Independence Day @ the Shoals

We were happy to spend our Saturday 4th of July out of the city, although it was still super hot even on the shores of this lovely lake, which was originally called Lake Granite Shoals (it's not too far from Enchanted Rock) before being re-christened for the Hill Country's favorite son.

Thanks to our friends Greg and Renée for including us in their very fun holiday plans. We spent an inordinate portion of the day and evening eating [what is it about country air that makes good food taste even better and sharpens hunger to boot?] but also were treated to a nice boat ride around the lake, saw some fabulous fireworks, and got up close and personal with some personal watercraft. (For more pictures from the holiday, see Henry's blog post—I was somewhat lazy in the photo department.)

The views above and at the right were taken from our host's balcony, and you can see right away that Lake LBJ is a really different lake experience from Canyon, where we're most used to spending our laketime.

The main reason for this is that LBJ is a constant level lake, which allows lakehouse owners to own land right down to the lakeshore and to build, with reasonable confidence, permanent structures there. Being one of a chain of lakes on the Colorado River that can thus get water from upstream to keep the level up, and having power plants on its shores that need a constant supply of water, the result is a much more dense development than you find at Canyon. (Although we learned that they do occasionally have floods, since other rivers join the Colorado between Lake Buchanan, the next one upstream, and LBJ.)

We even saw some real mansions on the lakeside during our boat tour. One of them is pictured at the left. Some of these huge lakehouses are owned by folks our hosts call "Dellionaires" from Austin. Just a little weekend getaway, for the computer geek who has everything, right?

Our hosts' place, while certainly not on this scale, was plenty luxurious for us, although admittedly air conditioning, beds and a kitchen is really all that was required. But we even got to watch the end of the exciting Wimbledon final while enjoying one of our
practically constantmeals.

I was able to get this nice nice evening view of the house from the end of the pier, just before getting on board for our voyage to the fireworks, about the best my unsophisticated camera can do in low light. You really should check out Henry's cool photos of show, which was a highlight of our holiday. (I chose one of his more surrealistic shots for my last Wordless Wednesday post.)

In addition to the powered personal watercraft we got to sample (and which you can see on Henry's blog) we test drove a couple of the person-powered variety as well. Yes, we are now proud parents of yet two MORE kayaks, purchased from our hosts' nice neighbor, and bringing our
garage'sboathouse's total to TEN. They're lovely boats, though, and we plan to try them out tomorrow on the [fortunately] spring-fed San Marcos. I'll let you know if they're yar!