Know before you go - a park drive thru video.
We were in Site # 10 - 30a/W
Sunday, September 19, 2021
Friday, September 17, 2021
Dancing in the Moonlight
Yup, he's one happy pup! And so are we: we're heading out South Llano River State Park for a long weekend; I'm taking a day off on Monday since this park is more than four hours from home and I could use a break from work for a minute; we're in our busy season and, y'all, my team is AMAZING, but I'm not sure I've ever been so exhausted! Good news is: we're hiring two more VECs and I get to make those calls - offering someone a job is one of the BEST parts of my new role! Makes me about as happy as Diesel looks up there!
Friday night we drove out to the San Antonio/Alamo KOA Holiday, about half way to our destination.
It was another great stop - level sites, pull thru, full hook-ups. Large, fenced Kamp K9 for Diesel to get a chance to run around in. I'm starting to realize the difference between the KOA Holiday and the KOA Journey: holidays are much like RV resorts - swimming pools, bike trials, activities - this one even had an on site cafe and bike rentals. Whereas the Journeys are more like near-the-highway, just stopping over for a night, no extras. Either way, we really appreciate that they exist because it was so much easier to get up Saturday and only have another 2 hours to drive.
It was a beautiful morning for a drive thru the Texas Hill Country. RDB enjoys driving thru the terrain (one of the hills had a steep grade of 7% - he mastered it like it was nothing!). We made it into the park a little before noon, got our assigned spot and settled in. FYI - Site #10 is _not_ long enough and wide enough for both the trailer with slides out and the truck. We ended up parking the RAM at the nearby bathhouse (and hoping that we don't get in trouble for it) (**Spoiler alert: we did.)
We took a trip into Junction just 10 minutes away, on the hopes of finding a local place to eat, but its such a small town the only local spot we were able to support was the grocery store. We did get a chance to check out the Kimble County Courthouse. Third courthouse building for this county - the other two were destroyed by fire (I can't help but notice, a _lot_ of courthouse are destroyed by fire. Wonder what the relation is there?)
We were excited to be at South Llano State Park because its one of the few parks in the State system that is a certified International Dark-Sky Association location. The Bortle Dark-Sky scale is a measure of how easily you can see celestial objects from any specific place and ranges from Class 1, the darkest skies available on Earth, through Class 9, inner-city skies. South Llano’s Bortle Scale rating is 3. Where we live in Houston is an 8/9.
The light pollution map on the left is Houston, and with the one on the right having the State Park at the center crosshairs. The Bortle Dark-Sky Scale really shows you how much of a difference being out in the country can make when you want to see the stars. I booked this campground hoping that we would get a glimpse of the Milky Way again. Last time we saw it was just about an hour south of here at Kerrville-Scheiner Park several years ago.
What I didn't think about when I booked this trip, though, was which phase the moon would be in the weekend we would be there. Though the potential to see the Milky Way was great, and we _did_ see a lot more stars than usual, since the moon was waxing gibbous, what we really saw was the moonlight. LOTS of moonlight.
Can you see all those tiny pinpricks of light? Stars! With a long exposure on my iPhone I was able to capture some of the night sky - the foreground is lit by that large moon behind us. We'll be back - and I'll plan the next trip around a new moon, where we won't have all that extra light and can just see the dark sky - and, hopefully, the Milky Way.
Sunday morning we woke relatively early (like, 8ish 'yall. That's early for us!) We had a slow and easy morning, enjoying coffee and tea, and getting things set up to watch our Steelers play at noon. RDB and I have Sunday ticket with our cable subscription, and thanks to the DirectTV app, we can stream the games when we're away from home. But truth be told, no one wants to watch an entire football game on a tiny iPhone screen so RDB bought us an iPhone to HDMI converter and now we can stream the game on the TV in the living room. Score!
While the game was on, I pulled out a craft/painting project that I brought along. Facebook advertising brought this one to my attention: the Mural Mosaics Global Roots Project. I purchased two tiles and received a green kit and blue kit. I'm working on the green one at home, and thought it would be fun to bring the blue along and paint a bit this weekend. RDB, Bestie, and I recently did a Paint with a Twist night that featured an impressionistic bluebonnet, so I replicated that for this project. A whole field of bluebonnets! It was fun and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I'll send a picture of it in to Mural Mosaics and it will be added to the America Connects Tree mural. How cool is that?!
We fixed crockpot BBQ chicken drumsticks for dinner (and wondered why we don't use our crockpot more often?) in an effort to not heat up the camper with cooking. We're on a 30amp site, which means we can only run one A/C unit (I know, poor us!) and with the temps still in the high 90*s and the front half of the camper getting direct sun on its broad side, it's a bit hard to keep it comfortably cool. We can't wait till fall and winter get here - it's our favorite time to be out camping.
As the evening started to fade, we rode over to the front of the park and set chairs down to watch the sun set, and then the moon rise, next to the South Llano river.
We had the river all to ourselves - though it was certainly popular throughout the day with families swimming in the waters and tubing down the river. RDB and I put our feet in for a few moments to enjoy the cool waters, and then sat back and just listened to the river as it cascaded over the rocks and swirled around the pool before continuing on its way into the park and beyond.
As we drove back tour campsite for our last night, we kept things nice and slow - in the few passes we'd already made, putting together the video for this campground's Park n' Drive, we had seen LOTS of wildlife: several armadillo, a possum, jack rabbits (their ears nearly as large as their bodies!), plenty of birds, deer, and a large black hog trotting across the road. If you want to be surrounded by wildlife, this is the park for you! We even saw a heard of deer, at least 20 of them, our first night!
Monday morning meant packing up for the drive home. This park is a solid 4.5 hours from the house - so taking the extra day off meant that we could enjoy a little bit of the morning before starting that trek back across central Texas to out hot and humid Houston. I can't wait to book this campground again and have the chance to do some hiking, exploring, and hopefully, dancing in the 'new' moonlight under the Milky Way.
We were in site #10 at South Llano River State Park. Right next to the (nice) bathhouse, with 30amp and water, and tree limbs that are annoyingly in the way of being able to fully utilize the site (we couldn't back all the way in, or we wouldn't have been able to put our slides out). So, we ended up parking the truck over by the bathhouse - and got a "ticket" from the park Ranger notifying us that we needed to move it to overflow parking (a solid hike away from the campsite). So, we parked perpendicular in front of the camper... which was not good for me: trying to tuck in, I managed to hit the nose of the camper with the side mirror. Thank goodness they're built with the "break away/fold back" feature these days, there was no noticeable damage to the camper or the mirror. My pride, on the other hand.....*eyeroll*
For more camping photos, go here.
(PS: I looked up the next new moon and three day weekend - just happens to be Memorial Day next year.... guess we'll be back then!)
Friday, September 10, 2021
Park n' Drive: Lake Livingston State Park
Know before you go - a park drive thru video.
We were in Site # 99 - full hook ups.
We've been here several times:
Friday, September 3, 2021
Weekend of Whelmed
What a summer, y'all.
We purposefully don't camp in the hottest months here in Texas, because, well, a thousand (degrees) reasons not too, but man! I've been looking forward to this weekend for _months_ because I know how much more settled and rested and relaxed I am when we go camping regularly. Between the stress at work, family situations, and the political climate in Texas right now - I've been overwhelmed. (If you're not aware, Google: Texas HB 1927, Texas SB1, Texas SB4, and Texas SB8... don't even get me started about how the SCOTUS failed Texans this week; THIS is the reason we all panicked when RBG died last year, y'all)
Knowing that we had a long Labor Day weekend at Lake Livingston State Park, my mindset and mood this past week has been a hundred percent better. With my work schedule easing up Friday afternoon (not a single team member had a live web on Friday, and nearly half the team was out on early vacation), RDB and I took off for the park and arrived a little after 6. Not wanting to cook, we found the Blue Duck on Yelp and went into town to have dinner and support the locals. Generous pours of whiskey from the bartender were the saving grace (read the review, you'll see).
I had a hard time getting to sleep Friday (to be honest: here lately most days I suffer from revenge sleep procrastination) but RDB had no trouble dozing off on the lazy-boy in the living room. I woke the next morning to him having set up the coffee maker for me, ready to go with HEB's Texas Pecan decaf (my fav) and a cup. He asked me later on in the day: "Have I told you yet today that I love you?" You do, RDB, by the sweet things you do for me. (Over and over again, I'm reminded how I found one of the good ones!)
We got a hankering for one of our favorite camping meals - jalapeno cheddar sausage with fried eggs and roasted veggies (I need to get a Camp Cooking post done for that one!) - so we went over to the local HEB and picked up groceries.
Also picked up a bunch of strawberries and marshmallow fluff - RDB saw a picture of roasted fluff-covered strawberries and was intrigued. Y'all - lemme tell you - THIS WAS GOOD! It would be much more fun outside over a campfire, but hello-1000*-Texas-in-September, we roasted it over the flame in the kitchen. A note, if you want to do this: it's more about getting a bit of char on the marshmallow fluff vs. trying to actually roast the berry. That little bit of burn + the cream of the fluff + the sweet tartness of the berry = heaven in your mouth. 10/10 would recommend!
We settled in Saturday afternoon to watch our favorite movie (yes, again. We won't ever get tired of Matt Damon's humor in The Martian!) and enjoy being out in our camper. RDB mentioned that he's heard people comment on "why would you go camping when you just sit in the camper all day?" Well, because it becomes a home-base to check out other small towns. It's a new view outside the windows, even if we are watching a movie. It's a chance to go for late evening walks among the trees once the sun has gone down. Really, I don't need a reason at all; rest is my why.
And it looks like I'm not the only one who loves to rest....
And yes, we need to have a talk about him smoking cigars in the camper. He's getting a little crotchety in his old age! Ha! Of course, he deserves a nap after the walk and photo shoot we had earlier in the afternoon.
Speaking of well deserved rest, RDB was conked out with his head on my lap as the movie played on, when a text came in from Big Bro D out on vacation with his girlfriend in Colorado:
Yeah!! I am over-WHELMED with joy at how happy he is right now! I'm thrilled for him and A - they are such a sweet couple and compliment each other so beautifully; its a real joy to see how happy Big Bro has been these past months. Looking froward to a wedding in the future and a great marriage for these two! (And even closer than all that - looking forward to camping with Big Bro in November after Thanksgiving!)
Sunday morning we woke up leisurely, and decided to go out for a late lunch rather than cook in (and heat up) the camper. It's hit or miss sometimes, and unfortunately, it was another miss with the Mexican food place we went to back in town. The outside was so cool, and the interior decor was a feast for the eyes, but the food was lackluster at best. Our dining out choices were, well, under-whelming this trip. As Big Bro would say: it'll make a turd. Lol!
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| At least the margarita was good! |
Back at the camper, we broke out the mini Rummikub set I inherited from Grandma Ford; the box still smells like her living room in Arizona. I won't say who won all four games we played (me) but it is one of my favorite games.
Another movie to end the day - one from the Star Trek trilogy (what can I say? We like our space based science fiction!) and another relaxing evening. I'm so grateful that we have a three day weekend and reserved the campsite till Tuesday so that we have several full days here to rest and hang out.
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| I got demoted (dog-moted?) from my seat. |
Monday morning I woke to the delicious smell of coffee, and RDB gently rubbing my shoulder. Did I say I got one of the good ones, y'all? Because I did! We spent some time outside the camper (ominous clouds means that we may see rain as we pack up, but at least it cooled things off for a bit) before we took a drive around the campground for RDB's Park and Drive YouTube Chanel. Bacon-wrapped Jalapeno Poppers in the oven for lunch (thanks again, HEB) and it was the beginning of a great afternoon.
We really do enjoy extending our stays an extra night, even though we know we won't be sleeping over - this weekend it gave us the chance to play a few rounds of Mario Cart 8 (which RDB won, nearly ever single time!) and sit outside again enjoying a few beers in the some-what cooler weather. By Monday afternoon, we practically had the entire camping loop to ourselves.
We finally packed up and made the return trip home - only about an hour and a half away, we were home before dark, backed into the driveway and greeted by Tali (the cat) who was just a little annoyed that she wasn't invited on this trip. Needless to say, her level of attention seeking over the next few hours will likely be overwhelming.
We were in site #99, Pin Oak Loop at Lake Livingston State Park. Same as our last visit, not much cell service (I'm back home finishing up the blog and am blown away by how fast the photos are uploading in comparison) A nice amount of shade during the later part of the day, super close to the bath house, but a real challenge to get backed into because of the site marker on the other side of the narrow road. That being said, RDB never ceases to amaze me with his ability to navigate those tight spots.
For more camping photos, go here.
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