Summer Vacation in the HIll Country

BEWARE: ROAD TRIP STORY

Steep Trails and Dangerous Curves!

For the first time in three years, Ray and I went on a vacation. We loaded Ray's trailer down, and we left from Corpus to Utopia. Along with Ray's brother Louis, Dina, Daniel and Lindsey, we drove to River Haven Cabin Retreat in Utopia.

We cruised through Pleasanton, Jourdontan, Devine, over the Santa Anna Creek, through Biry (don't blink), Hondo, D'Hanis, Sabinal, and finally after Utopia. While we drove, we notice the landscape gradually changed from flat lands to hills. Ray, Lou and Tux pulled the trailer with the Jeep, and Dina and I and the kids drove in her Durango. As we drove, the kids watched their DVD players and listened to music on their iPods. I created a playlist of summer songs for the trip, and Dina had loads of CDs with 80s music.

Utopia is a quiet, sleepy town with the Sabinal River running through it.Our cabin had satellite TV, three bedrooms, AC, stocked kitchen deck, fire pit, and the Sabinal running behind the cabin.


At night we listened to the cicadas chirping and waded in the crystal clear river with the perch nibbling on us.
The next day, Daniel woke up with a insect bite that made his ear swell up quite a bit. He was courageous about it, and thankfully, he recovered quickly.



Later Ray and I drove to Bandera and hunted for antiques. We ate Mexican food at a cute restaraunt called OST (Old Spanish Trail). We drove to Leakey and enjoyed the scenery.



I found some cool wildflowers I had to pick for my scrapbook. When we reached the Frio River, I waded the river a little to enjoy the cool water. The river was not as cold as people said it would be.

The next day we drove with Lou and Dina and family back to Concan and enjoyed a fabuous meal at a resteraunt called Neal's. Neal's was located by the Frio, and we watched people tubing down the river from the terrace.

Late in the afternoon, we waded in the Sabinal and enjoyed finding river rocks. The water is clear and cool, the river was shaded by live oak trees, and a small man made dam made the pouring water sound like a baby waterfall.


The sun set, and the guys made a fire in the pit so the kids could make marshmallows.
In the morning everyone packed up and Ray and I drove home leisurely. We enjoyed being out in nature, and being with family.