Adventures

Outdoor Adventures

New adventure journal. Mostly outdoor adventures.... tidbits of this and that from here and there.

Thank you for stopping by.

Best wishes and happy adventuring!

Posts will be added newest to oldest.

Things bug me too, but we still need bugs :)
 

I love our little Texas town. Since it is where most of our adventures happen, I will begin there...

🍃🍂🍃🌲🌲🌲🌳🌳🌳🍃🍂🍃

Written May, 2022 (Began May 2019)

The beginning of this adventure journal is a bit of an uplifting yet tragic story. Since this blog is about some of our adventures in our little town, this story seemed a fitting place to start.

It also is a reminder how life is unpredictable and messy, how it can be beautiful and devastating all in the same breath, how we must carry on through all life throws at us and do our best.

It is titled, 'We Love Wimberley Strong!'

The first time I had brought my husband to Wimberley, he was hooked. Wimberley is a beautiful, quaint, artistic town, tucked away in the Texas Hill Country, just outside and between Austin and San Antonio. 

Visiting Wimberley, we both agreed it would be a perfect place to raise our family.

In April, 2015, we bought the perfect hilltop home, our first home together. We all loved the home and the peaceful country life. 

This home had won us over another charming house that was right on the river, it was one that my husband adored.  I remember him asking the owner did we need a lot of flood insurance, being on the river, and the seller of the home saying, "Nay, we have never seen floods reach this house, NEVER." Famous last words, right.

It was only a few months later that we saw that same house damaged after it had been completely submerged under water when the May 2015, devastating, record breaking flood hit.

Below you can see the washed away road, and stumps from large knocked down Cypress tree.

We had visited the weeks before the floods and admired the beauty of these huge old Cypress trees, majestically lining the river banks, so picturesque and serene.  Large, lush trees, shading the clear flowing waters and the grassy river bank along side. 

Coming out the days that followed this epic flood, I could only imagine what people had gone through during this horrific experience.

So many giant trees were destroyed and laying scattered. Huge Cypress trees uprooted and laying on their sides. While others were snapped in half, bark stripped from their trunks.

Peoples belongings and debris from their homes, like the door stuck in the tree below, along with natural debris, littered the landscape with the scars of this awful event. Homes damaged, demolished, some completely gone.

People still missing.

It was heart wrenching.

Driving into town the day after the flood, there was a calm, 'quiet after the storm' feel.  We were not from around here and little did we know the whole story.

As soon as the storm began to rain its terror, this quiet town was busy working together, officials, and citizens. Their stories are heart breaking but also so heart warming.

After living here I have see what they mean by, "Wimberley Strong".  People pulling together and helping one another through this disastrous event, with so much warmth, love and generosity.

Some days as we go along the Blanco River, I will often remember the flood of 2015. The scarred trees that still remain make it hard not to think of the mass of water that rushed through this quiet town that unsuspecting day.

Trees still standing, snapped in half, living yet scarred.  

🌱🌱Among those trees are all the saplings people have been planting along the river to replace ones lost, and this warms my heart.  Reminding me of the resilience and strength, as I have seen time and time again in the Wimberley community.🌱🌱

Wimberley Boot-i-ful giant boots can be seen adorning business' and more all around the village. Grab a map at the visitors center and see if you can spot them all!

Ozona Boot is my personal favorite.

The Wimberley Village Library has a book on display, "Floods of Wimberley, 2015", yes, there was a second record flood in October, 2015.  In the book, there are pictures of pumpkins floating in the streets, and shops submerged in water, in the middle of the village.

My children where stuck at school, due to the water level going over the bridge, so every bridge in town was closed, me stuck on the other side, unable to get to them.

Maybe it was the book, and the trees, or maybe the resilience and kindness in this town that never ceases to amaze me. Maybe it is that we are coming up on 7 years after the May flood. Whatever drove me, I felt the need to share.

In remembrance of those who lost lives in the flood, and their families.

In reverence of those who rebuilt.

Kudos to all who plant tree saplings.

I am always impressed by the incredible strength of people in our town. Wimberley Strong!

I was super happy to find out that there was a carpenter here in town, that painstakingly collected the fallen Cypress trees and made beautiful furniture with them!  He sold them on Facebook, and people that would buy them would donate them to flood victims. How great is that.  (And I thought that I was the only one with ideas for that wood....lol :)

One book can be purchased from The Old Mill Store entitled "Wimberley: Epic Flood Tests a Small Town's Strength".
The other can be purchased from the Wimberley Village Library entitled, "Floods of Wimberley, 2015".

Youtube video that gives a sense of the devastation of this event, and words and photos from a local.

Thank you for stopping by.

Hope that you find joy & inspiration!

October 19, 2022

A few boots we have stopped to take pictures of in Wimberley.

Thank you for stopping by.

Keep Wimberley Bootiful!