Plans For Summer

Well it's finally feeling like summer around here, and I'm actually enjoying it so far.  Talk to me in August, and I'm sure I'll be wishing the heat away hiding in black cave of cool, ethereal darkness.  Although summer tends to be my least favorite season, it does make for some really fun times.  For some reason, I couldn't think of how I spent my summer last year.  This morning I was thinking really hard about it and wondering what all I did because we didn't float the river - not even once, and we didn't do a whole lot of swimming aside from when we had friends and/or family visiting.  So I went back in my blog archive and remembered I went to Portland!  So maybe we didn't do very many little trips or things because I was saving money for that?  I guess that makes sense.  We did go to a few live shows, ate a ton of amazing homemade meals, moved to a new apartment and much much more.  For nostalgic purposes, here are a couple of my favorite posts from Summer 2012: one + two.

As for this summer, I am making great plans, people.  Just you wait and see.  I refuse to be a couch potato the whole summer!  I want to get out and do things and be active and love every minute of it!  So i've started compiling a list of things I want to do this summer.  Now, J and I are planning a trip to the Pacific Northwest for mid-September, so we won't be getting TOO wild, as we will be maintaining a budget for the upcoming trip.  At the very least, I would love to make a little day trip up to San Antonio for some Fiesta Texas theme park action.  I'm dying to awaken the daredevil inside of me!  She's been napping for far too long!  I miss running around Astroworld riding any and every ride/rollercoaster in my sight.

Last year, we did drive out west to Spicewood for a day of swimming in the fresh-water springs, and Jason and I have already talked about going back out there again this summer.  So this WILL be happening.  Two popular fresh-water swimming holes just west of Austin include Hamilton Pool, which we haven't experienced yet, and Krause Springs, which is where we went last year.  It was so relaxing and beautiful, and there was a little snow cone truck parked right there on the property.  I'm excited to return!

About 45 miles south of Austin you will find the quaint, small town of New Braunfels where the famous super-sized water park, Schlitterbahn, makes its home.  I haven't been to Schlitterbahn since my freshman year of college with the guy I was dating at the time.  If you don't show up super early, you run the risk of waiting in lines for hours the entire day, which can get a little frustrating.  However, there are two parts of the park - the older part and the newer part.  The older part is way better because most of the water rides are tube chute rides that last a long time so you get your money's worth and they make up for that long line you just waited in.  The older part is also a lot shadier with huge oak trees all over the places so you're not standing in line for an hour and in direct sunlight.  The newer part, from what I remember, is hotter, more annoying and the "Master Blaster" and "Dragon Blaster" rides, while loads of fun, are super short and not worth the two-hour wait.

Another fun summertime thing about New Braunfels includes tubing on one of the two rivers that run right through the town - the Guadalupe and the Comal.  In college, I used to float/tube a lot and we almost always picked the Comal or the San Marcos rivers, not really sure why.  They were probably more affordable and more convenient.  Floating the river can be so much fun!  Some of my fondest memories of my college friends were our floating adventures.  Tossing jello shots to one another, drinking Coors light all day and all night, getting flipped out of our tubes, hardly being able to stand up at the end of the float, and, of course, eating dinner and ordering margaritas by the pitcher at Adobe Verde on our way back to San Marcos.

Lastly, if time and money allows, I would love to make a trip down to Galveston beach at some point this summer, even if it's just for a couple of days.  I have wonderful childhood memories of Galveston - walking up and down the strip, eating amazing fresh seafood, biking along the seawall, building sandcastles and drip castles, getting painfully sunburned with no regrets, closing my eyes, hearing the waves softly crash into the beach, the sound of seagulls squawking from above, the smell of suntan lotion and sea salt in my hair and just letting time pass by without a single care or stress in my mind.  I would love to be able to stay at this Holiday Inn Resort right on the seawall, but it looks pretty pricey, and I doubt they'll accept my employee discount.  I'll just be beach-dreaming until I can actually get down there and experience all those beautiful, silly little things I remember from years ago.

What about you?  Do you have any plans for the summer?  Or any dreams for the summer?

xoxo