Floating the River

Just this past weekend, I spent a marvelous time with a group of friends in San Antonio.  It was the last weekend with Z, before he officially headed back to Galveston to start his 2nd year of med school (who seriously starts school in June?!?!).  The San Antonio trip all began by Eric, Z’s former roommate now currently living in Minnesota, as a get-together.  Around the same time last summer, some of Z and Eric’s friends went there to float on the Guadalupe River, so they wanted to have that similar experience again. 

We left Denton on Friday morning and made our way down there all afternoon.  We were grateful to stay at Ian’s house, Eric’s college friend, for the weekend.  For dinner, we made burgers, corn on the cob, and watermelon salad, which all turned out to be so delicious.  In order for that to happen, though, Ian became a compulsive buyer and bought the grill.  Guys had a fun time assembling those pieces together. 

Next day was the big day.  After more than 2 hours of waiting in the heat, I finally experienced my first river floating on a giant tube.  The tube was so huge, I literally thought I was going to drown every 10 minutes.  Guadalupe was packed with people, so filled up that you could hardly see the river itself.  But eight of us all managed to stay together in separate tubes despite several rapids (those were incredibly adrenaline-pumping!).  We floated the river for nearly 3 hours – along the way, I enjoyed beautiful houses and took a nice nap.  I loved feeling the sun through abundance of trees.  It was just perfect.  In the end, my body went from pale to glowing tan.  It was definitely an experience, and I truly enjoyed every moment.  I wish I was able to capture some of the moments, but I surely didn’t want to risk losing the camera (or the phone) when I am completely surrounded by water.

That night, we were extremely hungry so we created a huge dinner menu that consisted of 16 ounce steaks (for each of us…), baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, watermelon, and cheesecake.  You may guess how we were after the dinner.  But thanks to Z’s amazing cooking skills, our food comma was painful and yet very satisfying.  Does that even make sense?

I dragged my tired, tanned body back to Denton Sunday afternoon.  Here I am writing about my amazing weekend as I dread of commuting to SMU tomorrow.  It was a true vacation with amazing old & new friends.  I particularly loved that we were able to do typical summer activities like cooking out  and having outdoor entertainment. 

By the way, I had the honor of losing one of my flip-flops in the river.  I took the risk of getting a pair of flip-flops for children at Target, thanks to Eric’s 15% discount as an employee.  I am loving my new pair of shoes, isn’t it so adorable?  It’s very sparkly during sunny days.  Also, I managed to “steal” some essential items from Ian’s house, thanks to him being a Colgate employee.  Let’s just say I had tons of gains during this trip. :)