Texas: Re-Unveiling a A Gem This Easter

Celebrating holidays is best with close family and friends, and sometimes staying close to home can re-unveil a gem while teaching you a ton about where you’re from. I spent Easter at my Aunt and Uncle’s lake house in Lake Hills, Texas just a 45-minute drive from San Antonio, in northwest Bandera and Medina counties. Lake Hills is at the deeper end of Medina Lake—a man-made oasis covering a surface area of more than 5,426 acres. Since I’ve been a Gal about the Globe, I hadn’t been out there in eight or nine years, and was surprised at the lake’s noticeable changes.

The Lake is surrounded by beautiful trees, limestone rock and is home to largemouth bass, white and hybrid striped bass, channel, blue and flathead catfish, among other species; it’s a great place for fishermen as well as tourism. However, among the marked features of the lake are, of course, the water and its depth. Lake Hills lies at the deeper part of Medina and when I last visited, water levels reached just below the trees, featuring a few mountainous cliffs with large gaps between the water and land, making excellent alcoves to jump off from. However, now the water level is so low—well-below the trees—that the lake looked more like a large canyon; no more alcoves, just open and dangerous jumping off points.

Lake houses were buried too high above the water: where I would’ve typically walked down a flight of steps leading down to a boat dock, I now reached the bottom of the steps to find several feet of limestone rock standing between me and the dock. I was left pondering, “How do I get down to the water with my glass of wine without breaking my glass, or, without breaking me?”

Additionally, long, exposed pipelines that typically run from houses and quickly hide into the lake were visible for some 10-20 feet; I wondered if there would soon be any water left for those pipes to pump, but more importantly, I wondered what else would soon be left of this place in years to come.

I am told, from family and friends, that since I lived in Texas, droughts have become worse—it’s almost normal now—with water levels in lakes, ponds and rivers rising and descending to surprising depths.

Staying close to home this holiday certainly re-unveiled a gem while not only teaching me a ton about where I’m from, but a ton about what has happened since I last lived here and got me thinking, “What else has changed since this Gal about the Globe left?”

More information on Medina Lake: It was originally built around 1912, as an irrigation reservoir for the surrounding counties; it feeds into the Edwards Aquifer and was thought to be the largest aquifer west of the Mississippi at the time. Check out pictures of its original construction, which includes the making of the dam, early postcards and speedboats from the 50s. http://www.edwardsaquifer.net/medina.html