Vacation Week, Part I

Taking a much-needed break from work this week, we spent a few days at 'Canyon of the Eagles' on Lake Buchanan. This is a great get-away only about an hour and a half northwest of Pflugerville. They allow pets, so Oscar was able to come along--he particularly enjoyed hunting for the armadillos. Of course, he never actually came that close to one, but I think he still experienced 'the thrill of the hunt!'

The wildlife were plentiful. We saw 3 Bald Eagles, 3 armadillos (and evidence of many more), 2 raccoons, and 1 jack rabbit. We also saw lots of birds: cardinal, titmouse, black capped vireo, golden cheek warbler, and one female painted bunting. Didn't see the male painted bunting, so I'm thinking we need to go back a little later in the year when more of them are around. (Click here if you want to see what they look like: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/paintedbunting/ )

A note about the Bald Eagles. We saw at least one from the front porch of the cabin. We saw the other two at their nest off of Hwy 29 near Llano. That's right, there is an eagle's nest right on the edge of the highway, and two of the eagles graced us with an appearance.

Given all the critters, Oscar's nose was on over-drive for most of the trip. Perhaps he was trying to give it a rest here:
We also hiked (I handcycled) the more accessible trails, so Oscar was pretty exhausted come evening. We've been home two days now and he still seems a bit tired. For those of you who are familiar with his barking, Oscar did remarkably well with the 'hush' command (or should I say, 'request')--I was pleasantly surprised given all the animal & bird activity AND the number of people around. (We inadvertently scheduled during Spring Break, so there were more people than we expected--but that was not a problem in the least. In fact the two little girls staying in the cabin next to ours made quick friends with Oscar!)

If you live in the area, we strongly recommend a visit to Canyon of the Eagles. You can check it out for yourself at http://www.canyonoftheeagles.com/

We're spending the rest of our vacation week close to home. I'll write more about that in the next post. Thanks for reading!