4. Veronica
Two DaysEarlier
Waking up to the sounds of the river just off in the distance, nature, and the soft snores of sleeping little angels was amazing.
Nothing could beat this feeling. I wish I could wake up out here all the time. It would be the absolute best thing since sliced bread. Pushing my blanket off me, I sat up slowly, trying to keep from waking Cora, who at some point had curled into my side. Scrubbing my hands over my face, I closed my eyes and soaked it in. Thankfully, the shaded area under the trees was still cool. I knew the moment I unzipped the tent and ventured out, that would change.
“Aunt Roni…” Cora called to me as she stretched out. The kid looked like a cat stretching. I couldn’t help myself; I reached out to tickle her side. Her giggle filled the tent, waking the others.
“Is it time for breakfast?” Kenz asked, popping up, her hands rubbing over her face.
“You literally just opened your eyes.” I chuckled, looking over the others as they too sat up, letting the morning welcome them. “Take a minute to wake up and then we will get the day going.”
“I woke up earlier hungry. My tummy is talking to me.”
“Well, we cannot have that now, can we? I would hate for your dad to think I was starving you this week.”
The girls giggled as I got out of the tent. Shaking my head, I stretched my arms up, reaching for the sky before bending backwards, arching my back. Made the most of this stretch. The ripple up my spine as my back cracked felt amazing. The morning wasn’t as hot as I was expecting, which I was grateful for. April in Texas is unpredictable to say the least. Though that could be said about every month here.
At least it wasn’t raining. These areas could go from fine to flooding in the literal blink of an eye. Especially this close to the river.
“Girls,” I groaned out the words as I gave myself one last stretch. “How about pancakes? There are bananas in the bag, and blueberries and strawberries in the cooler, if you want some fruit with them.”
“I have bananas in my lunch bag.” Cora grinned coming outside. “Mom put them in there with my snacks.”
“I don’t like bananas; they’re weird looking.” Bree shook her head.
“I don’t either. I don’t like blueberries, either. They look like eyeballs,” Gwen chimed in. “Gross.”
To say I was officially speechless—although I wanted to laugh out loud at the faces they were pulling—was saying a lot. These two were just special little snowflakes about everything. Knowing their parents, the apples didn’t fall far from the trees—but damn. Chuckling to myself, I let it go. They could eat what they wanted out here. I wasn’t going to try and convince them that fruit was good for them. That wasn’t my job.
“I love fruit. I have two bananas in my bag. Dad put Clementines and a few apples in there for me too. It’s what was left in my lunch basket for the week. He didn’t want them to go bad.”
I ruffled Kenz’s hair as she rubbed her face. “Very well, do you mind sharing one with Cora? If you do, what you guys have will last a bit longer.”
“Okay,” they said in unison.
“Can I make the pancakes?” Cora asked as she bounded over to the small Coleman stove that I had pulled from the back of my Jeep last night.
The grill was great, but I knew my cast iron would do better on the stove. If I’d been able to build a fire, I would have dropped that cast iron onto the hot coals and cooked that way. Since that wasn’t an option, this would have to do. Would I regret the extra equipment when I had to make multiple trips to get it all back into the Jeep when we were ready to leave—yes, yes, I would. It was still worth it though.
“Sure, kid. Grab one of the yellow bottles from the bag. Once the pan is ready, we’ll have to add water to the dry mix inside of it, put the lid on it, and shake the snot out of it.”
“Can we have bacon?”
I turned to Bree and shook my head. “Sorry, kiddo, I didn’t bring bacon. We are trying to be primitive out here.” And I totally forgot to grab it from the garage freezer before we left, but I wouldn’t say that out loud. They’d probably mob me. Little bacon beasts. “We’ll have hotdogs for lunch, and I have a jar of peanut butter so we can get our protein in.”
“Can we have a fried weenie with our pancakes?”
“Now that, my dear, we can do.”
Thirty minutes later, everyone was on the ground, plates in their laps enjoying breakfast. Kenzie had taken a few pictures of us and sent them to Jason. She said it was so he didn’t worry. I hoped it helped ease his mind. I wanted him to trust me with her. I wouldn’t let anything happen to these girls.
I loved campground pancakes, especially ones made in a cast iron pan with their extra crispy edges—chef’s kiss. They were that good. I could say that unbiasedly too.
Pulling my pack closer to me, I snagged a map of the park and opened it on the ground before me. The trails were marked along with the sites I had permits to use. Every step of this trip was laid out on this map. There was an identical one that was left at the station with my boss; in the event an emergency came up, someone else needed to know where we were.
I wanted to see it before I put my thoughts out there. They were so eager to explore, today was going to be a lot of fun.
“How do you girls feel about a hike this morning along the river trail?”
I shoveled another bite in my mouth, then pointed to the trail, moving my finger along the path we’d take. They all started talking at once.
“I’m ready!”
“Me too.”
“Can we go fishing?”
“I want to go swimming, please.”
Grinning, I pointed to a spot on the river. “We should be able to fish from here; however, I can’t say we can go swimming here. I need to check it out first. But if nothing else, we can put our feet in the water.”
“We can swim. I go to the pool all the time.”
“Bree, sweetheart, I am not saying you do not know how to swim. I just need to make sure the river isn’t moving so fast that it sweeps you away from me. It’s just like with any moving water; it can be calm or raging. It’s a dangerous situation that can go bad quickly. Your safety is my number one priority. I told you guys that yesterday. I will make this the best and most memorable trip I can. I swear it.”
“Okay.”
“There are swimming holes and other places to see this as well. We will make it happen, okay?”
“Okay, I just want to swim some.”
“You will get in the water, trust me,” I tried to reassure them. I had a plan mapped out so they got the most out of this trip. I probably should have started at the opposite end of the park and worked my way up instead of down. But this way, when we were down, we were done and heading home.
“Yes, ma’am, I do.”
“We can do the page in our journals about using water and watching animals?” Cora grinned, opening her book.
“You can. It’ll be a fun hike. We’ll go over to Gorman Falls first today. It’s beautiful there.”
“Can we go swimming there?”
They all looked so excited at the possibility, but I had to say no. “No, we cant. The area around the falls is made up of Travertine. It’s a limestone that is very fragile. If people were to go in and swim in the area, it would destroy it.”
Their faces fell. That look of disappointment…talk about a gut punch.
“We don’t want to hurt it,” Bree agreed.
“I know you guys don’t. We will find a place to play in the water down at Spicewood Springs later this week, okay? We will spend the whole day in the water if that’s what you want. Just means a little more hiking for us. I want you to have a good time, honestly, but we just need to be careful.”
“Aunt Roni…” Cora snagged my attention.
“Yeah, kiddo?”
“Thank you for bringing us out here.”
I pulled her to me and kissed her cheek loudly. “You’re welcome, baby girl. It’s as much for me as it is for you girls. Now, finish eating, and once the dishes are cleaned up, we will head out into the great wild unknown.”
“We take our journals and backpacks with us, right?” Kenz asked.
“Yes. We will each take some water, bug spray, sunscreen, and a change of clothes. In case we get dirty or wet. And you can grab a towel from the back of the Jeep as well. I will get the collapsible rods and the tackle box.” I also had a small first aid kit that was in the bottom of my pack, just in case. There were a lot of rocks, felled trees, roots, and God only knew what else that they could trip over, fall in, and that was just the wilderness. That didn’t include their own possible clumsy moments.
“I’m excited.”
“Me too, kiddo, me too.”
“Wait up, you little monkeys.”
I hurried to catch up to Cora and Kenz. I swear they should be marathoners or something. Slow and steady just isn’t in their vocabulary. They loved the waterfall. Gorman Falls was simply gorgeous. No matter the time of year. The hiking trails were full of color, small birds, and so far, we’d seen one deer.
The girls were huddled in groups of two, walking through the wilderness, their eyes moving from the Junior Ranger Journals to our surroundings. It was adorable. It also made me a proud aunt that my little Cora, alongside Kenz, was taking the initiative to be a little leader, gently correcting the others if they had something not exactly right.
She and Kenz were my little tomboys. They both liked to climb trees, play in the mud—all of it. They studied hard, making grades I wish I’d had back in the day. They were both smart cookies with good heads on their shoulders. I was so glad they’d come on this trip.
As promised, after a little break, we were heading back to the campsite. I’d decided to move us closer to another popular spot a little earlier than originally planned. By adjusting what we did next, I could give them the promised swimming time down at Spicewood Springs later this week. There would also be a primitive campsite that had river access. There was a small area that was not so deep where they could jump in and get wet. It would hold them over for a bit. The trails there would be easy enough for them to traverse as well.
When they were older and more experienced, we would come back and hit the moderately harder trails and go to discover things they wouldn’t be able to see on a daily basis. Like the Tinaja Bowl. The fossils in the rocks, the bowl itself, and the untamed wilderness around it were a sight to see. Glass, cactus, rocks, dirt…and that was just the surrounding area. The drive up there was a pain in the shocks, and butt—so worth every second though.
“Look!”
“What is that?”
I walked to where the girls were and chuckled. “It’s a slug.”
“Where is its shell?”
“That’s a snail; this is a slug. It has no shell,” I explained, watching Bree crouch down so she could see it better.
“It’s slimy,” Cara said, pulling her finger back.
“Let’s move on and not freak the poor thing out.”
“Can we find a snail?”
“If you look closely, I’m sure you can find a few. They, like the slug, love dank places.”
“What’s dank mean?”
I smiled. “That means they like moist, cool places like under leaves, on rocks, in crevices that keep them out of the sun. Check the trees and plants around here.”
I let the girls explore as we walked up the path and back to the campsite. The joy on their faces was making this trip a success already.
“We have a choice to make, kiddos. Do we eat, then pack up and move, or pack up and move, then eat?” I looked at my watch. It was a couple minutes until 4:00 pm.
“Move then eat.”
“I’m hungry now.”
“We can move first.”
“I’m okay to pack first.”
“Here, Bree, have a snack, then we will eat a full meal at the new site. You guys go pack up your stuff.”
“Thank you.” She took the granola bar and moved into the tent with the other girls.
I started cleaning up the campsite, getting the grill and stove packed up in the back of the Jeep. A few more trips and we had everything ready to move. I found Kenzie and Cora pushing dirt into the small holes the tent poles made. Grinning, I called out, “Come on, you two, that’s good.”
They ran toward the Jeep, both talking a mile a minute. Shaking my head, a bigger smile tugged at my lips. I followed them.
“This road is bumpy,” Cora grumped.
“It’s the wilderness, kiddo, of course it is.”
I had to make a few stops to open gates that gave me access to the service roads that we used to get from place to place. It also allowed me to get closer to the campsite we would be staying at. I’d still have to make a few trips from the Jeep to the campsite as it was, but it kept me from having to hike a mile in this underbrush to do so. This site was a primitive site, like the last spot. No toilets, no running water, it was simply solitude and nature. It also meant we’d have no neighbors, only the quiet of the hill country.
Parking in a small, flat area, I got out and opened the Jeep. The cooler was the heaviest of things that needed to be carried this time.
“Okay, sweet girls, I’m going to need help so we only need to make one trip. Cora, Kenz, I need you to take a handle on the stove and carry it. Bree, you and Gwen do the same for the grill. Walk together so you don’t get off balance. We don’t have too far to go. I’ll carry the cooler since it’s the heaviest. Can we do it?”
“We can do it.”
“Yeah, we’ll help.”
“You have everything you need in your packs? Can you double check them one last time for me?”
After a final check, we had our packs on and started walking down to the campsite. I’d chosen a site that was close to the water and slightly in a wooded area. This would allow for a little extra security. This time of year, there was bound to be someone else, at some point, out in the campsites to the north and south of us. Thankfully on this end, there were not a lot of busybodies. No one out here would be loud and looking to stir up trouble. These were the sites that allowed someone to fully enjoy nature at its best.
The trip was quick enough, but I’ve never been so glad to put down a cooler. Now it was time to set up camp and get these girls fed and ready to bed down for the night.
Tomorrow was going to be a busy day of hiking, fishing, and fun.
I couldn’t wait.