Enchanted Rock

This last week at school has probably been the hardest yet. I am the most exhausted, frustrated, and stressed out I have ever been. And I just spent my Friday evening doing laundry and reading articles on Ecology. But I guess I can't feel too bad for myself because I had a wonderful and refreshing weekend last week because Eric came to visit me and we went to Fredericksburg, TX for a little getaway.

Fredericksburg is a popular weekend getaway for Texas folks. Its your average turn-of-the-century town that's filled with quaint shops and restaurants. The gimmick is that it was a town of German settlers, so they have a bunch of beer gardens, and they put on a big Octoberfest celebration. But between you and me, the German food there is nothing to write home about. ANYWAY- this first pic is not just to show you a typical Fredericksburg boutique, rather it is a picture of the birthplace of Navy Admiral Chester W. Nimitz! (Yes, this is mostly for Dave)
Here is the plaque commemorating Admiral Nimitz and his German Texas roots. For those of you who don't know, Nimitz was made Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The National Museum of the War in the Pacific is in this town too (I bet you never even considered that such a thing existed). And the birthplace of Lyndon B. Johnson is right down the road (in Johnson City no less). 
SO- the real reason we came to this place was to climb "the rock." Enchanted Rock, that is. Its this huge bubble of granite in the middle of nowhere. It was formed like 1 Billion years ago when Texas was still under the ocean. Now its a cool place for a day hike.
My handsome climbing companion. Not pictured is the Americano we shared on the way up. City slickers.
This is what that bubble looks like up close. It is solid granite. You could cut it up and put it right on your kitchen counter. But I think it is put to much better use as a beautiful mountain.
I just put this up because I look like I am levitating or something.
About midway up. There is no trail really. It is all rock. And it is steep! It was kind of scary at some points. 
This was the best part. It looks totally dead from below, but on top of the rock are these vernal pools full of life. They even had tadpoles in them!
Sitting on top.
Doesn't it look like you could just roll right off the side? It looked that way in real life too. 
Aaaw. I wish I didn't have to go back to real life.