Texas is awesome.
Way, way more so than I had thought was going to be possible. We are
camping at the bottom of a canyon. A
CANYON. Real, gorgeous, reaching into
the sky in glorious reds, browns, whites, and greens kind of canyon. One of my jobs on the trip has been to find
our locations to stay. Hats off to the
internet and google reviews for your help in choosing locations. Our last site in Oklahoma was mildly
disappointing. One of those cases where “the
brochure made it look great!”, reality, not so much. It was nice for the two nights we stayed
there, water and electricity and bathrooms close by equal a decent spot. Sadly, there was nothing to inspire us to
stay around the campground and park. Two
nights was enough for us and we packed up yesterday morning to start our trek to the next spot,
Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas.
With the not
so great impression Oklahoma had left on me I really hoped that the images that
had aided my decision making process would be everything they claimed to
be. And holy bejeezus, it totally
is. We had to drive down, very slowly,
into the bottom of the canyon. A steep,
switchback trail that allowed us to be close to the canyon walls without feeling
like you were too close was the path we took to get to our campsite…in the
BOTTOM OF THE CANYON. I simply can’t get
over our location or the all encompassing beauty of this park. It is incredibly well laid out, thoughtfully
taken care of and the showers…oh, the showers!
I am a pretty easy going girl and I have certainly showered with my fair
share of spiders and stink but these showers have the absolute minimum of both
those things. And a water saver shower
head! Rock on State of Texas and your
amazing park!
We finally
arrived at a campsite when it wasn’t dark out…although, I shouldn’t say
finally, this is really only our fourth camping experience and each set up is
significantly better than the one before.
We learn from our mistakes and make adjustments so the next time we won’t
reach the same level of frustration as the time before. This journey is not always a piece of
cake. I believe there’s a mark twain
quote about how you will know whether or not you really love someone after you
have traveled with them. Wow. No
joke. There are tests that you never prepared
yourself for, or at least we maybe thought we had but the reality, again, very
different from what your expectations are.
Sometimes better, sometimes worse, all learning experiences.
That said, I LOVE my family. Love them.
Couldn’t do this without them and wouldn’t want to. Yesterday we took down the camper in the
morning and set it back up that night.
This is the second time doing this.
I want to say it took us just short of two hours to pack up (we are NOT
morning people and it takes time to get us all moving), but when we arrived at
Palo Duro we were set up in 30 minutes with just the organizational aspects
that we have implemented left to set up.
But first a hike!
How could you be in a place this
beautiful and not want to get out and be a part of it? The dogs needed a nice long walk from being
in the car all day and so did we. Something
to get us moving, our blood flowing, endorphins palpitating (or whatever the heck
it is that endorphins do) – we needed to absorb our environment. Dogs on leashes we headed out and found one
of the trails that had been pointed out to us by the super (and I mean SUPER)
helpful guy at the main office for the camp.
Our first choice in paths was far too wet and clay like for my sandal’s
capabilities and I redirected us to what turned out to be a drier and much more
upward section of trail. This turned out
to be an incredibly fun trail to take, especially with Miss Crumpets. She is so strong and explorative and HAPPY to
be dashing up clay covered hills and I was elated to be able to join her. My footing felt so solid and my momentum
secure. I didn’t slip once. The fact that I am strong enough and healthy
enough to revel in this experience has me glowing in perma-smile land – at least
today. Sometimes I’m a real grumpster…
The terrain around here is different
from anything I’ve ever been in. Wet and
dry and RED. So red. There seems to be a constant breeze carrying
coolness which we are highly grateful for whether we are inside or outside of the
camper. Today feels like a Sunday. Aydan is painting at the table, Andrew is
napping on the couch and I’ve got my laptop on my lap, sitting at the end of
the couch by my husband’s feet where I can observe all and feel a part of
it. A family day of rest and relaxation
and healing from some of the rather frantic endeavors we have undertaken. This is not entirely a trip of leisure. We have deadlines to meet and, when we get to
our destination on Vancouver Island, I have a baby to help deliver. I could not be more honored to have been
invited to be a part of this wondrous moment in the lives of people I hold so
very close to my heart. Leah and Adrien,
we are on our way and you had best be ready for coffee, and tea, and sequence
nights because that’s what we are going to do.
As often as we can.
This is the end of my rant for the
moment. No pictures. Not even in order of events as they
happened. But it was just time to share…something. But we must find a location where i can use wi-fi - right now the left hand corner of my phone says "no service" but I suppose, when writing from a canyon that's what I would expect.
PS: Obviously we found a wi-fi spot, a coffee shop kind of coffee shop in canyon Texas, Palace Coffee Company. And the coffee is...good. Sigh of happiness kind of good. I love a Sidamo for coffee and this one is bright and berry like and exactly what I would hope for in a cup of coffee. Life. Is. Good.
No comments:
Post a Comment