the weekend

Back to the office today after a wonderful, warm weekend here in Austin involving some much needed yard work, a date night dinner  (complete with live piano and cello playing) with the hubs, a trip to the Barton Creek Farmer's Market, a walk around downtown and a visit to Lake Travis.

View of Austins skyline through the rose garden on the pedestrian bridge

Phew, it seems like a lot when I write it down!  Though all of it was all fun (yes I do enjoy yard work!), seeing Lake Travis was my highlight.  It's in a breathtaking location with an equally beautiful journey getting there!  I actually found it very unusual driving up narrow winding mountain roads with houses resembling castles on either side, each one more grand than the one before it. Then slowly descending to the level of the lake where it opens up before you and you have a clear view of each mansion perched majestically upon the cliffs.  I'd recommend it to anyone!

Though right now the water level in the lake is very low - due to a drought that has impacted Austin with varying degrees of severity over the past three years - Lake Travis hasn't lost any of its charm:

 Where we are standing and where these beautiful flowers are growing in the photos above would all typically be underwater...that's how severe the drought has been.  While we had a blast exploring what would have been the lakes bottom at one point, it was sobering to know that more than half of this great lake's water body has dried up, taking with it the life source of every one of the off-shooting creeks - now sadly nothing more than shriveled up beds.

I love that the city of Austin has commemorated the victims and hardship caused by this dreadful drought by erecting this 'ghost' cedar elm tree - an actual casualty of the drought - in the middle of it's central lake:

Apparently it's symbolically suspended above the lake - its roots out of the water's reach.  It's so eerie yet also poetic.