Whew!!! We’re back from a 4 day trip to San Antonio. All-in-all, it was a good family vacation. Sheli and I learned about the Edwards Aquifer, the kids got to ride ride, swim and get up close to animals, and we all didn’t kill each other.
First, as a congrats to Sheli for completing her Trigger Point therapy class (it’s acupuncture for massage therapists), I got her a Garmin Nuvi 260 from newegg.com. We used it quite extensively this week, and all I can say is…. WOW. This had to save about an hour looking for things and navigating downtown San Antonio. It acts like a nav system and the absolute coolest thing is finding other points of interest from your spot (like restaurants, banks, theme parks).  We ate on the way home based on this and actually found a pretty good seafood place just this side of New Braunfels (which, btw, is where we going to move to eventually – we decided this week). My only wish is a 2D heads up map with the points of interest on it, or a way to limit that search to a limited # of feet from your current route. However, we found some gas stations on I-10 by it for bathroom breaks – and the map updates the distances and direction as you drove. As I said. this thing is way kewl and it took no longer than 5 seconds to recalculate on missed turns or new destinations.
Gas in that area ran just a little more than here. The local valero here is 3.84 today – we saw as high as 3.99 – I joked that if that store ran regular into the $4+ range, they’d probably see a huge drop in business since a 3.92 place was right down the road. I saw a lot of $3.89 – so it’s not that bad.
Weather was pretty warm- 96-98 – but it was breezy and low humidity – meaning you could stand in the shade to cool off. On the way home, we got to 103 where we ate lunch – and it was about a Houston 95 deg. day.
We did a lot in San Marcos – Wonder World which was cool, even if a little cheezy – but we went into a dry cave that has an attachment to the Edwards Aquifer – when it rains big time, the cave floods from the increased level of the aquifer. We experienced total darkness which was completely cool – the only one not freaked was shayla. We also learned how big the aquifer is. It’s truly amazing and neat that the whole area uses it for it’s water source. On Wednesday, we went to Aquarenda Springs on the Texas State University campus. It’s the head on the San Marcos river, which is fed by the aquifer underneath it – in fact, we saw where the water came in on the base of the river. That was freaking cool – the boat had a glass window in the middle.  It’s the clearest water I’ve ever seen and the original owner sold it to the Univ. to keep the environment protected. Good thing – it’s beautiful. And, it’s one of the reason some of the rivers in area are cold – their water source is WAY underground and cold – and it come up to start the river.
Tuesday was Six Flags day – our first trip with all 5 of us to any theme park. Fiesta Texas has really grown since we last went (which was about 10 years ago, so that’s no big surprise) and added a water park to the mix. Sheli rode the Goliath and said it was the most intense coaster she’s been on (and that she misses the Texas Cyclone). Did rides for a bit, including a water-log-doesn’t-get-you-soaked one. i had shayla in my lap and she was ok until the end drop – LOL – all the kids are most scared than anything about the drops. Spent most of the late afternoon at the water park and then ended with some face painting for Shel and Sierra and a really kewl laser and fireworks show. The trick to paying for Six Flags for now is Lunchables. You get a $10 off an adult ticket AND a free child’s ticket ($32). A family of 4 can get in for <$70. We got in for $115 – $20 off for our tickets and one child’s ticket. We didn’t get to ride many rides – spend so much time just trying to find stuff, but we might just go back when Shayla’s a little taller.
Got about 24 MPG in the van – that area is pretty hilly – and spent about $120 on gas for the trip.
Again, glad to be home. Pics at clementsfamily.us/pics.