Break's Over...Back to Work

OK, I'm back from the roadtrip and getting ready for the two busiest weeks of the summer. On Thursday, I fly out to Indiana for at least part of a Sinfonia conference (I'm coming back a day early), and then Jazz Camp starts on Sunday (the reason for said early return). Save for a fun excursion on Wednesday of this week, the next two weeks will consist of almost nonstop activity. I can only imagine how late I'll sleep on the Saturday morning after camp is over.

Needless to say, the trip came at just the right time. The highlight of the weekend, of course, was Schlitterbahn on Saturday, where we spent a good eight hours and, despite the crowds, were able to ride pretty much everything we wanted to ride. It rained on us for maybe ten minutes, but there was never enough lightning to close the park, and the rain time was mostly spent on the tram between the two halves of the park as it was. The rest of the day was mostly sunny, but since our experienced lifeguard Halfling had bought some of the good stuff for us to put on, we didn't burn a bit--not even the light-complected Dingus. At one point, we thought we had each "missed a spot," but it turned out to be rubber burn from the inner tubes..

The rest of the trip was pretty much just spent chillin' around Austin--seeing the sights, eating some really good Mexican food on Friday night, and enjoying our free hotel that night that normally costs way more than we could've/would've paid. The only downside of the trip was that I lost my shades in the raging river at Schlitterbahn (yes, that's right, the river; they stayed on my face during all the high-intensity rides and fell off only when my inner tube overturned on one of the mildest attractions there). We spent a good deal of time trying to find them, but no luck. Fortunately, I had bought them at a store with lots of locations all over the place, so I stopped at one down there and they were able to call up here for the info and make me a new pair before the drive back. We spent the intervening time browsing for jazz CD's at a couple of places and then capped off the day with a Trifecta in Round Rock before the trip home.

It was great to hang with Halfling and Dingus for an entire weekend (since, besides being my best friend and another of my closest ones, respectively, they are going to be my combo-mates in the very near future), to bond even more than we already have and to confirm that we travel quite well together. There's more of this to come, too, as there are several concert roadtrips (to hear people who are playing in Texas but not Dallas) on tap for the year ahead.

And now for a big couple of weeks...

Oh yeah, and the cookies that Cassi sent with us were awesome. They definitely powered the trip down there; we were all set to stop for a stretch break around Temple, but we busted out the cookies, and then...zoooom!!--energy to spare. We were in Austin before we even knew it.