27 May 2011 - Aquarena Springs, San Marcos TX

I belong to an RVing group called Women RV not to be confused with RVing Women.  Both great groups, just not the same.  There are three of us sistahs here in the San Antonio area as well as some in Austin and others in the hill country.  Some are part-timers and others are full-timers.  Several of us got together for a mini-GTG, RV-less but still lots of fund.  Our destionation was the Aquarena Center in San Marcos, Texas which is on Spring Lake, the headwaters of the San Marcos River. Spring Lake is known for it's crystal clear water.  http://www.aquarena.txstate.edu/

Vickie, Birdie, and I showed up in Vickie's big red truck to meet Diana at the Aquarena on the hottest day of the year so far!   

The Aquarena (water arena) was originally privately owned; and was operated as a 'theme' park of it's day complete with swimming/diving pigs.  Those are long gone and the area is now run by the university.

We started our day with a tour in one of the circa 1940s glass bottom boats which feature beautiful woodworking.  The water is crystal clear allowing views of the springs bubbling up; turtles feeding on the bottom; and an array of fish swimming along.

There was a partially submerged submarine like structure on one side of the spring that used to house the spectators for the underwater extravaganza in the old glory days.

We toured some displays and then visited the old hotel that currently houses The River Center with outstanding interpretive displays.  Next we had a picnic inside the main building to cool off before we went for a walk in the wetlands area which featured a floating walkway.

There were placards with info on the birds and fish you might see. And we did see quite a few. 
Birdie is obviously the bird expert but we also had a fish expert with us. Vicki told us that the fish were making nests and we started seeing "hole and hole" with one fish in each one. 

On the lower left of the picture you should be able to pick out the larger fish defending her turf from several other fish.   Here you can see several of the nests. The female fish scoop up the dirt at the bottom and spit it out on one side at the top to make the hole. You can see one of the larger fish at the lower left of the photo. The whole area was riddled with busy fish making nests.  Didn't seem any male fish anywhere around.

It was a great GTG and we hope to have lots more in this area.