We finally got to go on our much anticipated camping trip to Inks Lake (in central Texas) What I have discovered though is that it's only a vacation for the kids! :) The parents need a vacation to recover from the vacation...but we did have fun, so that's what counts right?
Here's the official version ;)
We left on Wednesday the 15th of August but the 2 days preceeding that we were watching the forecast for our travels and our destination...it did not look good. There was rain, rain and more rain (always fun when your plans revolve around camping and the great outdoors!). We decided to go anyways and make the best of it. We took the portable dvd player and games "just in case". We left (ON TIME) on Wednesday afternoon and the trip was okay-better than we anticipated with Haley's traveling personality. It was a little dicey riding shotgun with my husband driving in the "hill country" as I'm always terrified the road won't be there when you get to the bottom of those big hills-then what? He has this sense of trust that the road will always be there and no one will be broken down, etc in your way! So, (in my opinion) we were flying over these huge hills pulling a camper behind our van and I'm yelling at him to slow down. He tells me to close my eyes. UMMMMM, NO! Then I will not know what to yell at him about! Anyways, we got there (so I guess he was right, the road was there every time-lol) and got set up and all was good and even the next morning we had our camp breakfast of bacon, eggs, potato and cheese tacos!! Yum!! Then, right about the time we were about to go and check things out (the lake and camp grounds...) it started to rain. So, we decided to go to the other state park that was nearby and boasted a cavern. It's called Longhorn Cavern State Park and was just a few miles from the State Park we were at. The tour was starting in like 5 mins so everyone went to the bathroom and we strapped Haley into her Bjorn and down we went. They said it'd be an hour and a half tour. There was some really cool history for this cave. It had been the site of a speakeasy during prohibition. It was high dollar-can you just imagine all the rich people going into a cave in their fancy clothes? Just so they could drink? They showed us how the food was brought down into the cave (it was also a resuraunt) and where the lounge was and all-that was really neat. Then there was the story of the Commanche Indians kidnapping a beautiful, rich young girl and holding her for ransom. The Texas Rangers rescued her (even though the Indians outnumbered them 3 to 1!!) It was also a designated Nuclear Fallout shelter in the 1960s and where they would've taken President Johnson!! It was a bit mucky down there and there were some spots where you had to bend over to walk for quite a ways, but it was so neat and a lot of fun exploring.
Towards the end of the tour the kids were getting antsy to be back at the campgrounds to go swimming or fishing. We kept reminding them that it could very well be raining really bad when we exited the cave...luckily it was NOT!! Yay! It was cloudy enough to be cool (if you were looking for the benefit of the rain it was that it kept our temperatures very tolerable!)
So, we decided to Check out a place w/in the State Park we were staying at. It's called Devil's Waterhole and it's very pretty and there are huge rocks (more like cliffs) that you **can** jump off of (not if you're my child though). We decided to be adventurous and go further on our "hike" and we went over a large granite hill (quite the hike when you are barefoot and carrying a baby). When you went up the hill and down the other side and around a bend there was a neat waterhole and a waterfall where you could play and swim! It was definitely worth the hike-in fact we did it twice. But the first day it started to rain so we were literally running to get over that hill before it got too slick or parts got muddy or whatever! It was kind of funny prob'ly if you were to watch us do this! :)
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, just nice fun family time that we really needed. I did make my kids wear life jackets the whole time (I promised my mom I would as everyone is a little nervous of the water this summer after losing Eric) so you will see that in the pictures. The kids were very good about it and never complained and asked to take them off! :) Sorry to be so long winded, but what can I say? That's me!! :) :)
So, here are the pictures you really came here for...
Haley napping under a tree :)
Jared & Lindsay by the lake:
Haley sitting on a big hill made of rock (by the swimming hole/waterfall):
Harold and the kids near the waterfall:
Our rainy day breakfast-very healthy! ;)
Me and the kids outside of the cave:
The kids in the cave:
