My dad is the kind of guy who will pour water into a milk carton with mere drops left in the bottom and then drink it just so no milk is wasted. He is the kind of guy who will barter with the cashier at Taco Cabana to try to trade in our unnecessary "kiddie toys" for an extra side of pinto beans.
When we travel, we're a cheap bunch. Some people might liken our style to a college road trip. We drive mainly at night to save gas during the day. We've piled 5 and a golden retriever into a Saturn. We usually go camping. First, because we like the outdoors, but second because it's cheaper. Our only beach vacation was when we went to Galveston because he had a college buddy that offered his sailboat to us for the weekend. I didn't think his buddy expected for us to sleep on it, but that's exactly what we did.
This time around, we decided to do our vacationing in Central Texas. We had our way with Enchanted Rock, Pedernales Falls, Hamilton Pool, Lake Travis, and the Guadalupe.
Family bonding @ Enchanted Rock
We wanted to go tubing in San Marcos, but as the price for a tube rental was a bit steep (7 bucks per), we rented one that we could all share and take turns on while the rest of us snorkeled around.
Initially, my dad thought he had a friend we could stay with in Austin, but when that fell through and not having enough tents to camp with, we were forced to get a hotel. That's right, a hotel. One room. Four full grown men + me. Luckily, I had prepared bedding so that I wouldn't be forced to share a bed with anyone. I can count on one hand (or even 3 fingers) how many times I saw the shower being used by someone other than myself over the course of the week. But in defense of my stinky brothers and dad, we were in water (lakes ponds rivers and rain) most of the time-- and that's good enough for a Mantzel. Maybe they weren't showering because they were too busy photoshopping our youngest brother's face onto gay pornography... or because there were just too many GI Joe PSA's to watch on youtube:
Either way, if it weren't for the quirks of my family, I wouldn't have much to blog about. As much as I complain about our unique traveling style, it should be obvious by now how much I love it all.
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Kum ba yah in the Comfort Inn Parking Lot...
What else do you do when your bumper keeps trying to fall off?
Here's Nick (the photographer) messing around with his camera in the dark while I'm driving
The photographed subject always reveals the photographer's opinion/bias towards subject...
This photo was completely unsynchronized... Nick has given himself breasts... Kyle uses the backlight of his cell phone to create an unrealistically large penis for himself... and yet because they are so predictable, I knew what they were up to
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