I grew up camping a lot with our family on the islands and in the desert in Abu Dhabi, which is probably part of the reason why my brother, Jason, and I both have a shared interest in camping and the outdoors – definitely more so than either of my sisters…who hate the smell of bonfire on their clothes and can’t imagine going without a shower for more than a couple days. Thayer, our nephew, who is only 2, has already been camping a handful of times and one of Jay’s goals is to visit all of the state parks in Texas (apparently there are like more than 90 or something..Texas loves their state parks). So we were psyched that we were able to make it work to meet up with them to camp for a few days at Garner State Park in west Texas. Jason and my sister-in-law Rachel lives between Fort Worth and Dallas, which is close to 6 hours north of where we met them to camp, pretty impressive considering Thayer’s only a little guy and they’re planning to sleep in a tent for the next two nights. But the set up that Jason has for camping is equally as impressive…three different tents – one is a 3 bedroom tent for sleeping, one is a shower, and he literally brought a kitchen sink. The park, and campsite was great, and made for a good spot to spend a few days. We saw a ton of deer in the area, and as soon as it got dark at night in the campground, dozens of little glowing beady eyes started popping out from behind trees, likely more deer, raccoon, and we did see an armadillo walk by our site.
The second day we headed to Lost Maples State Park, not far from Garner, and the drive there was awesome. It’s a much hillier part of Texas, and mostly ranch after sprawling ranch, but we saw some really great wildlife. At one point, a bald eagle flew out of the tall grass right beside the passenger door of our truck, wings spread and then slowed down and was flying right by my window. Derek and I were both in shock and we could both barely get the words “bald eagle” out of our mouths. We stopped just as it came to a stop to sit on a post, so I was able to snap a picture, but seeing it with its wing spread right by us was amazing. We’ve seen a couple in the last few months, but never this close.
Lost Maples is a beautiful park, and not what I would’ve pictured for hiking terrain in Texas, across rivers and up and down pretty steep rock-face cliffs. We decided – or I should point out that Jason decided, because I tried to talk him out of it considering we were hiking with a toddler, to do a 5 mile trail and one of the more strenuous hikes in the park. It was a great hike, stopping for lunch at the top and to take in the views, saw a giant tarantula on the trail, and aside from having to administer some quick first aid for Murphy who had a bloody toenail (that guy, can’t bring him anywhere), it turned out to be a great day of hiking, and we were definitely ready to get back to our campsite, have a cold beer, cook up a good meal, and relax for the night.
withoutwhatifs 