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. 

Turkey Trip #5: Into the Holiday Spirit

We left out from Palo Duro Canyon State Park late in the evening on Thursday and made our way down to the Abilene KOA Journey, with two thoughts: 1) cut the 6 hour drive to Dallas into tow days (to make it easier on RDB, who's driven over 1000 miles on this week long adventure) and 2) to see D&V or maybe visit the Abilene Zoo.  I think Diesel has had about enough of being in the truck for these long hauls!

We did make it in to the KOA (love that they are so easy to find, right along the highway, and pull thru full hook-ups sites makes them perfect for the stop over) but we didn't have a chance to have dinner with D&V or make it to the zoo (we came in long after the dinner hour and realized the KOA had a 11am check out). No worries either way, we accomplished goal #1 - to break the travel in to two easier days and arrived at Cedar Hill State Park at the perfect time to check in. 

Boy, oh boy, were we happy to have this site! We've been to Cedar Hill SP several times before, the first time with the 5th wheel being a monster of a site to park in, but this one (site 112) is just heaven - easy to park, and look. At. That. View!!  It's definitely going to be one that I keep my eyes on when we book here in the future, as well.

And continue to book, we will, because this campground is such a great place to stay when we're up in the DFW are to visit family.  Friday night Mom and G came over and picked us up and we went out to dinner, then we drove thru Grand Prairie's annual light show.  It was an absolutely PERFECT way to kick off the holiday season!

Saturday we went over to Dad and Bunny's to celebrate a late Thanksgiving and Dad's 70th birthday this past week.  It's always fun to be there as Dad is carving the turkey (yes, in the laundry room!).  I kid you not, he gets his fill while carving the bird and then his plate for the real meal is only side dishes!  This year I was pleasantly surprised to find a sweet little lady in there with him....

That's my 94 year-young Grandma G in there helping out!  I'm so grateful that she's right next door to Dad's and that we get to see her as often as we can when we come up (with a 6-pack of "Grandma Beer" (11 Below's 7-Iron pale ale) in tow).  She giggled with happiness as I placed them in her fridge.  Y'all, find the little things that make your family happy and you'll have joy all season long. 

We had smallish gathering this year - us, Dad and Bunny, D&A, Sis & TJ and Aunt Sissy and Uncle Roy.  After dinner we got down the Christmas tree and decorations and started to get the house ready for the holiday season.  It was sweet to be around family and my siblings.  

Cute then and handsome now. 

Telling the story of Grandpa G and the bread bag wicket invention. 

We called it a night and went back down to our camper; Sunday morning we woke up slowly and enjoyed our coffee and tea and the incredible view out the window of our rollin' home.  A quick text to Mom and G and we coordinated a late lunch - we're kind of stalling the drive back home (for two reasons: 1) it's windy out right now and it's easier to drive when the wind has died down and 2) I don't want this trip to be over!)

But, all good things must come to an end, and so after lunch we packed up and started the trek back home.  It was a wonderful, long, much needed break to have these past dozen days of camping, and we're already looking forward to our next adventure with KD and the Kids for Christmas!

We were at Cedar Hill State Park, Eagle Ford camping loop Site #112 with full hook ups. This site is perhaps one of the best we've been in - great view of the lake (slightly blocked by trees - with the leaves on in spring/summer it might have as good of a view), wide concrete pad to park on, nestled back a ways in the park. Cedar Hill is set between two major roads (I-20 and FM 1382) so there is quite a bit of road noise, but as I mentioned earlier, with it's close proximity to family, the good well outweighs the bad.

For more camping photos, go here (once I'm back on hi speed wifi)

Turkey Trip #1: A Long, Grateful Weekend

I'm so thankful for Thanksgiving week!  We almost didn't get a chance to enjoy this trip - as RDB was bringing the camper back from having it serviced (repacked the bearings, work on the water leaks... again) the front quarter panel finally ripped.  I say finally - because we knew there was a crack in it and have been waiting on the part to come in from the manufacturer.  Sadly, the part didn't come in before the wind caught it and tore it further.  Thankfully, RDB was able to bandaid it in such a way that we could still travel out for this week.

We left out Wednesday afternoon, making our way to Possum Kingdom State Park for the holiday weekend.  We planned out route to take us past the Buccees in Temple so we could stop for fuel and barbecue brisket for dinner.  Y'all - it was a madhouse!!  Like, it's busy enough on a regular weekend, but the day before a holiday was just craziness!  Trying to get two pumps at the same time (for the length of our rig) was a challenge.  I jumped out of the truck and grabbed my orange road flag to secure one when a car drove away and (thank goodness for the kindness of strangers) the other car in the lane waited until RDB was in position behind him before he drove away.  Next time? I'm grabbing my reflective, collapsable cones to hold the spot.

We arrived to the park late Wednesday night and set up, ready for our own personal Thanksgiving in the park the next morning.

Keeping in theme with gratitude and and giving, I made up thank you gift bags of chocolate for the rangers in the parks we'll visit over this trip.  They were so well received last year,  I couldn't help but do it again!

We started the day off with celebratory mimosas, fixed a fav appetizer of deviled eggs, and I took on the challenge of fixing a full Thanksgiving dinner.  I wrote a post about the adventures of cooking this in our camper, you can read that here. It was really enjoyable, both to cook and to eat in the afternoon.  We shared a few thoughts on what we were thankful for this year (we do this ever night before we go to bed, too, but this made the day that much more special). 

Yea, there was a nap in there somewhere. RDB was sneaky and grabbed a few pictures of me as Sleeping Beauty. 

Friday morning Big Bro D and his fiancee, A, (from here on called D&A on the blog), drove up to spend the weekend with us, bringing his boat along so we could enjoy Possum Kingdom Lake. And enjoy we did! As soon as they got her, we took the boat over to the ramp and launched.

There's a rock formation and cove along the edge of the lake called Hell's Gate. Big Bro knew about it from his lake map atlas, I knew about it from the Geocaching app (there's a cache on Devil's Island that can only be accessed by boat... or by someone willing to cliff dive and swim over, if you're brave enough!).  We puttered around checking out the rock ledges and the amazing homes all along the shoreline. 

Couldn't be out on a beautiful lake in a beautiful boat and not to a bit of fishing.  I was loving the 22* halo that surrounded the late afternoon sun while everyone set up poles to fish.  Too bad the fish didn't cooperate!

As the sun started to set, we took both vehicles and the boat into the neighboring town to refuel, and had dinner out at a local Mexican place. 

Saturday morning we woke to rain.  And Saturday afternoon it continued to rain.  And Saturday evening, guess what? More rain. "This rain really puts a damper on things," Big Bro said at one point.  We smoked steaks for lunch and I made a new roasted veggie side dish, and enjoyed the cupcakes and pumpkin pie we brought from home and enjoyed afternoon Bloody Marias (I forgot to bring the vodka, but had plenty of tequila!).   

We watched our favorite movie (yes, again, for the 14th time! D&A hadn't seen it before!) and then put in Dr Strange We played several rounds of Yatzhee (Big Bro won those) and Rumicub (I was champ) and RDB kicked all our butts on MarioKart It's pretty nice to have the space in the camper to spread out and watch movies when the weather doesn't cooperate. 

She makes the drinks a bit, um, dicey. ;-)

Sunday morning the weather cleared and we were back on the boat again, trolling for fish and hanging out having a great time.. 

D&A had a long drive home, so after a lunch of leftover smoked steak and eggs with toast, they packed up and headed out.  It was so great to have them stay for the weekend - plenty of room in the camper for all their stuff, and a comfortable night's sleep, so he said.  

RDB and I slowly packed up camp - stopping for a few to set up our camp chairs, share a Grandma Beer, and enjoy the view from the back of our site.  We could easily come back to this campground and stay for a week - between the water activities, the geocaching (which we didn't have a chance to do) and the nearby town (I saw a county courthouse, didn't have a chance to get pictures) there would be plenty here to keep us for a week.  

And besides, you just can't beat that view.

We were at Possum Kingdom State Park, Spanish Oaks loop, Site #10 50a/W (the pad is skinny, but 70' long, so plenty of space for us and the truck.) We reserved Site #10 for Big Bro's boat and truck - at only 38' it was a tight fit, but it was really nice to have it right across the way and within sight the whole time. BTW - the flies here were ridiculous, I'm sitting at the kitchen table in the camper one day after that park and I've been killing flies that stowed away in our camper all morning - rather annoying! (One literally just mocked me by landing on my laptop screen just now)

For more camping pics, go here.