Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Christmas Day at Hamilton Pool Preserve

We had a quiet Christmas over here, complete with 80-degree weather and a hike at Hamilton Pool Preserve. After opening our gifts, we ate some cinnamon rolls and then drove the 20 miles or so west of Austin to the much-talked-about natural pool in the middle of basically nowhere. We passed the most amazing ranches on the way out there, and I love that just 20 miles outside the city you feel like you're hundreds of miles from civilization. 

The hike to the pool is less than a mile, down some rocky steps and then along a crystal clear turquoise river. Despite the fact that most of my pictures manage to cut out any trace of tourists, it was pretty packed. We waited about 15 minutes to get into the parking lot...turns out 80 degrees on Christmas drives a bunch of families out of the house to one of the only open attractions! 





The pool and rocks are beautiful and I love that you can walk all the way around and under the waterfall. You can sometimes swim in the pool, but it's been closed for awhile because of bacteria levels. I'm not too keen on swimming in public pools that lack massive amounts of chlorine, so I don't know if I'd get in even if it were open.






On our way back to the car, we took a path along the river and actually saw some fall-like colors which is somewhat rare here! It didn't feel a whole lot like Christmas given the temperature and lack of snow, but I'll take being able to be outside all afternoon over freezing to death ;).



We headed home and Peter made a delicious roast for dinner and we played a few rounds of Phase 10. We are heading to Minnesota tomorrow to belatedly celebrate Christmas with family and ring in the new year.




6 comments:

  1. It sounds like y'all had a great Christmas and that you made the most out of the unseasonably warm weather this Christmas! I still haven't been to Hamilton Pool Preserve, but the pictures of it are so pretty. But now that you said that they're closed because of bacteria level, maybe I don't want to take a dip in there anytime soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would definitely recommend going, but probably not swimming ;). It was really pretty!

      Delete
  2. Wow, absolutely gorgeous photos! What a beautiful place! I'd trade our Christmas temps for that any day! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was so pretty, especially when I'm used to Christmas up north, buried under 30000 feet of snow!

      Delete
  3. Ugh love the Lucy leggings

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just like pool lights, there are many types of this kind of attachments. They are most often made of plastic horizontal steps and vertical metal poles. It has numerous uses, but most are generally made for outfitting either above ground pools or in-ground pools. Poolleiter

    ReplyDelete

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Welcome! I started Laura and Peter Down Under in July 2014 when my husband and I moved from the States to Melbourne, Australia for his job. I blog about expat life, our travels, food, and whatever else comes to mind. Follow along on our adventures Down Under!

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