About three years ago, my extended family started planning a trip to Hawaii, to spend a week a the beautiful beachfront bungalows where my parents took us way back in 2004. This time last year, however, we found out that the bungalows were for sale. The manager couldn't say for sure what would happen under a new owner, but the sales page for it made it clear that the historic buildings could be town down to make way for building "your personal paradise." Rather than wait until the last minute and have to scramble, we went ahead and canceled the trip.
A few months later, I planned a trip to California. We were going to do things that none of us have ever done before, like go to Disneyland, Legoland, and Huntington Beach. We were going to eat at Bob's Big Boy and Roy's Donuts. And since California is much cheaper to get to than Hawaii, we had even splurged to travel first class. Then COVID. We were very fortunate, and after barely any convincing at all, all of our money was returned to us, save a 10% service charge from the third-party reseller for Disney tickets; I didn't begrudge that at all.
SO, scaling back even more, we decided to return to the State Fair of Texas. We haven't been in two years and Mal's at the age where I think he'd really enjoy Little Hands on the Farm. But, of course, the fair got canceled. They have a drive-through food thing, but it's a minimum of three hours and I definitely do not want to sit in my car, staying in one place, for that long. Also, the Perot Museum is still closed. And we'd have to wear masks inside everywhere. The Dallas Zoo even has everyone over the age of ten wearing masks all of the time, even outside. Thus we filed Dallas away for another time.
I tentatively scheduled a little circle, staying within an hour of where we live, and expecting that we'd just need to stay outside the whole trip. I didn't get too excited about it because... see above. But we got to go! It's been a nice couple of days so far. Except for the suicidal moths.
Yesterday at about 11, we drove over to Marble Falls for lunch at Local Eats Craft Food truck. It was so good! Especially the parmesan sweet potato fries.
We'd talked about going to Sweet Berry's farm just to look at the fall pumpkin scenes, but Mal decided he would rather go to the local park. I was kind of glad. There's very little shade at the farm, and though the day was mild enough for Central Texas fall (high in the mid-80s), the full sun could definitely bake.
We had a really nice time at Johnson Park, then passed a classic/souped-up car festival on our way out of town. We stopped to admire those for a bit.
Then we drove on into Johnson City. There must have been a moth harvest recently. We killed so many of them with our windshield. It's disgusting. They look like leaves blowing in the wind until they explode in your line of view. Good grief.
Our next stop was the Exotic Zoo Resort. We've driven past before but never stopped. There were tons of very friendly animals! They said we could hand-feed anything except the zebras, which bite, and the "birds," which are evil ostriches and rheas. They didn't have to warn me about the birds. I've been pecked by jerk ostriches right in the camera lens.
At one point, James was hand-feeding a full-sized camel on his side, when a second camel stuck its head all the way into my window and across, in an attempt to get the food. When James looked over and laughed at the unexpected animal in his face, the camel on his side tried to take the entire bag. We learned to moderate our window levels to control for thievery.
As we were finishing up the drive, my car beeped to warn me "transmission is hot; hit brakes." That was concerning, but quick enough, we pulled off of the trail and into... our parking lot. Because we had booked two nights at the on-site cabins!
Mal wasted no time making himself completely at home, and we have the best neighbors!
Of course, one of the first orders of business was swimming. The pool has to be around 70 degrees. It is SO frigid. Also, it's 4 feet deep and the ladder only has the top rung. I was there was no one around to laugh at me when I hoisted myself out over the side of the pool. Mal used the ladder to get out, and I actually did once, but realized it was a lot less dicey just to beach.
James and I got dinner from Bryan's on 290, all appetizers and sides because that place is EXPENSIVE. But it was so good. Mal had a ham and cheese on flatbread from Subway, his favorite.
After the sun set, Mal found a couple of girls running around who were staying in the cabin next door and who were kind enough to give him a glow stick. Then they all three had a dance party on our patio, then ran around playing zombies for an hour or so after. I got a really cute picture. With my cell phone. Which can't take night shots. Just trust me.
Today, we hung out around the cabin for a while after we woke up (early, all of us).
We ordered breakfast from Hill Country Cupboard, and ate it at Johnson City Park. Mal ran around the whole time we were there, talking like crazy and just super full of energy. I asked him if he'd save some of that energy for Pedernales Falls State Park. He said he was already getting tired.
However, when we got to the park, he did the short .2-mile walk to the overlook just fine. In fact, he was super excited about the stone stairway that led down to the river. I reminded him that if we went down, he'd also have to come back up. AND then walk back to the car. But he was excited! So we walked to the river's edge and had a great time throwing rocks and looking for things that are in Minecraft that are also in the real world. He flagged a little on the pathway back to the car, but he hiked just under a mile! I had kind of wanted to do the half-mile trail to the Twin Falls Overlook, but didn't want to press our luck. We'll save it for next time. James and I did get out separately and go into the bird blind while Mal sat in the car drawing on the full-sized MagnaDoodle we got him for the trip.
We came back to the cabin and Mal and I jumped into the pool for a super-charged cool-down. I'd thought I wouldn't go all the way in today, but after getting so warm at the park, it actually felt... well, I went in over my shoulders today, and Mal said the first time I did it that I screamed too loud and it hurt his ears. But by the third or fourth time, I was basically numb. It was super relaxing then to sit in the sun and dry out after that.
Tonight, we ordered dinner from West Henly Boil Shack. James got all of the Cajun stuff: étouffée and rice; shrimp boil with sausage, potatoes, and corn... I like boils, but James did say that the shrimp was spicy. I figured it might be, so I just got a patty melt and salad. It was all so delicious. Then I made my way down to the pond for sunset. My pictures... well, the pictures after the food somehow have a big old greasy finger-print in the corner. I mostly cropped it out, but they're not framed up right anymore. Still, I supposed having less-than-artistically-framed pictures is better than having patty-melt-prints all down one side, right?
It seems to me to have been a perfect trip. A great blog.
ReplyDeleteMal is getting so tall!!
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