Saturday, 19 December 2020
I planned to stay here over the weekend because Texas State Parks, as some other states do, requires a 2-night stay if you want to stay on a weekend. I wanted to go back to Austin on Monday so I didn't want to be too far away to get back there, but I did want to stay somewhere I hadn't before.
This turned out to be a really nice little campground. It's quite small - only 25 camping spaces available (10 others were closed) plus 10 small cabins. I was surprised that at least half the cabins had been taken, and also surprised that only about half the campsites were being used. The crowd might have been heavier but the rain probably kept some away. It started Friday night and continued for much of the day Saturday, at times quite heavy.
That rain meant heavy cloud cover, which meant it was impossible for me to get a look at the Jupiter conjunction with Saturn - the Christmas Star - that started Thursday or Friday. Look an hour after sunset, we'd been told, but you could see from my photo yesterday that the clouds were clogging my view of the sky. What's more, thick trees everywhere but in the lake clogged the view. So I missed my chance both Friday and Saturday evenings.
The lake we were camped on, non-surprisingly named Lake Fort Parker, was pretty good sized and had an active wildlife population. I know because they were vocal. We especially heard them when we walked early in the morning - loud frogs on our side of the lake and loud ducks on the other side. The ducks especially yakked nonstop when we were out, and I wondered if they'd chattered all night long. We couldn't hear them much inside the RV, but the folks camped in tents surely could.
Among those in tents was a father with 2 young boys, who were all sharing a tent right by the lake. I saw them fishing off the little pier near their campsite and doing other camping-type things. Then I didn't see them at all on Saturday during the heavy rain and figured they were basically trapped in their tent. Very early Sunday morning when the dogs and I were out, I saw the father and one of the boys coming back from the nearby restroom. I'm guessing that's a camping trip the boys will never forget, and I wondered what they thought of the ducks and frogs carrying on like they were.
I'm not sure how much I'd like this campground during the heavy summer use period, but at this time of year it was really pleasant for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment