Cellulitis Hell!

My wife, son and I went swimming at Possum Kingdom lake on Sunday, June 5th.  While we were swimming my wife got a small cut on her leg and within days a flesh eating bacteria attacked her leg.  She went to the doctor Wednesday the 7th.  The doctor put her on antibiotics and ordered a scan to check for clots.  Within a few days her leg got really bad and by Friday the 10th she was put into the hospital.  After 5 1/2 days in the hospital she was sent home. Below are the pictures we took over the past couple of months.

High quality images are located here.

Sunday drive to Lake Murray

 

The family and I decided to check out Lake Murray State Park today.  We have recently heard a lot of good things about the lake and wanted to make sure we liked it before planning our camping trip.  The lake was nice and appeared to be great for swimming and boating.  The water is clear and there are a number of beach areas that are kid friendly (something we really take into consideration now that we have a three year old.)  There are also a lot of areas around the lake to pull over and take a swim or fish, but some of the trails and rocks are too dangerous for younger children.

Before I tell you about how we feel about the camping options, please keep in mind that we are not your normal tent campers.  We actually prefer renting a pop-up or travel trailer, but a few times a year we enjoy taking the tent out as long as we have electricity and water.  Lake Murray has tons of places to tent camp, but all sites are considered primitive because no electricity or water is offered.  These sites are all $12.00 daily per tent.  If you don't mind not having electric or water, then I would recommend the sites.

There are three areas of the park (Elephant Rock, Cedar Cove, and Tipp's Point ) that require a $4.00 day use fee, which is not bad considering it is per car and not per person like some other State Parks.  You only pay the $4.00 once for all three areas.  These are the prime spots for RV and Pop-up camping, however some of the spots are large enough for a tent.  These spots run $25 to $28 daily per site and include water, electric, and sewer (in some spots.)  There are also several drive-thru camp sites but these are not located directly on the water.  Since the park does not allow campers to reserve specific sites it can be a gamble to get a good site on the water.

The Elephant Rock area had a lot of good spots on the water, but only a few had enough room for a tent.  Cedar Cove looked to be the best place near the water to pitch a tent and to have electric and water.  We were not impressed with Tipp's Point, especially since it was not kid friendly.  It would be fine for older kids, but it is not a good place for a three year old.  The camping spots are too close to the road and there are large rocks and drop-offs near the water.

The restrooms and showers at the park were not bad.  They were kept clean, but I did find it odd that you have to pay to take a shower.  I have been to a lot of state parks and this is the first time I have seen pay showers!

The cabins and lodges didn't look that great from the outside.  They were probably fifty years old and didn't look as if they had ever been updated.  There was one area with cabins near the water, but the entire area was closed off.  The only thing I did like about the cabin area was the putt-putt course and nice swimming and play area for kids.

Finally, one of the most important amenities we take into consideration when making a decision about our vacation is the playground options. The park has a lot of different playgrounds, but not all are kid friendly.  Some are out dated and appeared to be from the 50s or 60s and some of the newer sets were for older kids.  We did manage to find a few sets that Benjamin could use and he had a blast.  I also didn't like that there were no seats or trash cans near the playgrounds.  Every playground we visited within the park had trash all around it.



Overall we were not impressed with the park and if I were to rate it I would have to give it a 5 on a 10 point scale.  I guess we were just a little disappointed because we had heard so many good things about the park, but this is why we adventure out and check out parks for ourselves.  This was not the first recommendation that turned out bad for us and it won't be the last.  For a split second I thought we might be too picky, but I think we just have high expectations since we visit so many state parks.  I wouldn't say Lake Murray is a bad park, but it isn't for us and I don't foresee us retuning anything in the near future.

Cave Creek, Arizona - Part One El Encanto

El Encanto - Cave Creek, Arizona, originally uploaded by treylawyer.

Cave Creek, Arizona was an interesting place to visit.  Since I visited twice during my stay in Phoenix I will be posting multiple blogs for this town.  I am starting with The El Encanto restaurant because this is where we ate the first night in Phoenix.  It is hard to top Tex-Mex and the Mexican food in the Southwest is often different than what we are acustome to in Texas.  With that said, El Encanto was an outstanding place to eat.  The atomosphere alone was an enjoyable experience.  There are inside and outside seating options.  We were inside, but our table was against a window overlooking the pond that is located in the center or the restaurant, so we were able to view the ducks and geese with no problems.  The entire restaurant has character and the artwork, statues and pond make El Encanto unique in its own little way.  



Now to the fun part, the food!  I have to say, I was very impressed with the food.  I didn't know what to expect, because I am not a huge fan of Southwest Mexican Food, but everything turned out perfect.  Surprisingly, the food did not have the Southwest taste I remeber from my past and it actually tasted like Tex-Mex.  I thought I was in San Antonio eating Mexican Food on the Riverwalk!  Yes, it was that good!  The price was even similar to the Riverwalk, but I wouldn't let this hold you back because it is worth every penny.

The only thing I didn't like was the flavored Iced Tea.  I am not a fan of foo-foo teas, but they were out of regular iced tea, so I really didn't have a choice. 

Fiesta Bowl 2010

DSC_0065, originally uploaded by treylawyer.

It has been a few days since my last posting. I was hoping to be more active in blogging this year, but it has been crazy first week of the year.  I left for Arizona on Saturday January 2nd to attend the Fiesta Bowl and didn't get back home until January 6th.  So here I am on the 9th trying to get settled back in to the new year.

The Fiesta Bowl was a great experience but unfortunately the Horned Frogs could not pull out the win.  It was a great run at TCU's best year since the 1938 Championship.  It has been a long time coming, but Coach Patterson has done what many thought could not be done, take one of the smallest D1 schools to a BCS bowl.  Utah was the pioneer for the small schools by winning the Mountain West in the 04-05 season to play in the Fiesta Bowl against Pittsburgh.  Two years later Boise State would break the plane and would shock the country by beating Oklahoma by one point in overtime to win the 06-07 Fiesta Bowl.



While the success of the small D1 schools is great, it does not serve final justice for the system.  A playoff system should be considered so as true champion can finally be crowned.  There is almost a one month layoff between the last regular season game and the start of the BCS bowls. This is the perfect time to continue playing and only a few more games would need to be added.  It is real simple, take the top 12 teams like the the NFL does and start playing.  I know the BCS is all about money, but I would imagine more money would be made from this type of system.

Maybe one day the system will change and everyone will be happy, but it is very unlikely.  Until a new system is in place, we will continue to hear both sides and the contraversy will continue. I will continue to watch and hope the small schools can continue to break through, dominate and shake up the Bogus National Championship!