Wildflowers

Brown-eyed Susans

My favorite things to look for while camping are wildflowers.  I knew the Brown-eyed Susan, and Queen Anne's Lace, but I'd never seen the Meadow Pink or Prairie Spiderwort before.

Queen Anne's Lace

Meadow Pink

Prairie Spiderwort

Light it Up

Retro travel trailer muli-colored lights

We added a little something to our camp this past week.  Kinda tacky, but I love 'em!

We enjoyed our time at Tyler State Park this past week.  Well, most of it.  They decided that week would be a good week to some controlled burning of the underbrush.  They liked to have smoked us out!  Not real happy about that, but otherwise a good trip.  No injuries, like last time, so that's always a plus.

The burn ban had been lifted due to some good rains recently, so we were able to have campfires each night.  Campfires mean....roasted marshmallows, or in our case FLAMING marshmallows, which the boys thoroughly enjoyed.  Not really my fave, but I felt like I had to have one for the pure nostalgia of it.  What is camping without roasted marshmallows right?!  The boys' favorite thing was playing with the fire, of course.

Can't wait to plan another trip!  

Adventures in Camping

I can't wait to get some lights to hang on the awning

I received  my picture books today.  They bring back some good memories, and some not so good memories of our fall camping trips.

In August, we were blessed to get a pop-up camper.  Now, you may think that August in Texas is not exactly the best time to go camping, and you'd be right!  That's why we got one with a/c, and plus we waited until September to take our first trip.  ;-)

Our first trip was to Tyler State Park in east Texas.  We weren't there 4 hours and Rick hurt his foot.  He jumped in the lake, the water was a little more shallow than he thought, hit his foot just right and landed in the ER.  The raccoons were vicious.  I'd swear they were following me and one got right in my face as I got a drink out of the cooler.  We had to tie down the cooler lids each night to try to keep them out.  The boys had fun "'coon hunting" with their sticks though.  They just chased them away.  Rick bore the pain and we made the most of it.


Our second trip in October was much better.  We went to Lake Bob Sandlin, another east Texas State Park.  No injuries this time, and that makes for a more pleasant trip!  We enjoyed fishing and walking the trails.  There were a few historical markers too, which I always like.  I particularly enjoyed the birds.  We saw (and heard) a woodpecker, cardinal, and even a bald eagle swooping down for a fish from the lake, that was really cool.  We heard an owl one night too.

I hope to get in a late winter camping trip this year.  If not, I'll be content with a few trips in the spring.  We'd like to go back to Tyler State Park, forego jumping in the lake, and try to see a little more of the park.    

          

 5x7 picture books from snapfish.com

All the pics in this post are from Lake Bob Sandlin