Are We There Yet?-Vacation Day 2 (cont)

Beautiful fall color is what we were looking for. I had always dreamed of a vacation in New England in the fall. That trip was out of both our distance range and our price range. How exciting to discover that fall color was available here in Texas at the Lost Maples State Natural Area. The only question was whether Texas, known for its treeless flatlands and dusty landscapes, could live up to the hope of autumn beauty.

It was going to be a wonderful vacation. Our free hotel was only 35 miles from the Lost Maples. So even though the park campsites were full, we would be in a comfortable hotel just a half hour away. The isolation of the wilderness area would be a welcome change from our crowded city lives. My life had been so stressful lately that I was looking forward to a restful drive through the brilliant red maple trees. Marty and I both are avid, though inexperienced, photographers and this would be a perfect photo opportunity.

We arrived at our Kerrville hotel Sunday afternoon. We had just been refreshed with a delicious meal at Po Po Family Restaurant. (Marty, the picky eater, said it was the best turkey dinner he ever had.) We decided to take a preview drive to the Lost Maples park.

We headed south out of Kerrville on highway 16. Even though Kerrville was not a big town, there seemed to be a lot of smaller communities on the outskirts. It took 30 minutes to reach the next turnoff. Highway 337 was two lane and very slow going. It was mostly cut out of the side of a hill. It didn’t help our confidence that the road was liberally sprinkled with signs proclaiming “Falling Rock.” By the time we reached the park, an hour and a half had elapsed. Those 35 miles from hotel to park could only be as the crow, or perhaps the helicopter, flies.

We finally made it. Now all we had to do was decide if it was worth the $6 a piece admission fee to go in the park for just an hour of daylight. It would be helpful to drive around inside the park and scout out any good picture taking locations. We took the turnoff for the park and immediately encountered a problem.

The Ranger’s station was in the middle of a 1/10 mile drive that contained a loop around and a small parking lot. There were dozens of cars competing for about 10 parking spaces. Before we could park, we noticed a line of people extending 50 feet from the Ranger’s office. Many cars had parked along the roadway and we were able to get in one of the few available parking spaces near the office. We got out of the car and went to the end of the line. After standing in line for 10 minutes, we had only moved a few feet. We checked the sign for the park hours. It was getting near the 5 pm closing time. We decided to return the next morning when it opened at 8 am.

We decided to return to our hotel by another route. Highway 187 was a hilly, but straight road and we were able to travel at 60 mph. Then we turned on to highway 39 which wound along beside the Guadalupe River. There were many resorts dotted along the route. They were obviously built to take advantage of the beautiful views of the river and the trees. However, the crooked road and the one lane bridges slowed us down quite a bit. It was an hour and 10 minutes after we left the park before we returned to the hotel. The second route was faster than the first, barely.

After arriving at our hotel, we modestly dined on homemade turkey sandwiches, canned soda from the cooler and chips purchased from the local grocery store. We went to bed early and dreamed of a beautiful, relaxing day driving past groves of trees covered in red and yellow leaves, stopping occasionally to leave the car to take a breathtaking photograph.