Sightseeing

Marble Falls, Texas

Weather: low 54 degrees, high 80 degrees, mostly cloudy early, then clear skies

We woke to cloudy skies this morning, but the clouds cleared out by mid-morning. That was our cue to go drifting in the area. Our trip today was west on FM 1431, which goes by Granite Mountain, which made Marble Falls famous. The pink granite in this huge dome of granite was used in the construction of the Texas State Capitol, and is shipped all over the world. When we saw the dome of granite, for some reason we thought that was the only granite in the area. Were we wrong on that. Everywhere we looked, it seemed as though we were seeing more granite. Many different shades are mined here, but the pink color is what gave Marble Falls it's claim to fame, along with the submerged rock falls in the river. More on that at a later time.

Here's some pictures of the granite dome and other granite.

This picture does not do justice to the size of the dome, which is about 180 acres in size.











These hills are full of these granite formations. It's not likely that they will run out of granite anytime soon. As might be expected, mining the granite is important to the economy of the area.









Next on our route was the view from an overlook of Lake LBJ.

This is a marker that gives the name of the lake. Every opportunity to use the native granite is taken.










Every opportunity is taken to save water because this is such a dry area. The Colorado River was dammed to create the lake.










From the overlook, we went to Inks Lake State Park. This is a nice park that we think we will spend some time at. The lake is smaller than most, but very picturesque.

Note the rocks that seem to be balanced on the other side.









Carolyn asked me to get this picture. Turned out pretty good.










When we left the state park, we continued north on 1431 to Texas 29, where we turned west. A few miles down the road, we noticed an American eagle nest that had two young eagles with two adults working hard to keep them in food.

Unfortunately, the zoom on my camera does not zoom enough to show the detail we could see. This particular picture is of one of the adults bringing a rabbit back to the nest for the hungry young ones.











In the interest of keeping the post short enough that it does not bog down my Internet connection, I'll close for tonight. I have some pictures to share that I took in Llano that I'll post tomorrow. Until then......

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - West, Texas: West Has A Lot To Offer, Come See Us Soon!

Not all who wander are lost.