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