getting back to the swing of things

[Joy]

Hi everyone, thanks for thinking of me while I was gone! We had a great and somewhat adventerous trip. We (meaning my ex and our 2 girls- 11 and 8) drove from Ft. Collins, CO to Lubbock, TX the first day and had fun on the drive. Then we drove to San Antonio and spent 3 days there. LOVED the Riverwalk and that city's dogged preservation of the past. We shopped and strolled and learned and swam and ATE.

Then we headed to Lake Amistad outside of Del Rio right on the Texas/Mexico border. On the way we drove through the Texas Hill Country-if you can ever go it is really lovely. Some great little towns too. I was so impressed. Our favorite part was when we were driving on the highway out of that area toward the lake. We saw an ostrich running on the side of the road with THE most determined look on its face. I'm sure he/she had made a break for it from a farm-we cheered it on and cracked up.

We got our houseboat, which let me tell ya-those have changed since the last time I did a trip like that on Powell-I was 15. It was quite swanky compared to the old. Anyway, there is always a learning curve when attempting to operate a new 'vehicle'. the ex was nervous, but did quite well. Our biggest adventure was our first night. We had found a nice little area to moor and had fun swimming, etc. Around 3 in the morning I woke up to this INTENSE lightening off in the distance. It was amazing and I watched it as it progressed over the lake and then the rain stared-again very lovely, and then the wind and waves and thunder came and around 5:30am things stared flying out of the cupboards and breaking and the kids woke up terrified. And with our only source of light being the lightening we figured out we had become unmoored on one side and we were just slamming into the rocky shore. By about 6 it started to abate and we tried to pull up the rope which still had the humongous stake attached. My ex couldn't seem to get the thing to move from the lake bottom. So we were all outside in the rain, in our jammies pulling on this rope. Then we realized it was hung up on a tree in the water. My ex had to put on his suit and goggles and free it from underwater in the rain.

We spent the next day cruising the canyons to find a more enclosed spot. It was fun and frustrating though as the terrain on shore is somewhat formidable. We tried to moor 3 times and could not find a spot to drive the stakes in. My ex even broke the sledge hammer. Sometimes while trying to moor he got attacked my very bitey small ants forcing him in the water. We also chipped the propeller trying to maneuver out of a canyon. Long story, longer-we ended up at our first spot, moored really well (had a lot of practice) and stayed there the rest of the time. We swam, fished, played board games, drank beer, watched sunsets, moonrises, clouds and stars. We listend to cicadas, frogs, birds. We had tons of dragonflies (and spiders) of all different shapes and colors. We also had turtles that would surface their heads and watch us all day every day. We named it Tortuga Cove.

When we left there, we drove as far as we could with a late start and spent the night in Roswell, NM. Being a former X-files fan I was having a blast. And there actually was a UFO convention happening-we had a hard time finding a room. It was classic. I laughed a lot at the alien craziness. then we drove from Roswell to Ft. Collins the next day. Our kids were such perfect angels the whole trip-we are so very proud of them. Quiet and busy in the backseat for hours and hours, troopers on the boat, fun to play games with and read to, great to swim with and goof around in the water. Wonderful young ladies in restaurant. Oh-I just love them!

Missed all of you and trying to catch up with your lives too!