A Trip to Canyon lake / A trip to break all the inner stress

           Monday morning alarm wakes us all at 6 am. Ashwath crying for milk bottle,Rohith rushing to take a bath, H hurrying up to take him to school and me preparing  breakfast. Again feeding Ashwath his break fast, cooking lunch, running to pick Rohith from school this is around 11 am. Giving Ashwath a bath, feeding lunch to kids, making Rohith to do his home work, in between attending calls from friends,washing utensils and cloths, preparaing tea, cooking dinner, feeding the kids, making them to sleep ,cleaning and cutting veges for the next day. At last,when  we look up the clock ,its almost 11 pm. Some days,blog work will occupy me fully for atleast  an hour .This is our routine for all 5 days.When Rohith got spring break,  H broke the rules , sprung into action and announced a surprise vacation. At first I didn't believe,and thought it was a joke. But he was keep on stressing it. One fine evening, he came home and said,he has applied leave for 2 days. That was a shock, as it happened only couple of times in my life, H coming forward and applying leave.

Website : http://www.swf-wc.usace.army.mil/canyon/

 

 

 

 

                  When I was telling Saras about this, She said ok. We together grabbed  Priya for this vacation. Tuesday ,we started searching for condos, where we can stay together and relax for a while. After leafing through all the spots, we ended up at " Canyon Lake Park",bcoz many condos were booked very well in advance. So our condo was booked on Wednesday after noon and the trip was declared officially .We have to start from Irving on Thursday morning. Hurriedly packed our things, took cooking utensils, provisions and veges. In midst of these hassles ,we decided that this trip should have minimum of activities and maximum of relaxation. Ultimately - A soul cleansing trip.

 

Day 1 :

                            We packed, Rotis, Tomato  thokku, Thakkali kuruma, idlies for breakfast and puliyodharai, potato roast for lunch. It was a 5 hour long trip .In between, we had a breakfast break after 2 hours .While nearing "Canyon Lake Park", Saras bought some farm fresh veges from a grocery shop. That was the one among few shops in that area. We have to travel for atleast half an hour to grab some things .It was a remote place located amidst forest.There were not so many attractions near this place. But it was perfect for a quite vacation, with minimum activities and maximum relaxation.

 

 

   The condo had a master bedroom ,kids bedroom and 2 futons .Our three families got accomdated in these arrangements.The full furnished kitchen was very helpful. Every condo had a barbeque and there was a common dining area with 3 to 4 barbeques also.When we reached the condo ,lunch was served with some chicken strips. Evening we made tea together and ,went out for sightseeing at the lake.  

 

Day 2 :
       Next day,dawned beautifully.I went out and took some pictures of the condo.The weather was chill, with lovely breeze. Before kids getting up, had a quite walk in the lawn. Six kids enjoyed thoroughly. Pongal and sambhar were prepared for breakfast. It was a team work, when one cooks food,other two will be washing the utensils or helping with the veges. We took turns in everything. This was the most beautiful phase. It appeared as living in India to me.
 After finishing breakfast, we started to a pond for fishing. It was a very small pond and the beauty about this pond is,we can catch our own fish and weigh it and then pay for it.A worker there,cleans the catfish.

Wonder World Park:

 

Website: http://www.wonderworldpark.com/

 

   Next stop was to the "Wonder World Park" .This park was really a wonder. It has a 105 years old cave. The journey to the cave was not that easy. It had so many steep steps and slippery path. The cave is formed during a very big earth quake in texas. This cave is situated at "San Marcos" county. We were guided by a tour guide. She was very kind to explain everything about the cave.We can see a dividing line ,that separates the roof of the cave throughout. At one point in the cave,the guide turned off all the lights and it was real darkness inside the cave. We cannot see even the person seated next to us,not even their shadow. It's only possible in caves. Beautiful moment. We saw some fossils on the roof.

 

    After visiting the cave,we went to see some animals in the petting zoo. It had some beautiful peacocks,ostriches,deers.We were then lead into the gift shop,just outside the park.There were so many coloured and natured stones.The stones ,which attracted me was,these magnetic stones.They were attracting each other.We can just make some garlands out of it.It was fun watching these magnetic stones.

 

                   Here are some cute gift bags and ancient man's mask.They were so realistic.



After coming back,we had some fun at the barbeque.This chicken ,had all the ingredients  in the world (ha ha ) and made into a special drumstick.when I marinated it,the chilli powder was very spicy.We added some pineapple juice,some eggs and marinated it again. At last we got a beautiful chicken drumstick ,cooked inside the aluminium foil on top of the barbeque.It was juicy and tasty.Thanks to Thara and Prem.



After dinner,we were chitchatting for so long .Giggles,laughter and so many stories filled that condo on that night. We were not ready to sleep,but the next day back home journey ,made us to have a nap.


Day 3:

 

Day 3 was a busy morning. As we have to vacate the condo by 11 am. We were busy cooking,cleaning and making the kids get ready. At 11 am, we were out and started towards Dallas. On our way back, we went to this Glass gallery. It was an amazing sight, where all the show pieces were made out of glass. There were so many different colours and shapes of glasses.

website: www.wgw.com




 Luckily, we had the opportunity to view the demo of how glass plates were blowed .At first, the raw material for glass is heated in a high temperature furnace.After every heating,it is rolled on a table to get a good shape. While rolling on the stainless steel table ,colour powder is also mixed.In the second picture, one more layer of glass is heated and rolled.In the third picture, the second layer is melted and poured over the first layer of glass. Now after layering,air blowed through the iron pipe,this makes the material to bulge.

Now one more layer of glass is added to the initial mixture and rolled again.After rolling,it is then blowed to get a good shape.At the last pic,we can see that the object is like a bowl.This picture also has the view of the hot furnace.

 

In this final picture,the glass bowl like object is blown very big and suddenly the blower cuts it in the centre.Now in the third picture,this bowl is transformed into a beautiful flower like object.At the end,it is again transfoemed into a beautiful plate.Immediately,the plate is cooled in a freezer to make it firm.




This picture shows,the final outcome of glass blowing.One more special about this picture is,glass plates are arranged like U.S.A map.It was really a colourful sight for our eyes.Our trip continued from here after having lunch.

 

We reached Austin Vinayagar temple in the after noon. Had pooja and darshan at the temple.Then we headed back to our homes ,after having a leisure trip. Hope to go out more leisure trips like this in future.