Do and Re: Deers and the Sun

Some days I have a hard time believing just how incredibly blessed we really are.  Sitting here at the kitchen table in the camper, and I'm in awe of how beautiful this campsite is, and how lucky and blessed we are that we get to haul our Castle around and enjoy these views.

We booked Ray Roberts Lake State Park several months in advance - knowing that we wanted to be on a camping trip for the Annular Solar Eclipse, and when D&A told us that they were buying a trailer to start camping during Big Bro's off-season, I let them know we were going to be north of them for this weekend.  A few minutes later, A texted me back that she had secured a site in the same camping loop and we'd have our first family camping weekend!

Y'all - it's been the BEST when we have people join us!

I took Friday (and Monday) off work and RDB and I made our way up to the campsite late in the afternoon.  Big Bro was already there onsite when we rolled it, coming over to "watch the pros do it" (back the trailer into our spot) and chat with us as soon as we arrived.  I think he was pretty excited about us camping together, too!

We woke up Saturday to deer in our site - and continued to see them all thru the park over the weekend.  We had a LOT on the agenda, so RDB and I got up early-ish and took off for a morning walk along the paved, 2.2 mile Randy Bell Trail where we were greeted by more and more deer!

After our walk, RDB and I went into town to grab a coffee at a local place - we're adding that into our adventures in the Miata, and want to do the same (when we can) while camping.  Little did we know when we found Pilot Point Coffee that we were heading towards the city's biggest event of the year: Bonnie and Clyde Days. We learned from the staff that this is the coffee shop's busiest day of the year!

Saturday mid-day was the zenith of the solar eclipse, and with the wait for coffee, we lost track of time, so we had to high tail it back over to the campground (just a quick 15 minutes away) to meet back up with D&A.  

Solar glasses in hand, we stood outside and checked out the change in shadows cast by the sun as the moon made its way in front.

 

We tried to get a picture with the phone holding the solar glasses in front, but had no success.  But! I just noticed uploading these photos - if you look in the sun spots (above RDB's glasses and hat, and on the truck bed next to D's right side) you can see the crescent sun just like you can see in the shadows! So COOL! 

Also, super cool this weekend, is our new nephew, HDN!

Born in April this year, HDN is a natural at this camping stuff - and it's been really sweet to have him with us for the trip.  (As I type this evening he's cooing and sliding around on my fav blanket on the floor in our camper).

After the solar eclipse, we split ways, the guys going down to the beach on the backside of our site and us girls (and HDN) taking a walk along the park's paved path again.

A dozen minnows from The Dam Store lasted a whole afternoon of fishing; that's some eFISHiency when it comes to making the bait work for you (punny joke courtesy of Big Bro).

Note the deer coming down for a drink on the right.

After sunset, D&A's friends came over and we grilled out a late steak dinner (those were some GOOD chargrilled steaks!) before the guys went back over to night fish (did you know they make light-up fishing bobbers?!) and us girls (and HDN ;-) ) called it a night. 

Sunday was an easy day of morning walks, another trip to the (much less crowded) coffee shop, and a visit from Mom and G. To say she's happy to see and hug her babies is probably an understatement:

I was able to get some blogging done, and decided the cooler weather and the view out the back of our site was just too pretty to pass up, so I set out my yoga mat and got a session in while watching the golden rays of the sun slowly creep up the trees across the lake.

At the same time, Big Bro had taken a ride on his e-bike thru the park over to the shore line, and managed to get a beautiful pic of that golden sunset over the water.

Coming back together in the spaciousness of our camper, we watched a few innings of the first game in the ALCS Championship Series between the Astros vs the Rangers before settling in and enjoying the crisp cool 46* night!

Monday morning brought with it another walk around the park.  There is so much to see and do here, you could easily stay a whole week and not get to it all.

But, as it goes with most of these trips, the work week rolls around and we have to head back home.  I'm sure we'll hit the road eventually, but it's quarter to four on Monday afternoon, and I'm still sitting here "in the best seat in the house" and loving the view out our windows.

We were in Site #132 (30a/W) at Ray Roberts Lake State Park, Isle De Bois Unit.  This is an ADA site, so fully paved and double wide, also very level from side to side (just one lego on the drivers side will do it.) We were greeted not only by Big Bro D the night we came in, but also a deer - who had no qualms at all about chomping on the grass while we backed in.  There's a path that leads straight down to the water's edge from the back of the site, and if the water is low (like it has been for months) you have a nice long bank to fish on.  Sitting here at the kitchen table I've watched squirrels, butterflies, birds, BIG blue herons, and of course, more deer wander around the water's edge.  It's nirvana, that's for sure, and we would love to come back again.

We've been here before, but never really had a chance to play in the park like we did this weekend: Family, Friends, Fotos

For a park drive-thru video, go here. 

International Observe the Moon Night 2021

The last several posts have been centered around the moon - and perhaps, I can't help it.  Even in the darkest of nights, this constant celestial creation orbits around us, shining back the sun and reminding us that the comfort of daylight is never too far away. Steady, stunning, keeping the tides in ebb and flow - that bright lunar orb is a friendly reminder that whatever new thing may come our way, the solution is as old as the time itself: be consistent, be bright, be faithful.  Its very presence is peaceful to me.

We were camping at Brazos Bend State Park for this year's International Observe the Moon Night; unlike last year, when we set up our own telescope, this year we purchased tickets to the Star Party at the George Observatory that's on site. And it was well worth the price! 

We wandered over a little before our 9pm time slot and spent a few minutes looking around the displays in the Challenger Learning Center.

It was added on to the telescope dome deck after the Challenger disaster as a way for the Houston community to grieve the loss of the astronauts and have a place for people to learn more about astro-adventuring in a hands on learning environment.  

Speaking of hands-on - I wouldn't mind getting my hands on a telescope of that size for personal use someday! Ha!

One of the displays in the lobby enlightened me to something I have never seen before: the dark side of the moon!  I had no idea that we actually had mapped it, much less that we had pictures of the lunar maria on that un-visible, far side.  How cool was this?!

In no time, we were ushered up to the observation deck, with the three major domes and several amateur astronomers who had been invited to set up their personal telescopes as well. (I say amateur, but some of the telescopes that these guys had out were incredibly impressive; we saw the rings of Saturn in one and four moons of Jupiter in another!)

The 'main' attraction is the 36" Gueymard Research Telescope that was purchased from LSU, featuring a 500-pound primary mirror to reflect the light.  IT. IS. IMPRESSIVE.

On a previous trip to the Observatory, pre-covid, we had the chance to view directly from the eye piece, and they hope to get back to that again soon, but tonight they had a digital display set up so that everyone could see what was being displayed on a computer monitor.

We were so grateful to the guys and gals who were there operating the telescope and ushering us around the observation deck - the entire facility is run by volunteers!

Having seen the moon up close, and a few of the other inhabitants of our night sky, RDB and I made our way back down the red-lighted path towards the park.  I turned to look at the moon one last time and noticed, with the hazy cloud cover, a 22* halo circling it.

The moon truly is an orbiting angel smiling down on those of us here on Earth.  I hope you'll take some time to stop and look up once in a while and smile back.

Filigree, Apogee, Pedigree, Perigee...

Well, yeah, sometimes life is just. Like. That.  Within 20 minutes of finishing fall VECCON at work on Friday, the familiar and horrid vision-squiggle of a migraine appeared.  I was determined to go camping this weekend (I needed the break from stress, obviously) so I double-dosed my Replax, downed a coca-cola (for the caffeine - I haven't drank coke or regular coffee for years now) and donned the ice helmet that R(m)B(r) sent me and shuffled my way into the truck. We were going to Brazos Bend State Park, only a little over an hour from home, and thankfully the above attempt at aborting the traditional migraine path worked long enough for us to arrive, get set up, and for me to crash on the couch.

I slept 12 hours straight.

Saturday I woke: slow, stiff, still exhausted, and with the typical brain-in-a-bucket mental fog and it-hurts-when-I-move-physically-bruised-brain-pain aftermath of a migraine.  At least we were camping. At least I had the love of my life gently caring for me (as he always does). Armed with extra strength Advil, tons of water, and loads of patience, I was ready to face the day! take it easy and do a whole lot of not much. 

No trip to Brazos Bend is complete without a gator sighting.

We drove into town for a matinee showing of the latest James Bond movie: No Time To Die (I wore earplugs to dampen out the sound).  We'd been 'preparing' for this by watching all of the other Daniel Craig Bond movies over the past week; this was a fitting end to an amazing character arc.  (Spoiler alert: you might cry when it ends.)

We hung out in the camper, and I did a little bit of loose watercolor painting - the Drawing Lab as a part of VECCON inspiring me to participate in creative work as a way to relax and refocus.

We hadn't geocached in this park, so later in the afternoon we went over to the Nature Center and grabbed two quick caches that were easily off the main trail.  I was giddy when one of the caches had a hippo hidden in it! I'll put him beside our other House Hippo in the camper. (I found our first House Hippo in the dirt at another campground.) 

The main event this weekend, though, and why I wasn't willing to just veg on the couch at home after the migraine hit on Friday, was the chance to be at this specific park on International Observe the Moon Night. 

I've written up a separate post for that here, and including a bunch of fun photos from the event.  You can read my post from last year's event here, too! It's been so neat that we've been camping for both of these nights - I'll have to make it a point to plan for that again next year!

Back at the campsite, we enjoyed the cooler evening weather (yeah, 60* nights!) and had a chance to try out our BlueSky portable fire pit for the first time - and, y'all, I LOVE it!  It uses wood pellets (same as what we use in our pellet smoker) and a 2" layer will burn for ~35-40 minutes with a minimal amount of ash left over.  I love that it's so contained, super easy to light, and that you can time it to a specific amount of time and not be held captive to a fire with wood logs all night long. This is a game changer for me!

Sunday we slept in. Had (decaf) coffee and tea. Roasted jalapeno poppers. Went for a drive thru the park for RDB's YouTube channel and I worked on getting the blog posts ready to go.  BTW - I've proofed about three times and think I caught all the grammar and spelling errors (another downside to my form of migraines: there's a lingering brain fog makes speaking/typing/talking difficult for a few days afterwards). So, forgive me if things look a little... off.  I just needed a break.

We were at Brazos Bend State Park, Burr Oak camping loop site #110 (50a/W). Really liked this site backing in - it's three parking spaces wide and very level!  I think I told RDB at least four times "I really like this site." (Again, migraine - makes me an annoying little kid b/c I can't remember if I've actually said the thing I was thinking out loud or not, so I say stuff over and over.) As we're sitting here in the late afternoon on Sunday (we always buy the extra day) I'm torn b/c I don't want to leave! It's not that I'm not excited about going back to work - I have a new hire starting tomorrow, yeah! - it's that I really love being surrounded by the trees, the lush greens, the beautiful weather, and the incredible moon and stars at night.

Oh well ...  till next time. 

We've been to Brazos Bend State Park several times (and in several different rigs) before:

Back to Brazos Bend, Rainbows and Stars and Bikes and Trains, Going Back for Seconds, and Super "Brazos" Weekend

For more camping photos, go here.

*And bonus points if you remember where today's title comes from.