Over the River and Through the Woods...

So this past weekend I headed down to the Guadalupe river with KC and Tom and a bunch of Tom's friends. This was the 4th annual trip (I think) for Tom and his friends, but the first year we got to go. It has been forever since I got to float the river and I always love to get down to that part of the state. I am sure people who don't know me well would not think of me as a country girl. I live in Dallas and mostly conform to the normal Dallas type as far as the way I dress when I go out and I do Dallas type things like shop at Northpark and eat in Uptown a lot. What can I say? There isn't that much else to do here. For those who don't know, Dallas is sort of pretentious. Pretty much the entire reason I can't wait to move to Austin. Anyway, my point is that getting out of the city to go stay in a cabin in the woods on a river while listening to country music the entire time is definitely my idea of a good time. I guess it's because I grew up fishing on my grandfather's pond or swimming in the creek on his farm and spending a lot of my childhood in a little town called Tenaha, TX (don't worry, no one else knows where it is either). And not like Tyler is a huge town, which is where I grew up. I love small towns and being 'away from it all', so I was looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

On the way down it was me, Jason and my friend KC in a car. KC is one of my best friends and favorite people. We spent the ride down torturing Jason (who hates country music) by playing rounds of dueling iPods. We would find our favorite country songs and play them loud and sing louder. KC had some great songs that I hadn't heard in forever like Waylon Jennings' 'Amanda', some Dolly Parton 'Why'd You Come in Here Lookin Like That' and 'Behind Closed Doors' by Charlie Pride. Such good stuff. I also learned a few new songs that were greatness. She had the new Reckless Kelly CD and there is a song about New Orleans on there that is just so beautiful and sad. They bring the horns in toward the end and it just reminds me how much I used to love that city and the fact that wherever you went you would hear music. Also, not sure how, but I had never heard the song 'Ireland' by Garth Brooks. It was on his Fresh Horses CDs and we listened to that whole thing. 'That Ol Wind' is such a good song and I hadn't heard it in forever. I forgot how much I used to like ol' Garth. I remember how hard it was to get tickets to his show in College Station my Junior Year of college. One of the best shows ever I thought.

We stopped in Waco at this place called George's for lunch and O's. Now apparently George's is super famous. Everyone couldn't believe I had never heard of it. I didn't think anything good existed in Waco (except the Fazoli's on Hwy 35), but I was wrong. I had the best food there! Fried catfish with black eyed peas, macaroni and cheese and fried okra. Now if that ain't comfort food I don't know what is! Plus they have these big beers called O's. What I was told is that back in the day when girls at Baylor weren't allowed to drink they would come here and order big orange juices or OJs, which was shortened to O's, which were really beer. Pretty funny.

We finally got to the cabin and were lucky enough to get a bed - there were only two full size beds and everyone else had either a bunk bed or a futon or the floor. Score one for us! So that night we just kind of hung out, grilled out brats and burgers which were deLISH. We stayed up kind of late just hanging out and playing games. KC and I also bravely forded the freezing cold river from one side to the other and back for no real good reason, other than we just wanted to. I hate lakes (I am scared of fish) and the like so I was pretty proud of myself.

The next morning we got up and got ready to go float the river. The tube rental place was about a minute walk from our house so we walked down, got tubes and headed up stream. It was actually a really perfect day for it. If you have never been to the river, then you don't know that the water is really cold. Like numb your body cold. But it was SO hot that day that it felt great and you totally get used to it after a while. KC and I had made a ton of sandwiches for the trip and we basically just floated down the river and listened to music for about 5 hours. Now, the Guadalupe river is not the nicest river I have ever floated. The water is sort of dirty and gross sometimes, but it isn't terrible, and the scenery makes up for it. It is in hill country so there are big hills and cliffs on either side of you and tons of trees. Just floating along with the beautiful scenery and talking to friends is so relaxing to me. It was a great day.

That night I knew that Bob Schneider - one of my favorite singers - was playing at Greune Hall. Greune Hall is the oldest dance hall in Texas and I had never been so I wanted to go. I know myself, though, and I knew after being in the sun all day that if I didn't have a nap I would tucker out too early. So I took a long nap when we got back and was awakened just in time to eat some more seriously tasty brats that Tom made. Then I got all ready to go, just to find out that everyone else was tired and I was going to have a hard time rallying the troops. I basically made Jason go and then Tom and KC volunteered to come along as well, and Tom's friend Leslie came too, so we had a good group. Bob was awesome as usual. He totally sang Batman, which I haven't heard in forever and I always forget how funny it is. Fun was had by all and we all passed out when we got home.

Sunday we pretty much just got up and left. The car ride home was a lot quieter, which I am quite sure made Jason happy, with a stop at La Margarita in Round Rock for lunch. We got home around 4 I think and I vegged out on the couch to watch Mad Men DVDs - which is an awesome show that you should check out if you have an inkling.

So that was our trip. No more trips in the near future until me, mom and Amanda go to the World in August.