Our current house sit is in Canyon Lake, Texas. Canyon Lake is both a lake and the name of the geographical area surrounding the lake which is actually six communities — Crane’s Mill, Canyon City, Hancock, Fischer, Startzville, and Sattler. The home we are caring for is most closely located to the Hancock community where we have shopped in a lovely new Brookshire Brothers grocery (And had a drink in their cafe) and visited their cute community library.
The Preston Memorial Library
Awesome mural inside the library
Library grounds contain trails, artwork, an observatory, and butterfly garden
Canyon Lake, the lake, was created in 1966, after the completion of the Canyon Dam to control flooding downstream of the Guadalupe River. The lake covers 8,240 surface acres, has 80 miles of shoreline and contains enough water to fill 190,400 Olympic sized swimming pools. It also has 23 boat ramps, 2 marinas, five day use parks and 4 camping parks. Besides helping to control flooding, the dam is also a hydroelectric facility.
Thanks to some friends, we were able to enjoy the lake and the dam from the lake and not just the land.
A view of the lake and dam — the top of the dam is 224 feet above the riverbed.
Some people enjoying the lake at Overlook Park.
Another view of the lake from the land, the water is surprisingly clear
Another new, attractive flower for the collection
Looking at the lake from a restaurant patio at one of the marinas
On Saturday afternoon, we met up with friends who are members of the Lake Canyon Yacht Club to go sailing. They provided great instruction on the sailing of their boat (Catalina 27 model if I’m remembering correctly) as well as the correct sailing terminology — tiller, rutter, lines, jib, traveler (my favorite), port (Bob’s favorite), starboard, winch, etc.
They even let Bob and I have a go at steering. I took to it like a duck to snowboarding. Yea, I abandoned the tiller (but not the ship) pretty quickly. Bob, on the other hand, did really well and captained the boat for a good while. However, I think he preferred doing the more manual work with the masts and other rigging, so he could talk about the size of his biceps.
Canyon Lake is part of the central Texas area known as the Hill Country. It’s a beautiful area with lots of trees, rolling hills, charming towns, and an abundance of wineries, breweries, and distilleries. On Friday, we met up with some friends from Austin for lunch in Wimberley, a town of about 2,700 with a cute town square with lots of restaurants and retail as well as a great restaurant a bit outside the town square called The Leaning Pear.
We also had to try at least one of the wineries in the area while we were here, so we visited the Wimberley Valley Winery for a shared tasting. They make a range of whites and reds and import a few others to ensure they’ll have something to offer anyone who has any like for wine at all. It’s a very attractive facility.
Cheers!
Peckish Travels 