Mini-vacation at Lantana Lodge, Day 1

Wow. Has it been that long since I've posted anything here? Has it been that long since we've been away and done anything?

Yeah, pretty much. We've visited the kids but not much else. Those trips are enjoyable. Good times visiting and eating good food. We went to Inner Space Caverns with Kevin and Michelle, but I was too lazy to write about it. Oh, and we went camping a couple of times -- also too lazy to write about.

Since then the boats came into our lives, and we've spent nearly every weekend at an area lake learning how to sail them well.

But I decided we needed to get away. Not far away, but away.

While looking for information about nearby lakes and state parks, I found out that Forever Resorts -- the same outfit that operates the Chisos Mountain Lodge in Big Bend National Park -- operates a lodge at Lake Ray Roberts, near Pilot Point, Texas.

I thought we might go the weekend after our anniversary, but Sharon told me we already had plans, so I set us up for the weekend before. The lodge's website informed me that we needed to be there by 8 p.m. or call to find out how to check in late. No problem, I thought. The trip's only about an hour; if we leave by a reasonable time, we should make 8 easily.

Sunset at Lake Ray Roberts, Aug. 10, 2012

We left in what I believed was plenty of time. There I go thinking again.

While we were eating supper somewhere north of Fort Worth, my phone rang. Because it was the general ring, I let it go to voice mail, as most such calls are misdials. I checked in a bit to see if I recognized the number, which I didn't, but I had a message.

The number seemed familiar, so I asked Sharon to give me the number from our reservation confirmation, and behold, the lodge had called. The message was from "Donna," who left me instructions about checking in after hours and suggested I call her back, so I did.

I told her we'd just passed the Texas Motor Speedway, which I guessed was at least halfway there, and as it was just a bit after 7, I thought we'd be there in plenty of time. Unfortunately we'd cranked up the GPS and were following its directions instead of the ones I'd printed off the lodge's website.

The GPS took us to the town square of Pilot Point, after we missed the initial turn it wanted us to make. But the lodge is not located on the town square. Using the printed directions, we were able to arrive just as the woman I assume is Donna was about to put out our key for us to pick up.

She explained that she would check us in, but her husband's birthday was that night, and she needed to scoot home. We could finish our registration in the morning. I teased her about having a bunch of questions but let her go on.

We found our room, unloaded our stuff and grabbed the cameras because the sun was going down, and we figured we could get some nice pics. While we were shooting and wandering the grounds, I looked over the materials we'd been given with our key.

The lodge is part of a state park, the material informed me, and as such was part of a wilderness area. We should, therefore, keep an eye out for critters, especially scorpions. Scorpions can enter your room, and you should be careful to check your bed before retiring for the night. Oh, yay.

We only encountered a cricket in our room, but I may have had an encounter with a scorpion. More on that in the next post.

When dark fell, we went back to the room. I turned on the TV to see what was happening with the Olympics. But for some reason, the one network channel that would not pop up on our TV was the NBC affiliate. So, we watched a movie we'd brought with us. Then Sharon carefully checked the bed for critters, and we called it a night.