The Mountain

Just off of 360 in Austin, there's a place I've been going to for several years. We lovingly call it "The Mountain." It's not much of a "mountain," per se, but you do have to climb to reach the top, and my grandma sure couldn't do it.

Following Jared's curiousity, we stayed at the bottom of The Mountain and went down. It turns out there is a stream there. He walked into the tunnel beneath the road until he could no longer see. It was too bad that he didn't have a flashlight and I didn't have better shoes. He came back out and we continued following the stream.

It goes a long way in! It was narrow at many points, so we were able to cross back and forth several times. We stumbled across a "discarded object," we'll say, and laughed it off. Eventually, we came to a small waterfall. Jared got himself distracted trying to move some stuff that was blocking the flow of the water in a place where it had become stagnant. I, on the other hand, climbed some things to find a good point of observation and reflection. We live our gender roles out very well in nature, I think. He being utilitarian and I being appreciative.

We took separate paths for a while. I found the "beginning" of the stream was again coming through a tunnel system. It was a challenge to meet back up with him. There was a jungle I had to master and lots of cobweb-like things in my way. I was very itchy and sweaty by the time I found Jared again, but I was having fun.

It took us quite some time to get out of there after that. We walked up toward the top of The Mountain (much easier on this hillside than on the rocky path that we usually take) and found a fence blocking our way. Rather than backtracking, we went on until we found a way through. We took our time exploring and enjoying the view of Lake Austin and eventually headed out after creating a bouquet of flowers in my hair and tying a string around my finger.

'Twas a lovely afternoon.