I'm back!

got back from vacation last night, was happy to be home. The road trip was fun, would have been more so if I hadn't suggested to the boy that he bring a friend. The friend wasn't a bad kid, really...just different than Noah, and it wore on me after 4 days. Other people's kids are always more obnoxious than your own, right? :)

If I had it to do over again, I would have stayed in New Braunfels the entire time. The hotel in San Antonio smelled like mold, the wifi only worked in the lobby (which was in a separate building) and the door had a huge open gap at the bottom, ideal for letting in the crickets. Seaworld was just okay, and Six Flags was a 100-degree nightmare. Noah's friend didn't like roller coasters, and after half an hour he decided that he didn't like any rides, really. He spent the next hour trying to convince Noah that they wanted to go to the waterpark side of the park, until we finally did. Other than wishing I had brought a book, it turned out a good thing. I didn't realize how close I was to completely frying my brain until it had a chance to cool off a little bit. :) We left at 4:00, all of us mildly sunburned and crabby, and me with a monster headache. I don't know how people stay all day at that place. Maybe they just have the good sense to go in April instead of August.

Seaworld was better, after I got a little salty with the friend in the beginning about his scornful dismissal of attractions that he didn't want to see (which was pretty much everything but the sharks and the waterpark). To his credit, he was much more good-natured for the rest of the visit, but he and Noah only lasted through a couple more shows before I gave up and set them loose in the waterpark again.

Schlitterbahn was better all around. For one thing, it was an outright waterpark, so there was no need to convince the boys to do anything but that. Also, we could pack a lunch and drinks and keep them with us in the park, so I wasn't stuck finding, and spending $40 on, crappy amusement park food (though Seaworld actually wasn't too bad in that regard, either). The hotel in New Braunfels smelled much better, had an inside door, and was quite comfortable. With as much time as they spent in the water at the other places, I should have just had us all buy a season pass to Schlitterbahn and been done with it. It would have been cheaper, and more fun besides. Next year, that's totally what we're doing. (Minus the friend.)

I took the whole week off, figuring I'd need today and tomorrow to decompress after all that driving. I was right. I slept till 11:00 today, then went to see a man about a bike. That took about 10 minutes, so I've spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on my blog reading and cleaning up my DVR.

Speaking of bikes...after much agonizing, I've decided to switch shops. Long story short, I'm going with the shop that sponsors the club, so that I can do all my local shopping in one place and eliminate my divided loyalties. I still like the old shop fine, and I still recommend them to people when I can, but the club shop makes more sense for me. He's working up a quote for me on the components (his ballpark figure was within the range I was willing to pay), and the cost for the bike build is going to come out just about the same at either place. It feels kind of like a breakup with my old shop, but I take comfort in the knowledge that they probably won't even notice. :)

Now I just hope it will quit raining long enough for me to get in some miles this weekend so I can hit 5,000 miles by mid-September.

Song o' the day: Dream Vacation (right-click, save-as)