Planning the Future - Part 3

Garner State Park is the busiest park in Texas.  There are over 500 camp sites.  The Frio River runs through the middle of the park.  This area is absolutely beautiful!  We took a hike while we were here.

 

They weren't kidding, this hike was straight up!! (and straight down on the other side)

 The views from the top were worth the hike.

 The beautiful, clear, Frio River runs through the park.

We’ll be leaving soon for Colorado.  I don’t know if we will be visiting any more parks before then. 

 We’ve got lots of things planned for the next several months.  Stay tuned to find out which parks we have chosen to volunteer at.

 Teri

Planning the Future - Part 2

We headed out to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area.  

 The "Rock" is 640 acres and 425' tall, pink granite.

We met with the volunteer coordinator (who is also the law enforcement officer).  She was kind enough to take us out to the volunteer area.  This park has three RV pads for volunteers.  There are no public RV sites, only primitive camping/backpacking is allowed.   This park also allows technical rock climbing.  We’ve been to this park many times and have camped here also.  We think this would be a fun park to volunteer at.

Since we were here on a week day, the park wasn’t very crowded.  There were lots of wildflowers blooming and lots of critters to take pictures of. 

Texas Bluebonnet 

Bladderpod ssp 

Bordered Patch 

Gray Hairstreak 

Texas Earless Lizard

Tomorrow: Garner State Park

Teri

Planning the future - Part 1

While we’ve been home the last couple of weeks we have visited several state parks in the area for possible future volunteer adventures.  For now we want to be in Texas during the winter months.  We’ve spent three winters in South Texas (Santa Ana 1 year, Laguna Atascosa 2 years).  This coming year we want something a little different.

There are many, many, many state parks in the Texas Hill Country!  Mark and I both grew up in Austin and have visited these parks several times, some of them even before they were designated a state park.

I always thought it was strange to meet a volunteer in an area and find out they lived close to the area they were volunteering at.  Now, I understand it completely.  We bought our little place in Medina in the Hill Country and love it.  So, why not volunteer close to a place that you absolutely love? 

We don’t need or ask for much from our volunteer assignments but there are a few essentials.  Cell phone coverage and internet are must haves.  Not having to drive over an hour to go to the grocery store is a bonus but not a deal breaker.

Our first stop was Inks Lake State Park.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of this beautiful park.  The pictures below are off the internet.

 

 Inks Lake SP is the second busiest park in the Texas Parks and Wildlife system.  We stopped in to say to Hi to the volunteer coordinator.  We knew him from when he was working at LBJ state park the same time we were volunteers there.  We thought we would just drop in for a minute but he loaded us up in his truck and drove us all over the park. 

There are lots of things to do here.  Camping, backpacking, hiking, swimming, boating, water skiing, scuba diving, fishing.  The lake stays at a constant level so the drought does not affect it.  There are tours and guided activities, nature walks, geology hikes, canoe tours to the Devil’s Waterhole.  The park has paddle boats, canoes, and 1-2 person kayaks.  There are about 350 RV/tent sites and 22 rental cabins.  There is also a huge volunteer program here with 22 RV pads, a very active Friends group and the local Master Naturalist group. 

Cabins for rent

 

Devil's Sinkhole swimming area

Tomorrow:  Enchanted Rock State Natural Area.

3 More Afghans Donated

Here are a few more afghans that I finished while we were at Laguna.  I have left them with my mother-in-law for her to donate at her next Linus meeting.

 Sweet Dreams

 Basket weave

 Basket weave - closeup

 Bavarian Wheel

Bavarian Wheel - closeup

I've got three very large tubs of yarn loaded up in the RV and ready for our next trip!

Teri

My, What Longs Ears You Have...

While enjoying a nice Spring day here in Medina, one of the local Black-tailed Jackrabbits came hopping by.     My practice with birds-in-flight paid off with this guy!

Finally stopped for a little rest. Nice ears!!

Mark

Spring has Sprung!

We are spending a few weeks at our home in Medina before we head back to Colorado.  The wildflowers are starting to bloom here in the Texas Hill Country and we've seen plenty of butterflies as well.  But when I heard a familiar call, I knew to go out and look for a Summer Tanager.  Sure enough, he was visiting our birdbath and exploring the Live Oaks.

Summer Tanager -- male

Mark

Belize - Day 6

This was our last day at Chan Chich Lodge in Gallon Jug, Belize. From there we flew to Ambrigris Caye with a side trip to Crooked Tree.  I'll save that part of our trip for another time.

Teri

2/19/2005 (Saturday) – We slept in until 7:15 and then had breakfast. We got ourselves packed up and then decided to take a final walk down the road to the bridge. Saturday is apparently re-supply day as there were several loaded trucks on the road. The birds were quiet and we saw fewer than on previous mornings. We did see a White-eyed Vireo, and then as we neared the lodge a trio of noisy Masked Tityra perched overhead.

While waiting on the porch of the Looter’s Trench Bar to leave, our driver/guide Luis pointed out a pair of Ornate Hawk-Eagles circling high in the sky. He then spotted a much lower Black Hawk-Eagle. The single Black Hawk-Eagle had very broad wings and a long banded tail. Near the airport we saw Northern Rough-winged Swallows and a Vermillion Flycatcher.

From the sky Wally reappeared in the trusty Cessna 172. We took off toward Ambergris Caye, again crossing miles of forest and then a large area of swamps and lagoons. Wally pointed out a large and beautiful Mayan ruin near the coast. We crossed a short stretch of blue ocean, then landed at San Pedro Airport. The airport was little more than a paved strip with a small terminal building.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of our pictures from Belize.  In looking back at our photos and journal, I realized that we really didn't take very many pictures.  We had good digital cameras but certainly not as good as we have now.  Hopefully we can get back there some day.

Teri