In the month of November I felt a bit of nostalgia not only because I was able to see my family for Thanksgiving, but because I returned to the place I grew up in and saw how much it changed. I come from one of the fastest Austin suburbs, Georgetown, Texas. The town is currently focusing on developing so that it can be more appealing to those who decide to live here and work in Austin, or simply for Austin companies that decide to do business here. As a result, many hotels, shopping centers, and condos are going up. It almost seems like every time I come home there is a new building built. This is why during Thanksgiving break, I decided to go somewhere that would be the least changed, San Gabriel Park.
Throughout my walk in San Gabriel Park, I witnessed Fall coming through. All of the fall colors- red, yellow, orange, brown -were making their way through the landscape. The leaves were in the midst falling from their trees around the park on this cool, sunny day.
Also, the ducks I have been used to seeing while growing up were around as well. This made me happy and reminded me of when I used to bring bread and feed them as a child. It was nice to see that this part of my childhood was still.
On a different note, however, it was a bit upsetting seeing how low the water was. These staircases were full of water when I was younger. I remember splashing around in them and jumping off the stairs into the water at picnics and family adventure days. Today, all that remains is a trail of water no deeper than 3 inches.
Similarly, I found several occasions of pollution around the park including this Styrofoam cooler stuck on the tree branch. I thought to myself, how does this affect the ducks and other species in their habitat? Luckily, there were groups of families picking up trash along the water.
Despite how San Gabriel has changed, it was nice to see how beautiful the park still is. As I saw the families playing with their kids, it made me happy that these kids would have a place to remember and come back to like I do. I hope to come back on other occasions in the future.
““Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.”
