A New Day Rising

New Year's Eve was so good, I'm still listening to the Foo Fighter's 3-hour-long concert from Madison Square Garden that our satellite radio station was rebroadcasting NYE; there's something to be said about the magic of music - and to bring it along while we're camping just makes the new year that much better. 

Happy 2022, y'all!  Here's to health and happiness, and leaving the hard times behind.  

It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again

We left for Purtis Creek Park Thursday afternoon; we were supposed to go towards the Hill Country, but I realized Wednesday afternoon that the pull thru site I booked at Inks Lake SP had a BIG branch overhanging the site (#76) and there were no other sites for us to move to, so I searched for another park, and thankfully, found availability here in East Texas.  Booking last minute trips i harder and harder these days!

We made a late night run into Tyler to pick up dog food (I forgot to pack Diesel's kibble!) and then settled in back at the campground for a nice long weekend.  Not much going on Friday afternoon, we made our way back into town again for dinner (at another Jalapeno Tree; I think we found our new East Texas favorite!) and a small surprise - a horse drawn carriage thru the brick-lined streets of Tyler's historic 

I found Hot Springs Carriage Company thru a Google search for "drive thru Christmas lights" in Tyler, which in turn lead me to Trip Advisor,  and eventually to their Facebook page.  For a small cost, they'll drive you thru the old neighborhood outside Bergfeld Park for 5, 10, or 15 minutes.  With two carriages going at a time, we waited less than an hour for our turn and really enjoyed the short ride around with Tanner. (If you happen to be reading this - best of luck as you pursue your dreams: rental properties are a great investment in your retirement and delaying marriage and kids till you feel stable enough to support them is a great investment in your self!) 

After that fun little adventure, we made our way back to the campground, to our mischievous little pup.  While we're gone, we have him 'kenneled' in the bedroom of the camper, with a Blink camera set up so we can keep an eye on him.  We noticed over the last few trips, that he was no longer on camera, laying in his bed where he's supposed to be, but when we returned, the door to the bedroom was still shut.

So, we bought a second Blink camera and set it up to catch a different view of the room... and catch a spoiled little Goldilocks who decided our bed was "just right."  

I mean, you can't blame him - the SleepNumber _is_ more comfortable than his Paws bed, even though he does have a heating pad turned on and tucked into that bed to keep him warm.  And keeping warm as a priority this weekend as the weather was going to take a huge drop to start off the new year.

Saturday was a beautiful day to sleep in for a bit, enjoy lunch at the camper and then take a short drive into Canton to walk the square and check out the Van Zandt County courthouse in the golden sun.  

We could literally see the temp dropping dramatically on the truck's dashboard temp gauge - we were getting ready to see a really cold night:

Diesel was just about as excited about the cold as he was about the fireworks from the night before.

With the heaters going, snuggled up and watching The Martian (that's probably #15 if you're counting), we kept our eyes on the cold front as it hurtled across the state and towards us.  Looking at the future-cast for wind speeds on Sunday, we knew it was going to be a late day in the park before we would be ready to leave.

But then, isn't that the best way to start a brand new year?  

I'm a new day rising
I'm a brand new sky
To hang the stars upon tonight...

It's times like these you learn to live again

We were at Purtis Creek State Park, Site #10 (30a/W). The site backs in and pretty much shares the fire ring and picnic table with the next site over (#11), so that could be great if you're camping with another family - not so great if the strangers int eh other site are avid smokers.  The entire campground seemed to clear out Saturday night - most campers not interested in staying over in freezing temps.  We'd already camped colder than this, so we weren't concerned and actually enjoyed having the place to ourselves.

For more camping photos, go here.

For a drive thru video of the park, go here. 

PS - if you want a serious goosebumps musical experience but can't commit to the 3 hrs of the Foo Fighters? Jump in for the last song before the encore, The Best of You, around 2:10. That's the kind of performance, and audience, that all we all long for.