{Egads this site is slow today!}
Well my friends it looks as though yours truly has dropped the ball. I missed First Splash at Hippie Hollow! As has been made clear to me by several of you, it actually took place the first weekend in May. Something in the back of my mind clicked and it kind of makes sense now…well, sort of. I believe it takes place when they finally end their shortened off season hours and let people into the park from 8am-9pm. What better reason to celebrate?!
But it was pouring in Houston at the time, and by all accounts wasn’t all that much better in Austin. Plus, I didn’t get a free extra day off work. Not to begrudge Austinites their extra few hours during the first part of May, but wouldn’t it make more sense to celebrate properly….for a full three days?! After all, I personally like to think that our men and women are serving in part to protect our right to express ourselves au natural. You can bet your ass there are no nude beaches in communist China!
So in two weeks I will be on my merry way to Austin to visit Hippie Hollow yet again. I have no idea where I’ll be laying as I’m sure the water level is far different than the last time I was there, especially considering all the rain we’ve had. It’s always a surprise. If you are there use the to the right photo to try and guess which one of the naked bottoms I’ll be. It’s not too hard, there usually aren’t that many (naturally) brown ones there. 🙂 But feel free to introduce yourself…and tell me how much you love my blog. :))
Happy Tanning!
Hi Adrienne,
On Monday, I was re-laying the brick path from my garage to my house – one of the many items on my list of ‘if I ever have the time’ to do’s’ on my high maintenance 100 year old Austin house – I was laid off not to long ago with a generous severance package. Anyway, it’s five o’clock and I still have lots of mortar left in my Tidy Cat Kitty Litter bucket. First I think, can’t stop until I’ve used up all the mortar. Then, hold on. I’m being way to productive. I’m not employed, but here I am working and working to an unnecessarily schedule. Consider what’s important and what isn’t. Mortar in Tidy Cat bucket not a big loss. Time to change modes. Back to basics. Sun. Skin. Water. Rock. Tomorrow, I’ll do something I’ve been meaning to do forever, but have not done. OK, I’ll take myself to Hippie Hollow. That I had never made it to Hippie Hollow isn’t to say I don’t know the sense of freedom from the daily grind gained from shedding the clothes. When I see photos or video of hot-tub’ers wearing swimming suits, I feel this isn’t right. Swimming suits in a hot tub? It’s perverse. My last couple of years at work were crazy stressful and ugly. At home, I discovered the best way to stop thinking about work wasn’t a glass of wine or some single malt, but simply to take off my clothes. Naked I couldn’t think about work. It’s harder to lie to yourself naked. Being naked puts work into perspective. We don’t learn how to be naked; we learn how to wear clothes. Being naked is easy. Wearing clothes is hard. Buying. Washing. Ironing. Does this go with that? Shoelaces break. Buttons turn up missing. Tears. Stains…When I am naked all my body parts are equal and none are naughty. Penises, noses, vaginanas, ears, asses, thumbs, all the same. Just me and you. Creatures without careers. Alive and kicking.
So, Monday night I googled Hippie Hollow and found your list of Hippie Hollow necessities. Thanks. Your list helped make my day today – it’s after midnight so it’s yesterday – as enjoyable as it was, which was brilliant, just what I needed. Without your list, what I would not have brought along: yoga mat, 2 towels, and sturdy shoes. My six hours on the rocks would have been shortened without the mat and extra towel. I would have worn flip flops. Actually, I would have been holding flip flops while I negotiated the rocks barefoot.
The size of the park was daunting, I moved around every few hours. As you know different sections have a different feel. The west end, I think it’s west, the first sections seemed a more head-on sun, swim, sky experience. The west end felt like the me and you end of the park. The east end which is more vertical, more rocks, more surfaces, felt like the just me section. This is my rock, my sky, my sun, my water.
The park was not at all crowded today. Around four pm, what I took to be the after work gawkers arrived. Men middle aged or approaching middle aged, always clothed, searching the park for you, Adrienne. One of the more unsubtle gawkers struck me as a middle-aged infant who thought he was looking for arousal but was really looking to suckle, to find momma and nourishment. You know these types far better than I do. So, I’ll stop babbling.
I don’t have a point of comparison for the water-level. On the west sections, the horizontal sections, near the shore broken tree stumps were sticking out of the water. If the water rose another two to three feet most of them would disappear. I believe there is a chance of rain in the forecast for the rest of the week, but I could be wrong.
Stay naked. Stay tanned. Stay alive.
Cheers,
JC
JC,
Sorry to take so long to respond. I’m glad to be of service. I’d say, yes, the sturdy shoes and yoga mat are the difference between a pleasant day and a sort of S&M adventure!
What a great blog! I was at Hippie Hollow last Sunday and had the best time. When I got home. I spent half the night googling other’s experiences there, and found you.
Your description of HH was exactly what I found there. I guess I am one of the middle aged men, but I was buck naked and keeping to myself.
I love your sand collection. I need to read more of your stuff.
I will be back there every day of this Memorial Day weekend, but not the next week when you are there. Looks like this is a great time to be in Austin.
I hope to see you there. Really.