GSP

We spent two weeks at Garner State Park recently and had a blast. David and I both vacationed at Garner as kids and have been taking our children for many years. We are as enchanted now as we were when we were younger and the park is still just as beautiful! Getting to Garner is always an ordeal, as packing and actually "leaving" for vacation are not my strong suits. David usually leaves a day ahead of me and the kids so he can get in line to get a good spot. This year it was raining on the day of check in and he had a difficult time to say the least! Setting up tents in the rain is not an easy task. And, yes, I said tent...we are still tent campers. That is not to say we do without air conditioning...oh, no, we bring the air conditioning with us. We added a new tarp to our camp this year, complete with sidewalls and it was wonderful. The kids dubbed it their "cabana" and at night we caught up on our movie watching after the dance. Here are a few "great" and "not so great" moments from our trip.

Not so great...arriving on the first night in the rain. David had the tent set up and one tarp (minus the sidewalls). He was asleep in the tent (exhausted I'm sure!) on our raised air mattress bed. It was pretty obvious that it was losing air when I peeked in so I decided to sleep under the tarp with the kids on a cot. It was raining and the wind was blowing rain on us but we just covered our heads with blankets and went to sleep. Definitely not the best night's sleep I have ever had.

Great...not getting sick after sleeping in the rain!

Not so great...the river was really low this year due to a lack of rain in the area.

Great...the river was great because, well...it's the Frio River baby!

Not so great...a day at the laundromat washing clothes.

Great...A day at the laundromat made better because your oldest daughter volunteers to help and after doing laundry all day allows you to take pictures of her like this:



Not so great...we really missed DJ this year. :-(

Great...being asked to photograph the annual frisbee football games. I almost feel like I am part of the gang. Thanks guys! "you like me, you really, really like me!" :-)



Not so great...the flies, bees and skunks were out in full force!

Great...ping pong was fun this year (compliments of Curt and Teresa).



Not so great...the guys not getting to play washers because it is too loud (according to our handy, dandy park ranger). That is why y'all didn't play isn't it? You guys aren't getting old are you???

Great...horseback riding in Utopia. There's this really great place to ride horses in Utopia that we learned about a couple of years ago compliments of Danny. It's great because it is less of a nose to butt guided horse ride and more of a "here, take my horses out on my property and ride them. Stay an hour to an hour and a half, or as long as you like." The kids really love it! I just kind of like going to see Billy, the proprietor, so to speak. Billy is an old cowboy who is a little on the cantankerous side, tall and skinny and he doesn't mince words. I think he was a little impressed that I could get on a horse unassisted though. HA! So impressed, in fact, that he asked me to be the guide. It seems that he had given the day off to the two young caballeros who work for him. I was actually planning on sitting on his front porch and reading while the kids rode, but, much to my dismay I was chosen to be the guide. And let me just give you a piece of advice, okay? Go to the bathroom BEFORE you set out for your ride. Okay, that's probably too much information, but, take my advice, okay? You'll be glad you did. :-)

Not so great...the dead horse we saw on Billy's property. We asked him about it and he said, "I been tore up about it all day." I'm so sorry Billy!

Great...seeing old friends. We always run into people at Garner, usually people we went to school with that we haven't seen in years. It's always great to see George and Diane Foshee, Garner's iconic couple. Another great friend we see every year is Billy and Ruthie Rogers and their little dog, Maddie. Isn't she the cutest thing ever!



Here's a funny story about them too. When we left this year we decided to leave our barbeque pit behind because it was kind of on it's last leg (literally) and it was a cheapie. Not wanting to put it in the dumpster and thinking that the next group of campers might put it to good use, we just left it at the campsite. Ruthie was camped a couple of spots over and stayed a week longer than us. Apparently, she thought we had forgotten it because one week later I got a knock on the door and it was Billy (her husband) wanting to know if we had left it intentionally. I said, "well, David did, but, hey...I'm glad you brought it!" Now that's a great friend and a great husband too!

Great...dancing under the hill country skies with my boys!



Not so great...Luci and Zoe really don't like camping...or swimming either for that matter!



Great...having Luci and Zoe on vacation with us.



Not so great...no mexican food while camping! Boo hoo!

Great...lots of other good food, including s'mores and our annual seafood night!



Not so great...showering. Need I say more. I hate public facilities!

Great...the sink David constructed for us. At least we have a great place to brush our teeth, wash our hands and do the dishes!

Great...Boxer night at the dance.







Not so great...someone complaining about boxer night at the dance. Of course these guys had on slider shorts under their boxers. Seriously folks!

Great...seeing our good friends, the Galbans.

Not so great...we really did miss you this year, Tim! :-(

Great...our very own infomercial performed by Mo with his slicer/dicer/chopper thingy. I still gotta get me one of those!

Not so great...no place to erect the volleyball net!

Great...Lauren's volleyball serve and Travis' sunglasses! HEEHEE!





All in all it was another great year...even though there were some things (and people) missing. One of the best moments was something I overheard one night. Cameron and Jacque were sharing an air mattress to sleep. Jacque was complaining about how Cameron had her knees in her back all night. Cameron and Jacque are eight years apart and have always loved one another but I have to say, I'm not sure they've done a lot of sisterly bonding over the years. I have always wished they were closer to one another. One night they were kidding around and I told them "you guys need to get in bed if you are going to get up early and go hiking." Jacque said, "yeah, come on Cameron, come put your knees in my back already." They went off to bed and I heard them giggling and laughing together. It was music to my ears.

Tent: $150.00
Air mattress: $49.00

Listening to your girls giggle and laugh under a starry, Texas sky: priceless!

Until next year!

BTW: If you want to swipe any of my photos from Garner feel free to do so. You can click on the slideshow in the sidebar on the right and it will take you to Picasa where you can right click and download all you want! I'll leave it up for a while.