Krause Springs

Justin was off work this past Friday for Good Friday, so we had originally planned to go camping with some friends at Krause Springs in Spicewood, Texas.  On Wednesday night, they decided not to go, and then by the time Friday morning rolled around & we were frantically packing & loading the truck for the weekend, Justin & I both decided we just weren't really excited about camping & opted to stay home for Easter weekend.  (It also helped that we had a major storm & rain forecasted to come through late Saturday night/early Sunday morning.)

Instead of camping, we loaded up & drove to Krause Springs for a day of hiking.  I packed a lunch & so we sat on some of the big rocks overlooking the big swimming hole, then went on a 2-hour hike afterwards.

Krause was such a neat place & we can't wait to go back & camp there this summer.  It's on private land & owned by the Krause family.  There are natural springs running throughout the property, and they all come together at this one area where they have built an actual natural springwater swimming pool for all to enjoy.  It was beautiful...
The water then runs out of the pool & down the hill...which turns into the waterfall that runs into the large swimming/fishing hole just underneath the hill where the pool was.  (This is where we had lunch!)  That stream then meanders around a few miles & flows into Lake Travis.

We had a great time hiking -- Kaylee stayed awake the whole time & Austin only wanted to be carried for about 5 minutes of our 2 hour hike!
In the background of this next picture, you can see the tall, steep staircase that we took from the swimming pool up on top of the hill to the swimming/fishing hole at the base of the hill (where I took the picture from).  Austin LOVED these stairs & wanted to go up & down all day!
This is a decent pic of the swimming/fishing hole.  It was just beautiful & SO peaceful...
After our hike, we relaxed for a bit at the Butterfly Garden at the visitors center by the entrance.  Austin got to have his picture taken by an alligator (or at least a statue of one) & play in the sprinklers, so his day was complete!!
My favorite part of the day?  On the way home, BOTH kids fell asleep!  That is such a rare occurrence since Austin is now a 3-year old with things to do & no time for a daytime nap anymore!!