Colorado Bend State Park is our destination. It's in the Hill Country of Texas, just north of Fredericksburg. (Check out that picture!) We're going to stay there three nights, the longest I've ever been camping, I'm pretty sure. There are lots of trails, waterfalls, and caves. The park was listed in the Top 10 of Texas Swimmin' Holes, so we'll definitely be swimming, as well as fishing and canoing.The best part is that Cliff and Teresa are coming with us! A little over a year ago, we went to Austin together. It was one of the best vacations I've ever been on. This trip will be our last before they move, so I'm glad we could squeeze it in.
One thing about this trip, though, is that we'll really be roughin' it. No electricity, no normal bathrooms with showers, and water in a central location to all the sites--not at each site. When I found that out, I called Teresa to make sure that would be okay (I'm not a seasoned camper, so I would have probably backed out pretty quickly). After talking about it, we both realized we'd all been overseas and handled squatty potties; we could do this. Plus, Cliff has a portable shower. (How random is that?!) So, with the comfort of the portable shower in my mind, I made the reservations.
I only remember camping once when I was a kid. My mom made bacon, and then scrambled the eggs in the bacon fat. Yummy....I always wondered how she knew to do that, when we'd never been camping. And why we didn't go more often. My dad is a natural outdoorsman, and would camp with the Boy Scouts, but we only camped as a family that once. I also remember racoon tracks, and playing games until our eyes were blurry. That was so great.
Jon grew up camping. His family would camp all over the place, and kept their gear ready, so they could leave on a whim. Jon says they had the reputation of taking the rain with them. Walter jokes about offering to hire themselves out to drought-stricken areas--their record for rain was so good. :) That hasn't held true with our camping trips now, so it must be another member of the family who holds the curse.
We've been camping overnight twice with our class from church. Both have been really great times, and I always wish we could stay longer. Now we get to! I'm really excited. I'm looking forward to the break, and the time to spend with friends.
Did I mention that I'm the only one who has to take off work? Bums.
Why do you want to carry over vacation days? If you keep doing that, you have no way to really take all of your days when you want to. Do you think your boss would let you take three or four weeks off in a row? I'm getting close to that point already. I have just over my yearly allotment of time off banked, and I don't think I'm going to use it all this year. Just take the time off when you have it, and enjoy it.
ReplyDelete@John: I just hate getting to the end of the year and wondering if I have enough left for Christmas time with family. So, I'm trying this year to use the days a little less, so I'll have a nice cushion I can "keep in the bank." (That's wise for if I ever get sick, too, though I've never used them as sick days.) But once I have that cushion, I completely agree with taking the time off and enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteYay for being a bum! And I just thought, even tho we move, vacations don't have to stop. Its the perfect way to hang out when you don't live close enough to pop over for dinner. We could meet up in San Antonio or something. :) And that picture is pretty. Is that the falls we will tour?
ReplyDelete@Teresa: I completely agree! I think vacations together would be a lot of fun, and a great way to hang out when we live far away. I'm sure we'll be using Skype a lot, too.... :)
ReplyDeleteI think that's the fall we'll tour. It was on the website. I hope so, because it's beautiful!
what's skype?
ReplyDeleteIt's a video chatting program. There's a lot more you can do with it, but we used it for that last summer when we were Buddy-sitting, so they could see their kitty, and we could see them!
ReplyDeleteI think it's skype.com. You should get a camera!
Skype is free. You can use it like a phone, over the internet. If you happen to have a camera you can also do video calls. It helped me get a job last summer when we were overseas and also let us call home all the time for relatively free. (International calls cost a little if it is to a phone instead of someone else's skype computer.)
ReplyDeleteYour vacation plans sound great!
ReplyDeleteWe only camped once b/c I'm not a camper...city girl here. And I knew to do the eggs that way b/c that's how I did them at home!
I'm glad you have good memories of camping.
I looked up this site when you first mentioned the name and I think Tim & I are going to go there for Labor Day. You'll have to give me the full scoop on pros and cons so we'll be ready. It's always fun with another couple, especially for an extended stay. I saw the waterfall photo (above) and couldn't help but get excited.
ReplyDelete