Friday, August 27, 2010

Waaay behind....

.... it's not just you, my adoring public. I'm very far behind in work, school, and socially. I'm weeks off of my exercise regiment.... such is the life of me.

Ok, bringing you all up to speed.

2 weeks ago we were supposed to camp @ Garner State Park to spend a long weekend playing in the Frio River.... the daytime temps were predicted to be 101 with 108 heat index... hmmm, let's think here. A prissy wife who doesn't like to camp, add a 5 year old who's as pale as an Irish cave dweller, with a dash of my significant others friend & kids (who I'm not a big fan of), mix them all in a tent and what do you have??... A recipe for disaster. We cut out the camping portion and just made an all day event of the Frio.

E had a blast as usual, she had two friends with her, a large floating inflatable platform, and not nearly enough sun screen. We always knew she was a bit of a thrill seeker, and this trip really brought it home in a big way. Our little Evel Kenivel was jumping off of rock faces that were at least 6', and swinging on a rope swing that was at peak 10 feet high! Not only that be she insisted on doing the rope swing over and over again.... can't wait until I get her on the trail on a mini mountain bike!

It was another great trip to the Frio. This is our favorite place to visit so far. For my next trip I want to rent a Sprinter to take out to the Mas-O-Menos race in Terlingua in February. The girls can explore during the day if I end up racing, then we can spend a few days in Big Bend hiking, river rafting, maybe even a little family mounting biking (I can dream, can't I?).

More to come, I promise.....

Friday, August 06, 2010

.... camping re-cap

I was wrong in my previous post. We didn't go to Enchanted Rock, we went to Perdenales Falls (not really much of a "waterfall" compared to Great Falls or Niagra, but good for TX). It was hot... very hot. The tent was fairly easy to set up as I knew well enough to do a dry run @ home, however I neglected to put the rain fly on at home... I mean, how hard could it be?.... Evidently harder than I thought. Next time will make more sense, but the heat & bugs made for a very frustrating set up.

After setting up the campsite, the "Unit" headed down to the river for a little cooling off session. The walk down to the river was pure torture. K was acting like her Aunt Flow was visiting... she gets rather grumpy when overheated. Once we got to the water though, her temperment settled down and we all enjoyed a nice swim in the river. As a matter of fact, it was next to impossible to keep E out of the river once we were in. She's like a fish that one! It was pure bliss, and everything I had hoped for. We stayed in the river for a good couple of hours (2-3) and decided to go for a quick hike on an overgrown trail. The trail led us to an estuary that fed the river from a spring no doubt, as the temperature was a good 15* cooler than the main river. We splashed and played in that for a while and helped E look for animal tracks near the waters edge. Then the hike back to the camp. Once @ camp we all kind of settled in. I started the fire (tried my magnesium fire starter but failed) and K found some sticks to use as Hot Dog/Marshmellow skewers. We cowed down... I swear hot dogs have never tasted so good... well, Turkey dogs, but you get the idea. The one thing I neglected to bring was a cup. K was smart and kept her cup from Sonic, but I tossed my before we left, so I had to drink straight from the water container, and I drank a lot... Ummmm dehydration! As nightfall was upon us the girls crawled into the tent hand went to sleep. I stayed up for a while and watched the glowing embers in the fire pit, then climbed into my hammock for a little relaxing. I finally turned in ~ 11:00 only to be awakened by our college aged neighbors who decided to roll into their campsite late, and began drink, talking loudly, and playing music! It was still hot, K was annoyed, E tossed and turned all night, and I slept like a baby... typical for us. At first light we all had a family breakfast and K and I looked at eachother and said "let's go for a bike ride". We brought both bikes and E's tag-a-long.. spun for a loop of the park, then headed back to camp and broke down our site. It was getting hot, and I was glad to be getting out of there sooner rather than later. E was bummed because she wanted to spend the day in the river, but K was exhausted and I was dehydrated... perfect time to head home!

Next up is a trip to the Frio River and Concan. This would be an awesome trip, but K invited one of her friends who I loath... I'll bring my bike and go for a loooong ride while they hen around.