Enchanted Rock

Last Friday, I drove to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, about an hour and a half northwest of Austin--my final summer excursion. Maybe. Today, five days later, was my last first day of school ever. Maybe.

Hiking to the top of the 425-foot pink granite batholith rewards visitors with an expansive 360-degree view of Texas Hill Country. Beneath the burning sun and chandelier clouds, it's one of the most beautiful places in Texas. Not dramatic, but constant and solid. Parched, but with flora stingy enough to survive the oppressive summer heat.

I first scrambled up the gradual peak of Enchanted Rock itself. The roughly-marked trail is less than a half-mile so I continued through Echo Canyon then around Little Rock. The temperature was pushing 100, but that's the only way to fully experience the desert's arid allure.

After wandering for a few hours, I drove 30 minutes south to Fredericksburg, a touristy German town with folksy shops and overpriced wineries. I did one brief wine tasting, but was more impressed with the clear glass bottles than the dull, watery wine. A shop with hot sauce and various other condiment tasting opportunities on Main Street proved much tastier.

George W. Bush Presidential Library

Last week Saturday, I visited the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. It's my third presidential library. I've already hit the LBJ and Clinton libraries in Austin and Little Rock, respectively.

The George W. Bush library charts the course of the second Bush presidency from the contested Florida recount to the horror 9/11 to the controversial decision to invade Iraq to the 2008 financial crisis. Exhibits also tout the 43rd president's education reforms and increase in AIDS relief to Africa.

Some of the library's more impressive features include the the looping video projected on the atrium inside Freedom Hall, Decision Points Theater in which visitors get two points of view from experts before deciding on a tough policy issue, and an interactive replica of President Bush's Oval Office.

The most moving part of the library is a bent steel beam from the World Trade Center. According to a docent, it is believed to be from near the point of impact on one of the towers. Visitors are encouraged to touch the jagged warped metal, which brought some to tears.