopherWe are a working artist couple based out of Austin, TX. This blog chronicles our life and artistic ventures, as we work to make the world and environment a little better every day. Archives
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