Blanco, TX

Friday, July 3, 2009
My internal alarm clock went off at 6:30 a.m. I got on up and went to work. My mental checklist was already activated: set out the trash, finish laundry, wash dishes, frost and decorate cakes, pack for the trip, grocery store for ice, clean out the car, notes for Mike, and so on and so on. I was pretty impressed with myself for having finished everything by 10 a.m. I was determined not to leave a bunch of clean laundry lying around in baskets and dirty dishes stacked in the sink. Not only was that not fair to Mike, but also I knew I would come home to things just as I had left them. By 10 a.m. we were loading up the car with our stuff. By 10:15 we were loading up PaPa’s stuff. By 10:30 we were heading to Costco to top off my half-full tank ($2.32/gallon-what a bargain!). By about 10:45 we were on the road headed southbound down I-35W. Lots of driving, snacking, talking and listening to Alisa’s Superfudge book on tape later we arrived in Blanco, TX. Even with light traffic and only one stop, it took a lot longer than the 3 ½ to 4 hours I was told it would take. We stopped at a Sonic in Lampassas for a quick bite to eat and forgot to make a turn to stay on 281. We were cruising along when PaPa said, “183? How’d we get on 183?” Then, he remembered the answer to his own question: “Oh yeah, we were supposed to turn off in Lampassas.” We made a U-turn. Luckily, we were only minutes away from the Sonic where we had stopped for the sandwiches. We got back on track and winded our way to the Pairsh lake house just in time to change into swimsuits and head down to the river with everyone else.
Brian showed us the “paper roll” cabin and told us we could set up camp there, pitch the tent or the kids could stay in the loft of the nice new house his father had just built. There was no contest there. The kids opted for the big house, and PaPa & I put our stuff in the paper roll house we would share with Shawn, Renee & Brandon. It literally is a cabin-like house made with wood supports/beams and a roof and walls made from paper rolls about 2-3 feet long and 4 to 6 inches in diameter. Pretty incredible “carpentry” if I do say so myself! The well water in the cabin was atrocious. It stunk to high heaven when I showered after playing in the river. I learned that the well water for the main house and shower at the pavilion goes through a thorough filtering/salt softening system. Guess where I showered from then on?
I was able to get a “head count” after everyone crawled back up the bank of the river to eat: Don Pairsh (property owner/host), Brian, Doreen & Olie Pairsh (son of Don & my brother’s friend who invited all of us), BK & Kristi, Brandon, Shawn, Renee, Sasha, PaPa, Aaron, Alisa & myself. We had some awesome fajitas the guys had thrown on the grill-beef and pork, with all of the trimmings-fresh pico de gallo, sour cream, cheese, avocado-mmmm! It must have been around 10 p.m. when I tucked in some tuckered out children. I felt kind of bad for not offering to bring Xavier, but his cousins were in town from Ohio for the weekend, and his Gran was having a cook-out...maybe next time. Around 10:30 I headed for the cabin to “read” for a while. I finally gave up after reading a paragraph or two then nodding off a few times and turned in for the night myself. Good night. Until next time….