thesewoods

a self portrait

the more leaves and twigs i have stuck in my hair, the more fun i had...

(well.. my neck was actually bleeding and a bee got in my hair so that might not be entirely true)

xo, emily

adventures part III

of course, the adventures never end.  but this is part three of three for this particular period of time.  

so saturday afternoon i set out to find this secret swimming hole called the narrows.  i had located it on the satellite view of google maps with some help from a few different websites to get better idea of what i was looking for.  it was about an hour outside of town but it took me several more hours to find a good spot somewhat close to park my car and start hiking.  after i FINALLY found an area that was not a private drive or a dead end, i parked and set off.  the hike was not all that fun and i only had a general idea of the direction i was heading.  i hit a twelve-foot fence that was too bendy and wobbly to climb so i had to change up my route.  there was so much cactus on the ground and i had toms on.  there was more than one occasion where i buckled because cactus pierced through the canvas.  my legs were bleeding in some parts from the sharp brush, tall grass and of course, more cactus.  as i followed the fence, i found a part that had a thick bar so i was able to finally climb it.  i headed down a long winding gravel road, hoping a car would not discover me.  i finally made it to the edge of a very steep cliff and i could see the beginnings of the narrows!  there was no way i could scale that cliff so i had to hike down past a cabin and sneak down some stairs but i finally made it!  the hike was about two miles, which really isn't all that bad.  when i arrived it i was just getting into magic hour.  i was a little bummed out because i had to head back soon in order to make it back to the car before the sun was completely gone (which totally happened anyway..bad idea with cactus).  my point is, i was not able to spend enough time getting great angles to photograph here.  i spent much of my time scaling the walls to get down in it and routing how i would get from one end to the other (again, LOTS of cactus).  

when i first walked up on the narrows, i thought "oh, i'm going to maybe cry, i think."  i have never seen a more beautiful place in my life.  the spring water went from green to blue to black.  the blackest holes are actually very deep underwater caves.  no one is certain yet how deep they go, which is a bit scary.  but if i'm going to get eaten by an underwater cave monster, it's ok if it's here.  that would just be something that was meant to be.  the ferns lining the lower rocks were striking.  i imagine after some more rain it would be almost hard to look at.  i am so grateful i live in texas.  sometimes this place is just so goddamn beautiful it takes your breath away.  

 

 

 

 

 

xo, emily

 

 

adventures part II

so we set out...

my sister sarah and i, last friday.  we were trying to find a secret swimming hole.  we hiked up cactus filled cliffs, climbed under and over barbed-wire fences, got muddy, sweaty and bits of cactus in our fingertips (ok, that one was totally my fault).  we did not find what we were looking for that day, but we had the best time trying.  

we searched here, which turned out to be at least 40 miles away from where we really needed to be.  ah, internet, you are such a jerk sometimes (still love you though).

 

 

 

 

after we abandoned our first mission for the day, we headed over to krause springs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i love my sister very very much.  in a matter of weeks she will have a different last name than me.  everyone is so busy with everything, it was nice to just hang out together with no real plan besides exploring.  

i set out the next day to find the swimming hole on my own...more on that on the next post.  

xo, emily

adventures part I

this past week and a half has been pretty busy.  and other parts were hard and sad.  and still others were something very special. 

i had to say goodbye to my very good friends stephen and danielle (and clark the puppy).  they bought themselves a house in kentucky and they set off to make their life there.  i spent several days hanging with them before i had to watch their uhaul tail-lights disappear down the street.  i will miss them dearly and i hope to visit soon and often.  i have never been to kentucky.  that's something i would love to cross off my list.  

spring has also arrived.  it was almost more like summer today already.  oh, texas, let it stay spring for a little while.

 

 

 

theron humphrey and maddie the coonhound were also in town to kick off their book tour and new project why we rescue. (there are FOUR clickable links in that last sentence so please check them all out.  lot's of great stuff in there).  i got to hang out with them a little bit as well as some other instagram folks that i was very excited to meet.  it's funny all the nice people i have been able to meet from that little app.  anyway, over 200 people showed up for the book-signing and they sold out the store!  the book is out later this month, so snatch one up.  maddie on things. 

more spring.

 

i've been trying to explore a new part of my city (in & around) at least once a week.  it's funny what you can find when you just walk around.  for example, before the book-signing with theron, we were wandering around behind the book store letting maddie run around.  while wandering, we came upon this old crumbling house just buried in the middle of the city right next to a nice creek.  it's not something you could see from the streets and it was so crazy to see this very old house in terrible shape with a tractor just sitting right in the middle of downtown austin.  we later found out that the house has been handed down generation to generation and it's rumored to have buried treasure on it.  so the current owner has a tractor on it and spends his free time digging around on the property.  crazy, huh?  if i were to guess, i would say the treasure is the property itself.  but i liked the story and i liked finding a place i never knew existed.  you have to get out and walk.  explore.  you never know what you will find.  

 

here is a skatepark i had never been to.  part of my adventures.  i've also secretly always wanted to learn to skateboard.  i saw a skateboard at goodwill today and i was tempted.  

 

and this is my sister, sarah.  this was the first photo i took from this past friday.  we played hookey and spent all day searching for secret swimming holes.  i will post the rest of those photos on part II.  we had to get some tacos before adventuring.  and i thought the colors were nice here.  

 

xo, emily