Speaking of the local (Austin) landscape/lakescape, I've got a story from a recent rowboating/RC sub trip:

It was a dark and stormy night (well, almost. The cold front was blowing in, and an especially dark December evening had settled over the lake).

I had been rowing for over an hour in rough water, pretty much a fool having a blast with my two toy boats: one carrying me, and the Wally sub riding the choppy water with its red light flashing.

I was fatigued. I was about to discover my inflatable boat had developed a hole, which had started leaking air and caused two of the boat's four chambers to start collapsing; my condition compounded by the boat's condition had suddenly made it very hard to row anywhere. I was "toast," and my brain was slowing down, begging respite.

I beached at a less-than-opportune spot, not entirely of my choosing.

I looked up and saw a very big man. "Yikes!" was pretty much my reaction. He had his back to me, but must have been about eight feet tall, and stocky. He had been quietly standing there, as though waiting for something. Footlights edge-lit him into stark lights and shadows, looming up with his giant stature close to the lakeside.

After that moment, I realized I was looking at the statue of local guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn. Stevie had never been scary to me before, but he made quite an impression on me that night !