Fourth of July Weekend Roadtrip through Texas

This weekend, I had the chance to take an Independence Day roadtrip through Texas with some of my good friends - Amy, Amanda, and Taryn. We headed out Friday morning, ready to tube the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels. Let me tell you, that water was COLD!!! It was a lot of fun, and we ended up tubing for about 5 hours before the slow current finally carried us to our exit point. We were all ready to be dry by that point, but had a blast. There are unfortunately no pictures from the tubing experience, because Amy forgot to put the battery in the waterproof digital camera that Norman loaned us. Oops! We had a good laugh about it, and it's actually probably a good thing that there are no bathing suit pics. :) After tubing the river we headed for dinner in Gruene at the Gristmill. The food was really good, but the atmosphere was even better - such a cool restaurant!

(Looking a little rough after 5 hours on the river.)

On Saturday (Happy Fourth of July!) we got up and headed for the outlets in San Marcos for a little shopping. I mean, when four women pass an outlet mall, a stop is all but guaranteed. :) After shopping the morning away, we headed down to San Antonio and hit the riverwalk for the afternoon. Oh my word, it was HOT!!! I actually think I got overheated at one point, it was so hot. But we wandered around the riverwalk, headed down to the Market Square where they were having a 4th of July festival, and had Mexican food on the riverwalk for dinner.

(my travel companions - Amanda, Taryn, Amy) (cool Spanish church in San Antonio)

After freshening up from the sweltering heat, we took off to Lackland Air Force Base to watch their fireworks display with all the men in uniform. Both shows were good! :) Actually, the story behind our choice of Lackland AFB for fireworks is funny - I had found out about 2 different options for fireworks, one in a park in San Antonio, and then the one at Lackland; when we were watching Top Gun on Thursday night downtown, during the volleyball scene, Amy leaned over and said "I vote for watching fireworks at the Air Force base." We all quickly concurred!

(my patriotic feet!) (we drove by the Alamo - the closest we got all weekend!)

On Sunday, we decided to stop in Austin on our way home for a visit to the Capital. I had never been there before. We of course were very touristy, taking pics inside the dome. At one point, I climbed to the highest point that visitors allowed, on the third ring; Taryn climbed to the second level, and Amy climbed to the first. Amanda stayed on the bottom and took our picture -cool!

(our group on the steps of the Capital) (top to botto: me, Taryn, Amy)(Another tourist suggested this pic - cool idea!)

And of course, I couldn't have a vacation without some rain, right? At least it was only on the drive home, and it didn't last too long. Though come to think of it, we might have welcomed that rain while we were sweltering at the riverwalk. :) Overall, it was a fabulous weekend with great friends, lots of Texas history, tourism, and celebrating our nation's birthday!