First Anniversary

My wife and I celebrated our first anniversary this weekend. We went up to Gruene, Texas (within the New Braunfels city limits) and stayed in an inn on the Guadeloupe River. I got a really cool "river package" that included a day full of rafting on Saturday.

Our planned guide ended up bailing at the last minute for a "family emergency." It turned out that the guy in the couple waiting next to us worked as a guide for the same company when he was in college. He knows the owner, so he offered to be our guide if the company would comp his and his girlfriend's rafting for the day. They agreed and we had a blast.

It took us about three hours to get all the way down to the exit "beach" near the low bridge into Gruene. The water was damn cold, but it felt great in the hot Texas sun. The "rapids" weren't too rough, but they were fun just the same and I got drenched! As the next-strongest-swimmer and paddler, our guide had me take the front whenever we went over a fall.

We then spent the rest of Saturday evening in Gruene itself. I found some original prints of North American's "Century Series" fighters that the antiques house bought from an estate auction of a former test pilot. I've just got to decide which ones to give my dad for Father's Day (he's a history buff, too) and which ones I want to keep! Big Grin There are two F-86 Sabre prints, one F-100 Super Sabre print, one T-6 Texan trainer print, and a photo of the pilot in a Lockheed Shooting Star! I got them all for $58.

Our river package also included dinner at one of the grills overlooking the river. We split an incredible pork tenderloin dish and some strawberry shortcake. :)

Today, my wife and I spent the day at Natural Bridge Caverns before we came back to Houston. She and I love geology and caves, so I knew we had to go there. I hadn't visited it in 10 years, so I was excited to see the renovations. $25 each gets you a combo pass on both their North Cavern tour and their Jeremy Room tour.

The North Cavern tour is their standard, 75 min tour that they've been giving since the 60s. It's still gorgeous... if 70 degrees and at 99 percent humidity! I got some great pictures. I really enjoyed the Jeremy Room tour, though, because it was a smaller group and we got to carry our own flashlights. The new tour is through a previously unopened cavern that was never even inhabited by bats. As a result, the "soda straw" formations can get up to several feet long and the room is pristine except for where the pathway and the original exploratory borehole go.

For the first day of our honeymoon, we went and looked at dino fossils in Colorado. For our first anniversary, we went and walked around in caves. Hehehe, we're such geeks... and I wouldn't have it any other way. :D