Our Wilderness Adventure

Most people would never peg me for an outdoor kind of girl. To be fair, I'd never call myself that either. But then, there were a dozen summers spent outdoors sweating in the heat, in what I'd call my favorite season for most of my childhood. And, my absolute favorite part of my 6-week trip to Israel when I was 16-years-old was camping in the Negev Desert for several nights - sleeping in a sleeping bag directly on the sand, popping a squat and burning toilet paper in a ditch, and enjoying the calmness of the night sky in the middle of nowhere. My allergies are usually so awful they prevent me from enjoying the outdoors, but if I can get past that, I do really enjoy being outside. Okay, and if you take away the mosquitoes and ants. So, minus those very annoying problems, maybe I'm more of an outdoorsy person than I realized.

This weekend, we took advantage of unused snow days and enjoyed a long weekend away from work and school. I planned a trip to keep our boys occupied and to make memories as a family. We began our trip Saturday morning by heading to Fort Worth to visit the Science & History Museum there. That was a hit! And, the boys also enjoyed the Noble Planetarium - but not as much as Sam did! (He's an astronomy guru!) Then, we drove to Meridian State Park to camp out for one night there. We checked in, set up our campsite, and ventured off on a hike to explore the area. Then, we started our dinner prep; Sam made burgers and dogs and corn on the cob, then we roasted marshmallows for our Matzah S'mores. (Passover started Friday night.) The big boys enjoyed hanging out with Daddy at our campfire while I tried to get Knox to sleep. That took a while in our tent - as he kept waiting to see the stars which never really shined brightly enough for him to see that early in the night. Other than the irritating bird calls that continued throughout the night, the night was pretty smooth. At 1:15am or so, Knox woke me up, starring me in the face with one statement: "I LIKE YOU!" to which I replied, "I like you too; now go back to sleep!"

The next morning, Sam made us eggs and (turkey) bacon for breakfast.  Then, we packed up our camp and drove to Glen Rose to explore Dinosaur Valley State Park. The boys wanted to get in the water for a little bit. The water was a little too high to see the tracks, but we did get a good view of one of them! We hiked around there more after a lunch break at Dairy Queen, then headed to Fossil Rim to settle there for the night.

We were in two cabins (Wolf and Rhino), and while they were very small, they were very cozy and luxurious compared to the campsite we had come from! My favorite part of the Safari Cabins there is how many animals we got to see from our cabins. Lots of deer, antelope, a crane, etc. It was beautiful, and the weather was perfect (as it was all weekend!). As part of our stay, we got to go on a self-guided tour through their wildlife center. Because we had two cabins, we got to go twice! So, we went once on Sunday late afternoon, and again Monday morning. After our first tour through the park, we ate dinner at Big Cup Eatery - which has "the biggest biscuits in the world." Banner and I just HAD to see this, so we ordered one for each of us. . . . as I COMPLETELY forgot it's Passover. Whoops! It wasn't amazing, but it was good. Well, Banner thought it was better than I did - and at one point even said, "I'm sorry. I know this is not good manners, but I just have to," and then he put his whole face into the biscuit to get a big 'ol bite! Then we headed back to our cabins for the night - took a good, much needed shower, and then walked around the cabin area for a little while before saying goodnight.

Monday morning, we had a tasty breakfast at the cabin area. Then, we got to go on our second tour in the park. The morning time was definitely better as far as seeing more animals out and about. We enjoyed the gorgeous views of so much green land, the waves of grass in the wind, the scampering of animals all over. One of my favorite parts, though, was holding Knox on my lap - yes, in the front seat - with the windows down. He was enjoying the breeze, pointing to the animals, feeding them their little pellets, and melting into my lap.

The whole trip was definitely a good way to get out of our normal routine, enjoy some time together, and forget the stressors of everyday life. So, while I'd never really say I LOVE the outdoors, I really did enjoy getting away and spending some time in nature with these little critters I love so much! I honestly can't wait to go camping with them again.