Park Road 4

No one can drive down Park Road 4 without counting their blessings. I defy them. I know it looks like an anonymous turn off of Highway 281. And the first stretch might mislead you into thinking it’s just a paved path to take you wherever you’re going. Even as you pass Longhorn Cavern, you might still be preoccupied enough to take this place for granted.

And maybe it’s best if you are lulled and unsuspecting when you come to that first hill. Then it really gets you in pit of your belly. Your car tilts down and you have to lift your head to see forward. But you can’t really see forward, you can only see the almost vertical up-stretch of blacktop that is the other side of the hill. The trees block the rest of the road from view. And while you crane your neck, watching for oncoming cars, your stomach floats up into your chest. And before you know it you are tilting your head down, trying to see over the hood of your car, and you stomach is being pulled down toward your seat. Then whoosh, it’s over.

And what makes this road better than any other tickle-belly hill from my childhood is that, on Park Road 4, there’s another hill coming, just as steep as the first. And then there’s a third that’s almost as exciting that follows right after that. And if you’re really blessed, you’ll have two ten-year-old boys in the back seat yelling “Faster! Faster!” But you don’t really have to go faster. The hills will still give their thrill at a safe speed.

And once you’re past those hills and smiling in that homemade ice-cream and lemonade frame of mind, there’s a majestic castle that comes into view just long enough to amaze you all over again. No matter how many times you’ve seen it, you still come to that one point in the road where it’s rising out of the greenery and looming against the blue sky. Then it disappears again, and you can only catch glimpses of it through the trees.

But the little guys in the back won’t let you work very hard to get another look at the castle. “Wow! Mom, look at that.” You turn and sloping down to the left are soft rolling hills framed by the bristly cedar and oak that line the roads. And you feel like you’re landing an airplane when you slide down and around the hill and the view collapses slowly and drags out behind you.

So if you just happen to be taking Park Road 4 to meet the very best friends you have for a birthday party to celebrate one of the most amazing kids you know, well, just be sure you can handle that kind of bliss. It is exquisite.