Bumper sticker, Birthday, Back-in-the-Box, and Buddies

A quick trip to Dallas this weekend to celebrate Bunny’s *ahem*2nd birthday, play games with the fam, and visit with Randshe; RDB put a new adornment on the back of the camper before we left out (and I still need to get the reindeer off from our Christmas trip - though it kinda looks like he's giving a thumbs up about our blog!)

We left out Friday after work and made our way to The Vineyards Campground and Caverns arriving well after dark; we stayed here once before when we came up for Randshe’s Hallowedding. This is Sis & TJ‘s favorite place to stay when they come in to town to visit Dad and Bunny and with a close proximity to Dad and Bunny‘s house, I can’t blame them!  The view from our spot was really great, though we weren’t at the camper much to enjoy it. 

Saturday we all met up at Dad‘s favorite restaurant, Lupes, for lunch to celebrate Bunny, then went back over to the house to enjoy a day of  playing dominoes, watching the Cowboys' late game, and plenty of great conversation. 

I got Bunny a money tree for her birthday and joked that I had promised the tree when I picked it out that it wasn’t coming home with me: Bunny has lots of plants and an incredible green thumb; she’s even rescued several sad houseplants that I have unfortunately brought almost to the brink of death in my care. 

Sis & TJ wanted to teach us how to play Mexican train with the travel dominoes that I had from our camper. It seemed like every other round a new rule - or two - was added to the game. Dad cracked me up at one point when he said “That’s the problem with learning the rules: now you’ve got to play by them.” 

Even little Willow seemed a bit overwhelmed with all the instructions! 

My favorite part of playing dominoes is actually the last round of the night. As a tradition, my family has always played a game called “put them back in the box.” Everyone draws tiles to fill their hand and no pile left over. You start with the highest double, then put each in turn till you are out of tiles - so, 9/9, then 9/8, 9/7, etc.  

If you don't have the next on in order, you draw from someone else's hand while they either try to get rid of one that's _not_ the next in line (if they have it)  It’s part dominoes, part Bullshit, part UNO, all trying to put the dominoes back in the box and not being the person holding the last one. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun bullshitting with our family. And if TJ tells you he has the one you’re looking for, he has it. Indeed. 

Sunday morning we got up and checked out from the campsite, taking the trailer and truck down to Dad‘s so we could park in front of their house, called an Uber, and met Randshe at Winewood Grill in Grapevine. 

Three hours, two bottles of champagne, and one happy table full of friends later we parted ways with plans to get together again next weekend when we’re back up to camp north of Dallas at Lake Ray Roberts. 

Back at Dad And Bonnie’s we just happened to run into Grandma G as she was walking back to her house next door. Of course, we also just happened to bring a six pack of “grandma beer” to put in her fridge.  She may look little, but at 94 years young, y’all, she is something fierce. 

We were in site number #91 at The Vineyards Campground and Cabins. Really great site right up against the water with plenty of space — just be aware of the significant drop off to your passenger side and the backend. If you go off that wall, there’s no coming back.

For just a few more camping pictures, 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)

Got an Itch to go Camping?

 Lush, dense, green, glorious foliage., oh, so beautiful..... but don't let it fool you!   Being in nature this weekend was the height of my worst nightmares.....

....because the vast majority of that lush ground cover you see there is my worst enemy:  

Poison Ivy.

RDB and I pulled in long after dark to Caddo Lake State Park and were startled to realize the the campsite we had booked was literally surrounded with ivy.  Growing up the trees in mature vines, popping out of the ground in little leaflets, crawling criss-cross around the site with no safe place for Diesel to run around and sniff.  And just _looking_ at it was making my skin crawl. 

Remember the three ways to determine if it's actually poison ivy (and this site had examples of _all_ of them):

Leaves of three? Leave it be!

Hairy vine, ain't no friend of mine!

Leaves like mittens? Itch like the dickens!

Y'all, I was itching just _looking_ at the stuff!! Needless to say, the little time we were at the campsite, I was either in the dead middle of the paved road or hiding the camper.  It. Was. Everywhere!

RDB and I took a walk along the only non-ivy-ed safe place: the water!  Caddo Lake State Park isn't actually on Caddo Lake, but there are a few ponds within the park.  You can even rent a kayak or canoe from the park office if you like.  RDB and I just enjoyed walking out on the dock in the cool early afternoon air.

We had plans for Saturday to head over to Sis & TJ's house for a brisket cookout in the evening.  They live just 30 minutes away, across the Louisiana state line and Dad and Bunny were there for the weekend, but we hadn't told them RDB and I were coming up, so it was a sweet surprise to show up and be there for the evening with family.

Sunday morning RDB, Diesel, and me slept in, lazily went for a walk, and then off to fuel up the truck before getting ready to head back home.  Diesel may not have understood why he couldn't go sniff every tree or step off the pavement, but I really didn't want to have to use my Poison Ivy First Aid kit. 

When we got back from our errands, we noticed the lights were out in the camper - come to find out, the entire park had lost power.  Bummer.  It was a good thing though, because it gave us an excuse to walk one site over and chat with the park host, Chester (hi again!). He'd just moved over to this park about 18 days ago.  We talked with him a bit about the surprise of poison ivy everywhere, and come to find out, it's protected by the state as winter food for the birds.  Ugh, go figure!  He'd already gotten an exposure rash in jut the two short weeks he'd been there, so I shared several packets of the Ivy-X pre-contact wipes Mom had discovered a while back, and I'd added to the camper, just in case. 

With the power out, we decided to hit the road and head back home.  I'm blogging as we drive and it's been a beautiful day over here in East Texas! Though we may never come back to Caddo Lake (oy, the poison ivy - I'm still shuddering over all of it!) we certainly love the piney woods of Texas. 

We were in Site #19 at Caddo Lake State Park.  Full hook-ups, three legos unlevel, and a tight squeeze between the tall pines on both sides (once we put the slides out, there was no room to walk between the trees and the camper).  Lots of space and privacy between sites and the park was utterly beautiful, green and lush, but the poison ivy literally surrounded the site - you could get to the fire ring and picnic table, but that was it.  This park is for the birds, y'all!   

For more camping photos, go here.

Travelin' for the Turkey: Part Three

 

If a picture's worth a thousand words, 
then this Thanksgiving we were rich.

We Found a Keeper!

 

Ladies, find a man that will (literally) deal with your shit, and you've found yourself a keeper!

Camping Cache - Martin Creek State Park

 

Found:
Island Walkabout
Evil Tree
Henderson-Sherevport

It was great to get to introduce Sis & TJ to the fun of geocaching on our first camping trip together out in East Texas.  I don't think any of us expected to walk 5 miles trying to get just these three, but it was an adventure and fun!

Travelin' for the Turkey: Part One

Taking eleven days to travel thru East Texas this holiday, getting four more "dots" for our camping map, enjoying the quiet and calm of camping for a week+ and getting to see family along the way.... 

We have SO MUCH to be thankful for. 

RDB and I started the adventure Thursday evening after work, heading out to Martin Creek Lake State Park and arriving to our site well after dark.  We were both excited to kick off our Thanksgiving travels to a park that Sis & TJ would be joining us at for the first time (we'd tried to camp with them a few times since they go their toy hauler last year, but, well, if you've been following along, you'll know the troubles we've had!) 

Sis had to work a half day Friday, and TJ was making his way back in from a work trip to Alaska, so Friday morning RDB and I enjoyed a quiet breakfast in the camper and then a trip out to the local Walmart to grab a few forgotten items. 

On our way back into the campgrounds, we stopped off at the Harmony Hill Cemetery that's right outside the park entrance.  

I know, it seems like we have a fascination with gravesites here lately, but honestly, these acres are filled with so much history and unique features - and it really keeps you humble to find the resting places of people who are your age - or even younger - so much so that you have to take a moment and, as RDB puts it, be grateful for every gray hair on your head.

Also, thinking of things to be thankful for (get ready, y'all, gratitude is going to be a theme this week!), I put together a little treat bag for the camp hosts and headquarters of the parks we are staying in this week.  We dropped off the first of them to one of the camp hosts at Martin Creek and later in the day, he came over specifically to thank us for the gift, saying that no one had ever done something like this before.  Well, Camp Hosts/Rangers that found us b/c of those gifts: y'all deserve SO MUCH PRIASE for all that you do to keep our parks beautiful and a place where we can escape to!!   

Sis & TJ showed up later in the afternoon.  And if you've ever sat back and watched a couple pull into their spot and set up their camp sites, you'll know how much fun this version of people watching can be.  It's even better when the couple that shows up is your little sister and her husband.  

We started up a fire and talked well into the evening hours.  Oh! And just a note, something we learned from the camp hosts - remember the self-pay firewood cages I noticed back at Cedar Hill SP? As we were getting a bucketful of wood from the camp host site, having put a donation into the "iron ranger," he told us that the money from those self-pay cages is split 10/90: 10% of the sales goes to the state-wide park system headquartered in Austin, and the other 90% goes to the company the fills the cages. NOTHING stays in the park that you're actually camping in!! The wood that he sells as a camp host, however, stays 100% in the local park.  So, needless to say, I'll have to make sure we have cash in the camper b/c I'd much rather have our "donations" benefit the local parks.  As they say: Buy it where you burn it!!

Saturday morning Sis cooked us breakfast (and those were some really good breakfast burritos!!) and then we introduced them to Geocaching.  There were three in the park and we managed to find all of them and get some great pictures along the way! 

It was really neat to find one that was attached to a wellhead; having TJ with us and getting an education on all things oil and gas right from him. 

He kinda laughed that this cache was named "Evil Tree" - the pipes above ground are called "trees" in the industry - so we can guess that whomever placed this one isn't a huge fan of energy exploration.  I thought the cache was going to be in one of the actual trees in that area - because some of them were really .... odd!

We took the pups with us for the the final cache (Diesel's off to day-care (boarding) this week, since we know we'll be away from the camper for hours on Turkey Day).  

It added a completely different dynamic with old Jack along - as he stopped 18 times to pee on trees and mark his territory.  18 times - we know - because as he and Sis brought up the rear, she'd yell out the number to the rest of us!

Back at the campsites (after 5 miles of walking!!) we settled in for steaks on the smoker.  RDB is a master at grilling and smoking steaks, and we were delighted to bring up four bone-in ribeyes from our local HEB (the butcher there is incredible).

I'd show you a picture of the finished steaks, but, well, we devoured them!  

Once again, we ended the night around the fire with lots of great conversations and discussions.  Sis and I had a chance to catch up about work and career paths, a bit about the family property in Gladewater, and our own thoughts about family in the future and family past. From the little I could hear, the guys were chatting about day trading and, as RDB put it, we all "danced around the fire of political conversations."  These days it's incredible to be able to have civil conversations, that very well may end with "well, we just don't agree on that" and it's totally ok! It's especially cool that we can have those kind of conversations with family!

As it is, every weekend, all too soon Sunday morning we were having to pack up and head out - Sis & TJ heading back home and RDB and I heading off for the next leg of our state park Thanksgiving-week adventure. 

We were at Martin Lake State Park, Bee Tree Loop, Site #39 (us, white) and #40 (Sis & TJ, black). We had to use leveling legos to get straight left to right - and then watched as Sis & TJ had to do the exact. same. thing! So, be ready for that.  Martin Lake is a cooling lake for a nearby power plant - you can see it (and hear it) from the park. It was eerie the first night as RDB and I were setting up - not just hearing the machinery of the plant, but also the trains running coal in - squealing and screeching in the darkness.  But, for someone who has a great appreciation for our energy sector, the plant at night, reflecting into the water of the lake, was also majestic and beautiful. 

For more camping photos, go here. (LINK - eventually.  Cause upload speeds in this park are slower than molasses in Fargo in December.)