Memory Filled River Trip with Family

This weekend my family took a trip up to the river house in Concan, TX for a relaxing long weekend.  Concan is between 4-5 hours from Houston so we left at 4:30 AM on Friday to get out of Houston before the traffic hit.  When I was little we used to go to GarnerState Park every year for vacation and I have so many fond memories of that place. 

My grandma’s (Maw-Maw) memory is fading so we wanted to bring the entire family up for the weekend to have (at least) one last family trip there.  We were trying to plan it to where everyone could go, but it turns out that only my uncle could go and the rest of the kids (3) were no able to attend with their family.  The attendees were me, Maw-Maw, Paw-Paw, Laura (my sister), her kids Hunter and Cole, my Uncle Wendall and his wife Rhonda, plus their two kids, Tiffany and Emily.   

We all played in the river (or floated) all day on Friday.  I even fell asleep in my float for a little bit.  I heart the Frio River!  On Saturday the plan was to go to Garner State Park early to hike and see the old stompin’ grounds, but apparently the park limits the number of outsiders on the weekends and cuts off entrance to the park at around 10 AM.   

Since we couldn’t get in to the park we just played on our side of the river with the rope swing.  The house/cabin is situated on about 5 acres that are right on  the river when you go down a hill.  We use the “Stairs of Death” because they are directly behind the house but there are a two other sets that can be used too.  I just prefer the stairs of death, which are so death defying anymore like they used to be.  The kids like to use the name because they are hard to get down but have improved very much since in the last few years.

Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw couldn’t get down the stairs (any set) so they just hung out on the deck.  I love this view!  I stayed out here for a while reading my book and spying on the turtles sunbathing in the river.  EVERY time I have gone up there with the intention of sleeping on this deck, under the stars (bucket list item) the rain has stopped my plans.  :/  Usually you look up and you see millions of stars, but it was so cloudy that I decided not to try and sleep outside (with bug spray).  

I love this story!  On Saturday evening, my uncle took my grandparents to the State Park-you can get in after 6 PM-to see if my Maw-Maw would remember anything.  As they were driving through, she would say “Oh, look at that” or “that has changed”.  When they got close to their old campground that they always reserved, she said “There’s the two boulders and camp ground 105”.  My uncle, aunt, and grandpa all didn’t remember the campground number, but my grandma with Alzheimer’s did. 

They got out of the car (no one was staying at the campground) and Maw-Maw looked down on the grass and saw a heart rock.  Maw-Maw collects heart rocks each time we go to the river the grandkids look for her a heart rock.  This one was a perfect heart. 

She also looked up and saw a poke salad plant.  Maw-Maw grew up in East Texas during the Depression and Poke Salad was a big deal.  She gets SO EXCITED every time she sees it.  I once had to smuggle it out of a park in a backpack in PA because she couldn't leave without it. LOL.  You can make it with eggs, kind of like spinach.  

Anyway, for her to find it at her favorite campground, plus a heart rock, was a big deal.  God was smiling down on this trip.  I don’t believe that is a coincidence.  My uncle was very happy in that moment.  This might be the last time they travel up there and the whole family has awesome memories of that place.  I’m glad I was part of this trip!

We left after breakfast on Sunday and got home late because of traffic and rain (plus 2 stops). I had a ton of fun on the trip!  Great memories.

Las Vegas Day 3

So, if you read yesterday’s post you will remember that we were late picking up Amber from the airport.  Our friend Hector had kept asking a ton of questions and I wasn’t sure why.  It turns out that he came to Vegas!  He had thought we were staying at the Flamingo (since I love flamingos) but we weren’t there.  Then he thought we were going to O but he missed us after the show so he was like “just come pick me up, I’m tired of walking”.  After years of traffic, we finally found him and who else did we see?????  Our other friend Brett!  They both ended up surprising us.  Hector decided he was coming at 6:30 pm and at 8:30 pm they were on a flight to Vegas!  How fun.  I love spontaneous stuff like that. :)

That night everyone went out to the clubs in town.  I didn’t go.  I am not a club person.  I can go to a bar all night, but clubs are not my scene.  I am not a dancing, strobe light kind of person.  They weren’t home at 3 am so I went looking for them. I figured that I could take an hour of dancing but that was it.  I  left the hotel and was almost to the end of the block when I saw Hector wondering the streets with a CVS bag full of Doritos and other snacks that he was munching on.  He was lost and now it was my turn to babysit him.  The girls had lost him and Brett at the club.  I will omit what happened between now and then but I found Brett wondering the streets lost too.  #whathappensinVegas

Me and my two babysitting charges.  Look how awesome my eye shadow looks!!!

The next morning afternoon was fueled by lots of coffee.  Clarissa went shopping for a new outfit and the rest of us went on the most intense hike ever!  I had heard of the Gold Strike Canyon Hot Springs Hike (6 mile hike) by a local blogger and I knew that I wanted to do it.  However, I did not know how hard it would be.  They said you would have to use ropes to get down some parts, but wow, it was hard.  At first the guys didn’t want to go but after I said “hot springs at the bottom” for the gazillionith time they wanted to go.  Thank goodness they went because we would have not been able to get to the bottom or come back up without them.  Both Amber and I have some short legs and no upper body strength so unless you do, make sure to take a couple of (cute) guys with you. :)

The trail head is about a 30-45 minute drive outside of town, right by the Hoover Dam (it's the same exit).  The first part of the hike was easy with a few obstacles, the 2^nd part was more challenging.  About 30 minutes into the hike you come to a water stop where people have put excess water for anyone who didn’t bring any with them.  We all brought some (because I told them to) but apparently there was someone who didn’t take water with them and they died.  There isn’t a guarantee that water will be there, so be smart and bring your own water!  It was a nice, breezy day when we went but there are signs warning people not to hike July through September.  After the water station the hike got harder.  I was able to do it but it would have helped with hiking boots (instead of tennis shoes) and hiking grip-like gloves.  There is not cell signal so you are pretty much screwed if you don’t come prepared.

There are spray painted arrows that show you the easiest routes to take and there are about 5 or 6 ropes that you can use to make you way up or down.  At one boulder obstacle, we were like “umm…let’s not do this since it’s impossible” but then we saw the arrow pointing to an “easier” path.  At one rope ladder area I freaked out and I am so glad the guys were there to help me.  On the way back Amber and I definitely had to have the guys help us by doing some hoisting and pulling.  I think it was the first obstacle going back up when I thought I was stuck and would have to live like a cave woman and wear mountain lion fur because I couldn’t get back to civilization. 

About halfway down you start seeing trickles of water and small pools.  At ¾ of the way down you will find pools deep enough for 2-4 people to get in, and the bottom is where you will find the largest pool plus the Colorado River.  The river was running really swiftly so I wouldn’t recommend getting in the actual river but Brett did get in the largest hot spring and enjoyed it.  I put my feet in and it was HOT.  It was so amazing after a long hike.

We weren’t sure how long it would take us to get back so we only stayed about 30 minutes at the bottom.  It gets dark around 5:30 pm so and we didn’t want to have to climb boulders in the dark.  We were at a really dangerous looking area on the hike back to the top and we thought we saw a way to go back through the cracks but I was afraid to go in first so I made Hector go in first. LOL.  “Hector, you go first and tell us if there’s snakes.”  He wasn’t too happy. :)

We finally made it to the end and were so tired, not to mention filthy!  As soon as we got back to the hotel the guys crashed but Amber and I had to get dressed for Britney!  Clarissa just looked at us like we were all crazy for hiking on vacation!  I wish we had had time to take a nap but we needed to get dressed.

Tomorrow you will hear all about Britney Spears!!!

River Weekend

This past weekend I brought a big group of friends to my parent’s river house in Concan, TX, which is close to Garner State Park (about 3 miles away).  I am still friends with some people in my old church’s single’s group so I invited them along.  Some of my friends were trying to make it, but they couldn’t get off of work at the last minute. :/  It was still fun though.

Every other Friday at work is a ½ day so I got off at 12 pm and headed to my house to pack my car.  I had to stop to get cash out and pick up something for lunch.  Everyone was in charge of bringing their own food for the weekend, so when I stopped to get lunch on Friday, I also picked up lunch for Saturday.  A woman named Robin was carpooling with me and she got to my house around 1 pm.  I didn’t know her very well-I had only met her once-so we talked about random stuff the entire trip up there.

We stopped at Buc-ee’s on the way (of course!) and got to Concan about 5:30 pm.  My aunt and uncle were at the cabin when we got there and stayed the night too.  I was glad they were there because we had to set up the hammocks and stuff.  So much easier with help!  They left early on Saturday to go hiking in Lost Maples park.

Everyone else got there between 7 and 11 pm.  We originally were going to have some people stay in tents, but we had just enough beds and blow up mattress to sleep all 14 of us inside without a problem.  I <3 air conditioners! :)    The next morning we had breakfast tacos and set out for Garner State Park to hike up Old Baldy.  

On the way we stopped at the sign at the entrance and took pictures.  It is a tradition that we take at least one jumping picture by the sign each time I go.  #fun

We started our hike around 10 am and made it to the top in about an hour and a half.  On the way we stopped at a cave and everyone got a blast of cool air.  We had three teenagers with us so we stopped a few times to rest.

We got to the top of the mountain (hill?) and took pictures.  We are strong!

After we got back from hiking we ate lunch and they got ready to go tubing down the river.  I didn’t go tubing with them because I have been there, done that so many times.  I knew that the river would be really low and I always hated having to walk most of the way.  I was not interested in doing that so I stayed behind with a float and some wine.  Everyone got back all sunburned and tired around 5 pm and we started cooking dinner.   

We had tons and tons of BBQ and watermelon before we got ready for the dance inside the park.

We set up our lawn chairs at the edge of the dance floor and just watched everyone dance.  The teenagers in the group loved the dance, but as an adult it’s kind of lame.  LOL. I remember thinking it was so cool when I was a kid.  Oh well, next time we will stay at the house and eat s’mores or hang by the river.

The next morning we got up, ate breakfast, packed up the cars, cleaned the house and headed to by some souvenirs.  My favorite place to get souvenirs in Concan is a store called Frio’s Dry Fifty.  The store has so many cute souvenirs and yard items that you want to buy them all.  Plus, there are tons of flamingo items for sale.  <-- I can’t wait til I buy a house to put flamingo stuff in the backyard, I will have to go shopping there when the time comes.

While we were waiting for everyone to finish shopping, I got an iced coffee and sat outside under the coolest set of chairs!  I want one of these!!

We headed home and stopped in a few little shops on the way home, plus Buc-ee’s of course!  I got home to an adorable cat that needed lots of attention.  It was a super fun weekend!