Wine, Houston, and Camping

I have had a busy couple of days! Winemaker's lunch on Wednesday. Good food, good wine, and I didn't sit by any wine snobs. Not bad. Thursday I had to get up at the crack of dawn to be in Houston by 11. I needed to stop off in College Station to pick up some wine, so it took me longer than normal. Had to pick up another winemaker (actually the winemaker's daughter, Kristen) for her visit to Houston. We had an employee tasting at the biggest liquor store in Houston - Specs Downtown. We did that, had a late lunch, and then had to be back downtown by 9 pm for a little wine/appetizer thing at a restaurant. It was fun. Some of the same Specs employees that we sampled to earlier were there. On your birthday, this restaurant brings out a huge martini glass (not a drinking glass, more of a glass for dips and what not that is in the shape of a martini glass) filled with cotton candy and sparklers. We pretended it was my birthday. Nothing like wine and a little food followed by cotton candy!!! I was supposed to stay with my friend Stephanie in Houston. By the time this was over and I dropped Kristen off on the North side of town, there was no way I was going to drive all the way South. If you haven't been to Houston, let me tell you, it is a big city. It probably would have taken me one hour to drive from where I was to where I wanted to stay. I ended up staying with Kristen in her hotel. I forgot to bring my laptop on this little trip, so I went to the hotel business center to get online. This was about 1 in the morning. Okay, they have two computers. One was occupied by an Asian guy typing (via the hunt and peck method of typing) a manifesto in his email. The other was occupied by a black guy looking for a date online. Seriously! It is 1 in the morning and you are on a hotel computer in the business center looking to hook up. After several different sites, he finally went to IM a couple of ladies. I gave up at this point. The manifesto was still being typed, at about one word per minute, and the other guy was still looking for a little bit of "late night". I got up super early again on Friday, because I had to be in Austin by 11. Once again, had to stop off in College Station. I finally made it back to Austin and picked up Stacy by 12. We were finally on our way to our camping destination. We had rented a "rustic" cabin in Concan (West of San Antonio). 8 girls were going. Most were on their way by the time we left. When Stacy and I arrived, the other girls were already drunk! It was about 3 in the afternoon. These girls were a hoot, but I am kind of afraid of them now! Just kidding! But several off these girls have done some hard living. The stories they told....they are so lucky they are still alive to be telling these stories. I feel like a nun compared to a couple of these girls. Anyway, on Saturday we went tubing down the Frio river. There is a reason it is named the Frio - it is cold. We were about the only people tubing on the river. We had asked all kinds of questions - how long is the trip, is the river up, how cold are people saying the river is, etc. We were told the river was up and we shouldn't have to walk, should be a relaxing float. I believe we were lied to. I ended up walking most of the river. I got tired of getting hit in the ass by a rock when we bottomed out. The one lesbian in the group thinks she lost her virginity to a rock on that river! LOL! Thank goodness I was not drunk. I would not have been able to keep my balance as well as I did walking in the water, while carrying my tube. I found a nice to stick to use as a walking stick about half way down. That thing saved me. I am bruised and sore in places I didn't know I could be bruised and sore in from that trip. The Frio kicked all of our butts - the Frio river one, cabin 15 zero! So, after a nice hot shower had by all of us, we relaxed in front of a fire with a couple of drinks. That was very relaxing...followed by more hair raising stories. I seriously wish I could type a few here. I just can't......I try to keep my blog PG-13 or at least rated R. Today I got up at about 9, packed up my stuff and headed back to Austin. All the other girls are staying through tonight. I couldn't because I have some work obligations that I can't miss on Monday. I was almost home when I got a call that a set of keys might have been left in my car. I pulled over, searched the car and didn't find them. That just totally sucks. No telling where we lost them. All 8 of us were piled in my mini van for most of the weekend, with both sets of sliding doors open. I know this isn't safe, but we were only traveling a short distance and not going faster than about 15 miles per hour. On the trip back from tubing we had 8 girls, two ice chests, and 9 tubes in or on top of my car. Plus, everyone was drunk (except for me). I believe we lost the keys at that point. Several tubes fell off of my car and we had to stop to get them. No telling what else flew out of my car. It was a great weekend. I didn't drink too much, felt fine every morning. Didn't get sunburned. Just a little sore from the river. I can't wait until the next all girls trip....