We departed San Antonio on Sunday and arrived after 3:00 pm. I wanted to get there early, but with 5 kids, I'm hungry, I need to go to the bathroom, it took much longer - which is normal for us on the first day anywhere.
I stood in line forever and by the time I got to the desk, there were only 4 sites left. I guess I thought everyone in front of me wanted water only site. I didn't know what to expect and asked her for the best she thought. We got site #334. It was large, secluded enough and overall just great. #335 was right next to us and it seemed to bother them more than us because they put their tent and all their gear next to the picnic table. We put our tent down by the water and our kitchen and chairs between the fire ring and tent. We never ate at the picnic table once.
Weather was all over the place:
Sun - luke warm, but cool at night
Mon - warm and luke warm at night
Tues - windy, cold, rainy and VERY cold at night
Wed - luke warm or cool depending on the wind, but sunny
We planned on staying through Thursday, but on our long hike on Wednesday, I sprained my ankle badly during the last 30 yards of the hike on flat terrain
Sunday, we fished, got in the water a little
Monday, they fished some more, took the canoe out and we hiked out to devils water hole, swam in a little cove that had a waterfall
Tuesday, we were going to rent two additional canoes and make it our big advernture and be out all day, but it didn't happen that way. We ended up going into Marble Falls and ate out. We came back with fresh firewood to try and keep warm for awhile. The kids were nice and warm, I brought extra blankets for them. It rained really hard between about 10pm - 2-3am. The hubby and I froze because we only had a sheet and blanket on a cold air mattress. No one told me an air mattress is just a piece of ice when it is cold.
Wedneday was a new day and we decided to take a long hike, minimum of two miles and then go back have lunch and get ready for our canoe trip to devil's waterhole and stay there the rest of the day. I am a plus size gal and that hike was awesome. I took of every step I took, and managed just fine. I had the 5 year old with me and we were last in the hike line because he kept finding all kinds of cool things to look at and pick up. The hubby and rest of the 4 kids were waiting for us at the end. We could see them. My youngest said, "The kids! The kids! I can see the Kids" He started going faster and I watched him take a few steps and that's when I stepped in hole. Thank goodness it was at the end and not up on the rocks!
My two oldest were laughing so hard. They said my fall looked like a cartoon. We made it back to camp and we were going to try and rough it out, but after an hour, I told them to break camp and let's get out of here.
The staff at Inks are really great. I can see that the right side of Inks is very busy - kids running around without parents - what a nightmare...but the left side is great. We will be going back at the end of the month.
I say it was a huge success to get my city kids out of town and away from ipods, nintendos, play stations and the computer for a few days. I felt it was a gamble because we had to spend some $$$ to get our gear up to date. It had been 10 years since we camped last... It paid off, they loved it and are looking forward to garner and getting into the water more. If you know anything about us, we are used to 4 star accommodations, room service and valets - Our Christmas break was the Turks and Caicos. The husband and I like the costs of the getaways a lot better. Glad we did it!