I titled this post appropriately because there were times on this trip we felt like we were the Griswold family from National Lampoon's Vacation and Christmas Vacation movies. I might be exaggerating a bit. It wasn't all bad. This was our view from the back of the cabin we rented.
The first night we stopped at pretty much the only local restaurant, The Stump. I guess there's such a demand there that no matter how bad it is people will still go there because they're the only show in town. It was a Monday night but super crowded. We waited almost an hour for our food, with two hungry and tired kids. Not a good mix. Here's my fried catfish, or more like catfish fingers because they were cut so thin. It was $10.99 so at least it wasn't too expensive and it didn't taste too bad.
The staff was very nice. I heard them say they were down to one cook. There were at least 30 people in there eating so I really do feel sorry for that cook. People were getting so fed up with the wait they left and just paid for their drinks. The real problem I had, and it seems to be a current trend with restaurants I go to, is the cleanliness. I really need to start taking more pictures. I had to take the kids to the bathroom about three times, and each time I saw something new that grossed me out. My shoes stuck to the floor, the doors were stained, and there was dust caked on top of the stalls. On the salad bar, the lettuce had pink on it and the plastic sneeze guard had food on it (or maybe something else I really don't want to speculate about).
But the real Griswold moment happened when we went to the Lake Sam Rayburn Marina Resort to pick up the pontoon boat we rented for two days. The term "resort" is a little misleading.
A quick review of the "resort". It is a place with little apartments, mobile homes and lake cabins for rent. James and I stayed there a few times nearly 10 years ago for his work fishing tournament. It is a good location and I remember the cabins being clean, but they were majorly outdated with their decor. The inside had looked like the set of the Three's Company television show apartment from the 70's and 80's. We didn't go inside this time, but judging from the outside there hasn't been any improvements.
Paint is peeling off the outside. It looked like their boat docks and fishing pier and beach were also damaged. So I really wouldn't stay there again. The people in the front office had zero personality and charged us $10 to park our car there for four hours. When I initially rented the boat over the phone the man told me to pick it up at 9:00. We got there and no one was there. Someone from the resort hollered at a man who was fishing out on a boat (the boat we were renting). He came up and we said we were there to rent a boat at 9:00. He said "No, you're not. We don't open until 10:00." I told him I had spoken to the man over the phone who told me 9:00. Turns out the owner lives in Houston and this man runs the boat rentals for him. Mr. Personality called the owner who said he told me 9:30. A few words were exchanged between us and him and we finally got the boat. It was a very nice boat and I enjoyed it. The kids got bored the first day but perked up for the second day. I had this vision of having so many fish we'd have a big fish fry at our cabin. We caught two catfish, two small bass that we threw back, and Philip almost caught about a 3 pound bass but his wire snapped on his Toy Story fishing pole. There was a catfish feeder on the property we were staying at, but it got clogged. One of the cabin owner's neighbors came out thinking we were stealing it when James was trying to fix it. It was good he was looking out for his neighbors.
We brought the boat back the next evening. We thought we had rid ourselves of the boat rental people but the next morning as we were leaving we got a call from the owner. He asked me if I had called the previous week to cancel part of my reservation. Turns out he dialed the complete wrong number and thought he was calling someone named Judy. I think he was a little overwhelmed. I said "While I have you on the phone ...", and he hung up. I was going to tell him about his unfriendly work force. Lesson learned, I will never go back to the Sam Rayburn Marina Non-Resort or the boat rental place there. The trip wasn't all bad because the kids got a chance to ride in the boat and fish a little. I also ended up catching my first fish, a little 'ole catfish, which only provided us about three bites a piece, but they were tasty bites!
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