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I sure am in la la land lol. We are home from the trip it was awsome. despite the rain the last two days. The water was so great and I got to go to my home town and relive my childhood. The kids loved the river and I must say its cold. My son and daughter got along well and we had a great time. Cant wait to go back. Here is a few entries from my husbands journal and as soon as I get how to share photos with you all I will. Oh and we were able to have a fire going as long as it was in the fire box. I miss the cool weather and the cold water already.


8-02-06

1st day of vacation. we were up at 6:30 and started getting ready for our trip to Garner. By 7:30 we were on the road out of houston, and on our way. The biggest problem, was my lack of paying attention. I missed the shortcut to Uvalde, Texas, adding a little over an hour to our drive time. The mistake worked out pretty good though. Connie got to re-live some of her younger childhood memories, as we drove through Leakey. This was where she had lived at one time.

I feel like something crappy is gonna happen. The first trip to the river was cold, too cold. seeing the kids in the water was cool. Rob was playing with Ember like it was natural (that don't happen very often). And little mis fraidy-cat was living it up in the smaller, strong currents. the temp was cooler than i thought, a gentle breeze made it cool and very comfortable.


8-03-04

day two. the morning started at 6:30. the breeze is refreshing this morning, just right as far as i am concerned. A squirrel walked by the table, looking for food i am sure, so the kids fed him graham crackers

we took off to river road to start our day. There are three of these 'river roads' in the area. The one we picked, was beautiful. the Frio river ran up, and over the road here. kind of strange to see something like that being a 'normal' thing.

we were there by 9am, close to 1:30, the place was overrun by people. we ate lunch nearbye, then headed back to the campsite to get changed for a trip into Leakey. The middle of town was the only place to get any cell reception.

we came back to the site, then changed again for the river. The river is amaizing near nightfall. the current seems to slow down a little, and the wind comes through the mountains, moving upstream. when it hits the dam, it blows the water up like rain. it's an a incredible event. Cold water blowing up, then falling like rain. while we sat in the water at the dam, the kids played on the other side, making some dams of thier own.

For those that don't know...the Frio River is COLD year round (Frio is Spanish for Cold). The river has garner State Park running along one bank for five-six miles. There is all types of camping there. Since the river rises and falls dramatically with rainfall, a damn was built to slow the river through the park. there are paddleboats and kayaks you can rent. tons of tubing going on and the coldest water I have ever felt outside of a refrigerator.

when we finally came back to site, we sat around the campfire and enjoyed the night. A major lightning storm came through and lit up the night sky, even the deer came out to watch the show. The lightning was a hint at the sheer power Mother Nature has.

the night turned bad. the lightning storm was a preemptive hint of a nasty rain storm that was on its way. i layed awake most of the night watching the lightning through the tent top, listening to the rain as it came down. and it came down.

8-04-06

this morning, I found wet clothes, wet blankets, and wet pillows. I am not sure what was more upsetting, the storm, or our nieghbor that left his 200 watt porch light on ALL NIGHT LONG. Connie says the light, definately the light.

so we get up, eat and realize our plans for mountain hiking were pretty much done with. maybe we'll try something new like....i dunno...swimming.
we drove to seversl different locations.

after settling in at the dam (again) we find an area that had been walled off. the water was flowing over, and into a huge bowl. The thing was kind of like a hug jacuzzi. after finding the right spot, Ember and Rob found a 12" fish in the 'tank' with us! we spent almost an hour trying to round up the little sucker.

we decided to get lunch, then come back again and try. we get back, he's gone, but four of his little friends were hanging out waiting for some company.

After getting back to our site for the night, we ate and started getting ready for tomorrow. We are going home in the morning. The sky is giving us anothe lightning show, it looks even better and more powerful than the one, the night before. Except this one is moving right over us.....

the rain and wind started its initial attack somewhere near 11:30. The wind battered the tents in the camp, while the rain soaked everything it could touch. within a few minutes, the tent was literally floating on water and the blankets we layed down for our bedding were soaking up what came through the seams of the tent. lightning was striking every few seconds in our area, and i made the call. time to go.
while Connie got the important stuff out of our tent (meds and etc) I got the kids out of thiers. We took safety in the truck, while it poured for almost another hour. Where we live thats really not a lot of rain. But when you're in a small valley and the only drainage ditch is 4 feet from your tent, it gets pretty ugly. through the rain, thunder, we could hear sharp cracks and booms comming from the side of the mountain (approx 150-200 feet away) It was rocks falling down the mountainside.

8-05-06

we tore down our camp site in record time, throwing everything non-essential into the bed of the truck , to be tied down for the trip home. Lil Rob was out like a light, but Ember was running around as frantic as us, helping get the site cleared out. we were on the road in les than an hour.

we stopped in a small town to check directions at 1:55 am south of the state park, we drove almost 140 miles over the next 2 hours, and stopped at five hotels before we found one with a single room in San Antonio. i hit the hay at 3:20, and was up and ready to go by 8.

8-06-06

so we get up this morning to start unpacking.me and lil rob set up the tents so we can clean them out spray them down and be sure they made it through "The Flood" okay. Connie and Ember had the lousy job of taking six garbage bags full of wet, smelly clothes and bedding to the laundry mat.

through the storm we lost the tent we had bought for the trip (out $20.00) but the two tents we already had came through good as new.

Connie on the other hand had her hands full. in a laundry mat that had four rows of huge washers and three rows of bigger dryers, less that 20% of the equipment was working. There was even one washing machine that busted a hose while she was trying to things done. it flodded the laundry mat, and some of our wet clothes. We ended up driving around to three other laundry's until we found one that had room for our clothes.

Looking back on it, it was a great trip. It was relaxing, and fun. the only unfortunate take was having to come home a little early. enough was enough i guess. no regrets