Thanksgiving 2020

When we were still teaching, we often used the week off from school for camping trips.  A few months ago when we were still supervising online school with our grandchildren, we made reservations at two state parks.  Without a large family gathering this year, we loaded our gear and headed to the Texas Hill Country for six days.

It felt fabulous to get away from the flat coastal plains and drive through scenic areas north and west of San Antonio.  First stop was Guadalupe River State Park.

View across the Guadalupe River with late afternoon sunlight on the norther sector of the park.

I liked the contrast of brown grass, green cedars, and gray skies.

Crystal clear water in the Guadalupe

Looking up from my camp chair to see the treetops gilded by the setting sun

It has been 11 years since we camped at Garner State Park.  In fact, we spent Thanksgiving 2009 there.

We hiked  to the top of Old Baldy - kinda steep for us and challenging for Brian's arthritic knee, but we took our time and made it.  We encountered about a dozen other people on the way up, but more than 100 on the way down.  It was a popular place on Thanksgiving morning!

Looking ahead to our goal - Old Baldy

View of the campground from the trail - our van is so tiny to the left of the basketball court.

Near the top - the trail is difficult to discern, but marked by yellow blazes on the rocks.

View of Rio Frio from the Old Baldy trail - campground is to the left

Kris on top of the man-made pile of boulders at the summit

On Friday, we ventured out on the scenic roads north of Garner referred to as The Twisted Sisters - winding roller-coaster roads.  We followed the Rio Frio valley north, then southward along the Nueces River.  We found lots of geocaches along the way.  We also found Utopia!!!

Back at the campground, we found fewer campsites occupied and the Rio Frio was a bit quieter than on Thanksgiving Day.   Very clear water and interesting bald cypress trees along the banks.

View of Old Baldy from the riverbank just above the dam

Cypress tree roots in the clear water of Rio Frio

Now we are back at home hoping to plan more adventures in 2021.  We have had to cancel plans for an adventure to Alaska both in 2018 and 2020.  If the border with Canada remains closed, we have many more U.S. locations on our bucket list to visit in the coming year.  Stay tuned . . .

Seen while geocaching:

Bandera, Texas

Utopia, Texas

 Fall 2020        Staying Close to Home   ( Pandemic Version 3.0 )

     The school year started with us supervising online learning with our grandchildren - Kris found herself teaching second grade again while Brian handled first grade and we tried to do a little Pre-K on the side.  Exhausting days, but fulfilling to witness the learning unfold and the kids develop as readers, writers, and mathematicians.   We found ourselves in the familiar school year routine on weekdays and planned a series of weekend adventures as the cooler weather arrived.

First Day of School

    In late September, we made a weekend trip to San Antonio for some geocaching and outdoor sight-seeing.   The grounds of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park were open and it was easy to keep our distance from other people.   We even saw two National Park Rangers out and about, but we missed the Visitor Center experience.

Arbol de la Vida:  Memorias y Voces de la Tierra  

This sculpture on the grounds of Mission Espada is 40 feet tall and 80 feet in diameter.

interior of Mission San Juan

obligatory stop at the Alamo

The Riverwalk was pretty well deserted.

Art along the Riverwalk

world's largest mosaic of the Virgin Mary  - 40 feet tall

We enjoyed a weekend in East Texas.  We used to camp here during our college days.

It was great to camp in the piney woods of east Texas again.

Our next adventure involved two of our sons and the grandkids in Sam Houston National Forest closer to home on Lake Conroe.

Learning how to set up a tent

Hanging out with Uncle Joel

What can we find on the lakeshore?  A nice log to sit on . . .

We were disappointed to find a burn ban in effect, so charcoal grill marshmallows will have to do.

Big camping breakfasts are the best!

We hiked about a mile of the trail before we had to head for home.

 

Kris sporting her Mother's Day gift

The kids had great fun playing in the old jail in the town of Montgomery.

Here they are making a break for it!

Another weekend just to ourselves at Canyon Lake . . .

. . . with visits to some of the Painted Churches on the way back to Houston.  Lots of geocaching to keep us busy.

The latest adventure with just the two oldest grandkids involved a surprise visit to Dinosaur Valley State Park and camping at Cleburne State Park.  The boys knew we were going camping, but we did not reveal this destination until they saw the sign themselves. 

Caleb LOVES dinosaurs!

Wading where dinosaurs once roamed

Even Grandma waded in the river.

We visited the nearby town of Glen Rose . . .

Petrified wood and fossils on display in front of the courhouse . . .

Nice fall colors in our campsite at Cleburne State Park.

We also explored the unusual three-tiered spillway in the park that was built by

the CCC in the 1930s:

Seen while geocaching:

sculpture made of junk metal

The boys are beginning to show more interest in geocaching and helped us find this one

in Cleburne State Park

We stopped to find a cache titled  "Finding Nemo."