Whata fun weekend!

Lis and I just got back from a great weekend! But I suppose I should start at the start, not the end.

We got up on Saturday morning and starting prepping for the camping trip. First, we went to Academy. I picked up a new pair of hiking boots (very comfy, very nice!) and I helped Lis get ready for her first ever camping trip. She got a lantern, a stove, some propane, a sleeping bag, a camp chair and a cooler. It was fun picking the stuff out with her. :-) Then we hit the grocery store and picked up some food for us to eat while we were out.

Then we stopped for a bit and BSed with her parents who were in town to help fix Lawrence's (Lis' awesome little brother) car. Once we were done talking and saying howdy, we took off.

We went to Inks Lake out by Burnet (about 1.5 hrs away from Austin). The weather was crappy the entire way though. Raining, misting, nasty out. But by the time we got to the lake, the weather was overcast, but no rain. It was actually pretty dry; seems like the rain came thru in the morning, not the afternoon.

We started setting up camp in the early evening. I pitched the tent, and Lis started cooking supper. After supper, and making sure the tent was in order, we did a little hiking around. We wandered down to the fishing pier and saw some weird mallard-hybrid ducks. They didn't seem to mind us, but we thought they were pretty strange.

After the pier, we walked around checking under rocks for things. Lis was hoping for snakes, and I was hoping for tarantulas. But alas, we saw neither. However, we did see a number of scorpions, so that was cool. We tickled one's belly -- and he liked it. :-P

The sleeping part of camping was rather chilly as it got down around the 40s. And we slept on a nice gravel pit for a campsite. :-P Needless to say, I didn't get very much sleep. But that really didn't bother me too much, it was still a fun night (esp the night hike).

We got up around 7am on Sunday and registered with the park rangers. After that, we came back to the site and got ready for another hike. We hiked around the hills (checking under more rocks, but without the enthusiasm of the previous night) and eventually took a break on a gorgeous overlook. Finally, we hiked back to the site for a spot of dinner. Lis made some more soup (reheated it) and I had a sandwhich. Then we started to break camp down. We ended up leaving the park about noon, but we didn't head home quite yet.

As we were heading back to the main highway, we stopped at a scenic overlook and talked for a little while there. Then we drove over to the lake Buchanan dam and walked around for a little bit. There were a bunch of ducks in the lake, so I ran back to the car and grabbed some bread. Lis and I fed the ducks (I know, we're bad people!) for a while and had a blast. "Real mallards get real bread!" Poor Lis, she has to put up with so much. ;-)

Then we started making the trek home, except for one more stop (to check out some resort cabins nearby -- which looked like crap).

After getting back to Lis' apartment, we put stuff away, cleaned up a bit and headed over to the Omni. Now she's doing a bit of homework, and I'm thinking of looking over my speeches or wandering down to the lobby for a bit. Not certain what I feel like doing tonight -- after the weekend, a bit of rest and relaxation would go over well.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow though! So if anyone is here at the Omni in Austin for REAL World 2006, try to spot me. :-P I'm the tall, geeky looking one with glasses, usually wearing a tan colored hat. Just walk up to random tall people in tan hats and say, "Aaron?" If they answer positively, then it's me. :-P