Not a Diamond Day

B and I went camping on Sunday at Guadalupe River State Park. Trying to visit more state parks, as Austin is surrounded by nearby parks. We drove through New Braunfels getting there and stopped by an old German restaurant called Friesenhaus for lunch. It's not really my cup of tea (the only thing I really enjoyed was the potato side), but B really loves European food. It was tough getting there, and we basically took the scenic route (and drove straight through Schlitterbahn) by missing a few important turns. Cute lazy neighborhoods on the outskirts complete with big porches and rocking chairs. Then we took 46 out of town. It started pouring like crazy about 5 miles before we reached the camp... but then it stopped after 5 minutes and the camp itself was bone dry. I had secured a "primitive site" at the park, and therefore bought a little packable table and my backpacking backpack. Much to our dismay, it was only a walk-in campsite complete with a picnic table. We felt so silly! It was the first time we tried out my new MSR stove; B made some burgers for dinner, and then bacon, eggs and hash browns for breakfast. We "swam" a bit in the river, but B had a pretty hard time getting around the slippery rocks on his bare feet without water shoes. This is the last time he will scoff at my Chacos.. And the water was up to our bellies in most places, so it wasn't good for swimming. "Toobs" next time, maybe.

The thing about camping is that you are quite inconvenienced if you don't bring all the items you need. Not bringing tongs made it significantly more difficult to cook in our little pots, not having a mallet and crappy tent stakes resulted in a half-staked tent, and not bringing pillows lead to a very poor night of sleep. I think one of the main reasons I am drawn towards camping is experiencing lack of modern amenities, and then returning home with a temporary sense of relief.