Thanksgiving in the Hill Country

Note:  Click on any photo to enlarge.

Kathy and I took advantage of Joline's hospitality and spent a great Thanksgiving at her camp house on the West Frio River.  We arrived on Wednesday evening about an hour after sunset at the two cabins, which are located on the river about nine miles north of Leakey.

The lights of the two houses are reflected in the river in this photo taken from the low water crossing.  A few stars are visible above the ridge at the very top of the photo.

On Thursday morning, I cooked a breakfast of French toast, bacon, and sausage.  After all, we needed to get our stomachs ready for the big dinner.  I then set up the recently-purchased Hennessy hammock for the first time.  Kathy's complaints about my gear addiction vanished once she quickly fell asleep while testing the hammock.

The Thanksgiving Day weather was glorious.

Joline and Irene fussed over the place settings while Zoltan supervised.

The meal, prepared by Irene, was delicious.  The plates of Duncan, Zoltan, Irene, John, Joline, Attila, the empty chair, and Kathy were filled - some more than once.

In an attempt to burn off some of the mass quantities of calories we had consumed, most of us hiked up the hill behind the cabins.  The sun was starting to set as we were on our way.

The moon was rising as we reached the top of the ridge overlooking the cabins.

Duncan, John, Irene, and Irene's brother, Attila, posed for a photo at the top of the ridge.

A lively game of Wits and Wagers lasted well into the evening.

I spent Thanksgiving night in the hammock.  It was quite comfortable and I was mostly warm enough.  Around 6:30 Friday morning, the wind picked up for about fifteen minutes as a front blew in and dropped the temperature a couple of degrees.

Before departing for home on Friday morning, I took a quick hike down to the river.

We took the scenic route home, and stopped at this pull-out on Ranch Road 337.  There were several groups of motorcyclists enjoying the winding mountain road.  There were also several warning signs like the one above.

The views from the parking area were quite nice.

We celebrated our family Thanksgiving on Friday.  The children joined us from Austin and, at their request, we gathered at Los Barrios Restaurant for dinner, where Julius also joined us.  As you can see, the margaritas were popular with Julius, Kathy, Travis, Sally, Carey, and Hal.  I may have had a few sips myself.

Note:  Click on this link to my Flickr page to see all 38 photographs, then click on "Slideshow."