Frio River Trips 1 and 2

Now that we had Wanda back and were mostly settled into our new home, I was super anxious to get out again and make up for our losses of the last year! I couldn’t think of any better location for our triumphant return to travel than one of my favorite places in Texas, the Frio River. Which after being a 6+ hour drive my whole life was now a measly 3.5 from Rockport! And to make it even more serendipitous, I was able to book 4 nights at Neal’s Lodges for one of their RV sites just two weeks in advance! The exception was Saturday night of course. Which after looking all over the area for another site, we “settled” for a night in Bandera at their Best Western. Yay for a spontaneous vacation coming together!

After an easy drive out Thursday morning, we were soon popped up and our sweaty selves were ready to cool off! We loaded some essentials back in the car and drove across the highway to the swimming hole. Navigating down the hill to the river and finding parking amongst the trees and boulders was quite a task and I decided then that future trips would just be on foot. But for now, we were here and oh my god did that water feel amazing! After some coaxing<dragging> through the water in her life jacket, Sally got situated on a rock in the river near us. Weston wasted no time jumping off the big rock. He then convinced Ashlyn to join him. Soon, it was time for dinner and the kids wanted to check out the playground after dinner as well.

Once we were at the extremely “vintage” playground, we noticed a barn/pavilion area that turns out hosts nightly dances/music/bands, has a bar, AND is kid/dog friendly! That wasn’t a thing last time I stayed here! (15ish years ago 😆)

So that night, we went to the bar! Mom had drinks, the kids had an arcade to blow all my quarters in, Weston learned the “sport” of GaGaBall and became obsessed playing all night with a hoard of kids, and Ashlyn and I managed to have a dance or 2 when we were able to rope one of the boys blasting by to sit with Sally a minute. Great first day!

Feeling ambitious Friday, we rented a tube for Mom and Sally (the ice chest tube was a great option) and hopped on the shuttle that dropped us off upstream for a 4.5 hour float! Growing up on this river I remembered the areas of rapids and waterfalls and felt confident in our ability to handle them. What I had forgotten were the areas where you draaaaggggg hahaha. Turns out that 15 years can change how your body reacts to stumbling over rocky river beds and falling on your butt after slipping on the smooth ones. Too bad I was no longer light as a feather and just zoomed over the low spots like the kids. I also have a new found respect for my dad handling the ice chest all those years. Having that and the dog’s float tethered to me made things even more chaotic. But! We survived, had SOME fun and decided we didn’t need to float anymore this year. By the time we got back up the hill and were fixing dinner, Momma was ready for a drink! Back to the bar that night!

Saturday was time to bug out for the night and being pretty sore and tired from the day before I was happy to enjoy a hotel room for a little bit. The drive to Bandera was gorgeous as most hill country drives are and we were able to check into our room a little early! After showers and some cable tv, we walked down to the Old Spanish Trail Cafe (OST Cafe) for some awesome grub! I had what could easily be called one of the top 5 best chicken fried steaks in my entire life and Ashlyn experienced chocolate pie with a 5 inch layer of meringue.

The next morning after our covid room serviced hot breakfast (that didn’t suck and much preferred to crowding in a buffet room), we re-provisioned in Bandera and headed back to The Frio.

The rest of Sunday and all day Monday were spent swimming, rock jumping, and water sliding. The evenings were at “the bar” which is called Joe Jimmy’s by the way haha.
Once home, we had mixed emotions enjoying seeing Nathan and resting, but at the same time missed the cool, fun water. No biggie, though. 10 days later we were back! Haha

At some point during the previous river trip my bestie, Alisha, “convinced” me to return and she would meet us with her youngun, 3.5 year old Garrett. Never mind that they would be sharing a dinette turned twin sized bed in the camper, the Frio is worth it! 😆

Somehow the first weekend in August had one RV spot open and it happened to be in a different area than we had previously stayed. And we really liked this spot! It backs up to a creek bed, has a clear path to the fishing pond, is across the road from the bathhouse and is COMPLETELY shaded all day. We’re booking this site in advance from now on! The only con compared to the other RV area is the complete lack of privacy. You will see and hear everything going on, but there were only 4 other sites in the area and no one was rowdy, this time.

We proceeded to spend another 3 days swimming, jumping and sliding and 3 nights hanging out at “the bar.” Garrett fearlessly had fun and ran amuck with the rest of them. My kids were happy to have a few more days, even though Weston initially took some convincing haha. And after 13ish pre-baby years since mine and Alisha’s last river trip together, I thoroughly enjoyed our mom version 🙂