Sunday, June 1, 2008

We're back and tan!



We had such a great vacation at Garner State Park. If you have never been to Garner, you should try to go.

I used the word 'try' here on purpose. I called for 1 month every single day at 9 am for reservations only to find that the only time available with all of the spots and cabins that we needed was during the end of May. School wasn't even out yet so I think that had everything to do with us getting in. But, this poses a problem for us in the future when our children are in school.

But, the benefit of this to us this year was that we felt like we had the park and river almost all to ourselves.

Needless to say, getting into Garner is a game- a very competitive game. I LOVE games, but I have not been able to wrap my mind around this game that I so badly want to play so my family can enjoy Garner every year.

I've heard of families that have been going there for decades. It is such a wonderful place. Our family only left the campground ONE TIME and that was to eat dinner at a local restaraunt the first night there. Other than that, we filled up our time floating around in the river, jumping off of cliffs and rope swings, working on our tans, snorkeling, biking, climbing mountains (Jason- not me), sitting by the fire, and hanging out with friends.

My goal was to look around at other campgrounds off of the Frio River to see if it might be easier to get reservations there. But, after falling in love with this place all over again, I'm pretty sure that other places would not be near as great as Garner.

.......The Set-Up.......

My husband is a breakfast cooking genius. He makes the best breakfast! And the amazing thing about it is that he LOVES cooking breakfast. We ate breakfast burritos with steak, potatoes, egg, cheese, and onion in them almost every single morning. Yum-Oh!


Another highlight was my husband taking me dancing! Garner hosts a nightly dance with a juke box and everything under this oak tree.


Laney Rae was hilarious in the water. As long as she had rocks on her floatie to play with, she was happy. I had no idea that she loved rocks this much! She also got quite the tan- except for in her roll cracks. Those are still white. Precious!


Kaylyn decided early on that a life jacket was not enough to keep her head above water. So, she added the arm floaties to her floating ensemble.


My husband, along with a few other people in our group (including a woman, her children, and a man with a baby in a front carrier), climbed this mountain referred to as 'Old Baldy'. Wow!

The Frio River is so clear and clean. You can snorkel around and see some pretty beautiful things. Here is Jason with a crew of friends snorkeling.


I have to admit that I'm not the best at taking pictures while on vacation which is pretty pathetic. Partly because I have an enormous camera to drag around and worry about something happening to it. I was smart enough to bring Jason's point and shoot camera, but not smart enough to remember that I actually brought it.

My husband blessed my socks off by letting me sneak away for a morning bike ride by myself to photograph a portion of the park.

Here are a few other photos I snapped at Garner State Park and the Frio River.





8 comments:

shauna maness said...

i am so glad that you had fun... i missed your blog!! that river looks incredible!!

Anonymous said...

Hey Lyns,

It looks like you had quite the vacation!! so glad you got to get away for a few days and just enjoy yourself. Love ya, Loretta

Summer said...

Hope you don't mind me commenting.

Wow, this place looks amazing. I am jealous. My husband is in Montana right now on a mission trip and he was telling me about the beautiful scenery. I hope the landscape is as nice as your vacation spot.

I think you should play the "game" and make it a family tradion.

QuiltedSimple said...

Oh - definitely play the game and make it a family trip every year - the place is absolutely gorgeous. Glad you had a good fun filled time.
Kris

Ashley McWhorter said...

Hi. I found your blog through Heather. I am one of those "persons" who has been going to Garner for decades. I am now 29 years old and married with children and have been going to Garner since I was in 8th grade. We still go EVERY summer. We have done it all when it comes to where we "put up camp". We now do cabins up the road from Garner at Frio Country. Still right on the river, but just really nice cabins and much easier to get reservations. We still go to the dances every night while we are there. I love that my parents took us and now I get to share it with my own family. So glad y'all had fun!!!

Ashley McWhorter

Heidi said...

What a fun time! I'm so glad you got a chance to get away. Farm life is crazy-busy I'm sure. Nice to have some down time, yes? :) Lovely pictures!

Hendrick Family said...

We need to check into those much nicer cabins Ashley is talking about! Ha!

So much fun, Lynsey. You are da bomb for putting it all together.

Does anyone know where I can buy a river? Cause I want one.

Heather

Anonymous said...

Great Pictures & Thanks for sharing your experience at Garner & The Frio! We never get tired hearing or reading people expressing their good times..

Garner is an amazing gift to Texas, but you are right-it's not easy to get in due to it's popularity. 200,000+ camp there every year and Texas Parks & Wildlife ranked their swimming hole #2 in the August 08' edition.

You can always go into Garner for the day if you are unable to get a spot. There is a lot of great cabins, lodges, and other accommodations in the Frio Area and across from Garner on CR 350. There are also some "Free" spots at a few Crossings that have some good swimming holes and beautiful views.

We live in the area and devote a site to it! Check us out next time before you come down and if can't get into Garner.. there are plenty of options and think you will be happy wherever you stay to be honest.

Take Care and hopefully you make it down again soon!

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