Aly and Bailey on the river bank.
Our goddaughter Aly flew into San Antonio on her spring break, and we stayed for three nights at the Guadalupe River State Park, about 40 minutes north of the city. Our first day together, we just stayed in the park for a low-key day. We packed a picnic and went down to the river, which is really beautiful. Sandy beach on the park side, bluffs on the other. Osprey and hawks flying through. It was a beautiful day, if a bit windy, and it felt great to just sit by the river in the sun, wade a little, and look for pretty rocks. That night we cooked burgers over a campfire and roasted marshmallows, taking us right back to all our days camping together.
The second day, we drove into Gruene, which is my favorite little Texas town. It has one of Texas’s oldest dance halls (which was filmed in Michael, a movie with John Travolta), and we caught the end of a live performance in it. We also browsed in the town’s great antique store and the old general store. We had lunch at the Gristmill, a very popular restaurant with outside tables on several levels overlooking the river.
Ready to float.
After lunch, we rented inner tubes and floated down the Guadalupe River. It was sunny and just warm enough to be comfortable. The river was full from recent rains, languid between rushing rapids. The banks were lush with spring growth. In the summer, this river is swarming with floaters, thousands in a day. But this early, there were just a few others way ahead of us. We could drift as slowly as we wanted, with the river to ourselves.