There was still tons to see on the Jeff-tastic road trip, so we headed west out of Houston for a change of scenery. We got off our feet and legs and grabbed some tubes to float the Comal River. It was definitely early in the season as we pretty much had the river to ourselves! (I think we saw a total of less than 2 dozen people in the river the entire time.) We did see plenty of wildlife: ducks, birds, fish, turtles and deer!
Jeff and I both have memories of "floating the river" when we were kids (mine are very vague...) so hopefully Naomi and Danielle will now have their memories to look back on! Danielle did have a scary moment when she flipped out of her tube on the first chute -- the rapids were BIG with all the recent rain and she hit it just right. Thankful for opting-in on the life jackets! Naomi was thankful for the younger girl who pulled her to the side out of the current. I was thankful that the water was not as cold as I expected. We were all thankful that the sun shined bright and the rain held off until literally the minute after we exited the river, changed clothes and got in our car -- then it poured!
The rain stopped just long enough for us to check out the nifty Faust Street Bridge. (But the rain did start up again just as we took this picture - notice Naomi's face, and I have an umbrella behind my back!) Jeff was thankful we got the cool picture!
But we found shelter from the heat in the indoor, air-conditioned pirate ride! We took advantage of the short lines and rode it nearly 10 times!
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| 2021 (Naomi 14, Danielle 11) |
And since I love comparison photos, check out our past visits to this ride, which used to be Scooby Doo themed!
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| 2012 (Naomi 5, Danielle 2) |
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| 2015 (Naomi 9, Danielle 5) |
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| 2019 (Naomi 12, Danielle 9) |
We donned our best cowboy attire for our stop in Bandera, the Cowboy Capital. (Clearly, we are not very country...)
The horses on our 60-minute Juniper Hill trail ride still treated us with respect despite our lack of cowboy look! Meet Duke, Whiskey, Mickey and Killian. They are really good at following each other.
Heading into the hill country, we encountered much international influence (many German towns), but did you know...Stonehenge 2 can be found there?! (Note: We stood on top of the rock to avoid the Texas-sized ants that have colonized the area!!)
What was supposed to be just a fun road-side photo op, ended up being a really interesting site. Apparently people actually use The Cartoon Saloon as a unofficial place to meet up and hang out! It was clean and in good shape, with lots to read and explore.
Not too far down the road, was an official saloon and place to hang out and enjoy music -- the now unincorporated town of Luckenbach, TX, made famous by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
Only chips and drinks were served there, so we held out for dinner from food trucks at Munch Food Park in Fredericksburg.
But we made it to the top, and the view was spectacular!! And it was definitely nice to be heading uphill while the sun was low and the the clouds were still high -- we felt bad for those heading up the incline as the sun got much warmer! (Jeff knows what he's doing when he says we have to wake up early!)
It was a good thing we burned plenty of calories trekking up that rock, because we had several fun food stops on the way home!
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| Texas-sized donut, anyone?? |
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| Bucee's rehydration |
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| Kolaches!! |
Texas sure has many neat treasures to experience! And yes, it appears that the pandemic is no-more in Texas! Over our 6-day trip, there were few mask restrictions (even though we still kept our masks handy) and the people and crowds are definitely coming back. Just in time for all the summer freedom!
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