Two days after Christmas, and five days before our 23rd anniversary, we took our RV down to Mother Neff State Park for four days.
Mother Neff State Park (MNSP) is in Moody, Texas about 30 miles SW of Waco. It's the oldest and one of the smallest of the Texas State Parks. The land for the park was donated by Mrs. Neff who was the mother of the then governor of Texas. It was the first Texas state park. Now there are over 90 (i tried to find out the exact number but no one said anything more specific than "more than 90".)
It was our coldest trip in our RV yet. The temperature got down to one degree above freezing for at least two nights. And the day time temps weren’t much warmer.
Despite the park's small size, frigid temps, and battles with headaches and allergies, we still had a fun time.
There isn't much growing here at this time of year, but I took a lot of pictures anyway!
The low light and stark contrasts among the trees made it difficult to get good photos sometimes. Here I tried my hand at using manual focus and a slow speed: 1/15 sec. f/9 18mm ISO 200. I don't know enough photography to know why f/9 was the right f-stop here. But it seemed to work. I also did a little editing later. I increased the light a little and decreased the contrast. I don't remember how much. I wish my photo editing program saved that info.
There has been a lot of rain lately so all the streams were happily streaming!
The "Washpond" One of the special destinations in the park. It's too full of algae for swimming or washing things in it now. But it used to be a favorite place for both.
The Washpond reflecting the sky and trees opposite.
John, next to the Washpond.
There were very few flowers but this end of a dead tree trunk looks almost floral.
A lady offered to take our photo at this "table" made in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Core.
John at the Cave, another special geological feature of the park. It is quite impressive. We went back again on Sunday when there were fewer people and the lighting more conducive to taking photos.
Is it a moth or a butterfly? I would guess a moth given its large fuzzy body. It was so still for such a long time that I wondered if it was dead. But it started up as we walked away so I guess it was just dozing.
Above the trees in the Rock Tower, also made by the CCC in the 1930s.
A very impressive bird blind. The birds unfortunately didn't cooperate.
interesting rock
Even this dead tree looked pretty.
Clumps of Mistletoe in the trees. John made sure we took advantage of them ;-)
A close up of the Mistletoe with its waxy white berries.
In lieu of flowers I took several moss and lichen photos.
These bright little red leaves really stood out on the mostly colorless ground on a bleak cold day. The heart shape seemed appropriate given that it was the day before our anniversary.
I was impressed with the bathrooms. They were definitely the prettiest and cleanest in the Texas state parks we've been to so far.
The showers were also very well designed and appointed.
John at the cave again on Sunday. We had the place to ourselves. The weather was too cold and damp to sit and enjoy the view for long. But at least the overcast sky made photographing easier.
John doing his Atlas impression.
I only needed one hand!
According to the informational placard at the cave: It's called Tonkawa Cave after a well-known tribe that once lived in central Texas. No one knows if they actually lived in this cave. But in the 1930s when the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) excavated the site they found "stone projectile points" [aka: arrowheads] and other tools used to hunt and prepare wild game.
This rock reminded me of an island with miniature gardens tucked into its cracks and crevices.
More moss and lichens.
Friday afternoon we went exploring. We drove our Honda to Lake Belton, a large lake about 20 miles south of MNSP. My AllTrails app found hiking trails we wanted to explore in Miller Spring Park on the other side of the Lake Belton dam.
There was also a town called Morgan's Point Resort next to the lake that I wanted to see that was on the way. Before our trip I saw it on the map and was curious so Googled it and found an old promotional video from the 1960s on YouTube. The narrator called it the "Switzerland of Texas." The
little we saw was reasonably pretty. But I think he was exaggerating a little-- not that I've ever been to Switzerland.
By the time we found where the trails were it was getting dark.
I was feeling hungry and suggested we try a restaurant I had noticed while we were searching for the trails. John seemed to need some convincing. Maybe it was the inauspicious name of the place: Dead Fish Grill. I finally convinced him to humor me and check it out. It was a really nice surprise for us both.
Dead Fish Grill is a delightful mix of elegant, classy and casual. There was still enough light outside to enjoy the beautiful lakeside view when we first arrived and the interior with its polished hardwood floors, fire place and Christmas tree gave a cosy ambience after the sun went down.
Our server was friendly and helpful with my gluten problems. I got grilled catfish and shrimp with coleslaw and a "loaded" baked potato. The catfish was so delicious! It didn't need any tartar sauce. Everything else was also excellent. John seemed to enjoy his fish and chips too. I think they even brought him vinegar when he asked for it.
It was a delightful way to celebrate
23 years (a few days early)!
Ducks on Lake Belton at the Morgan's Point Resort marina
Today I read a blog post about worry and anxiety. In it the author described a series of events that led up to her having had her first panic attack this Thanksgiving. She shared how she was finally able to process the events that led to it and get on top of the anxiety that had built up. She had questions for reflection at the end of the article.
One of the questions was what stood out to me as I read her story. What stood out to me was how she sometimes seemed to take on burdens of anxiety that were not really her’s to bear, for example she was very anxious that one of her daughters would feel ashamed if they didn’t pass their driving test and the other one did. She was also getting caught up with all those pesky “what if” questions—“what if” this happens or “what if” that happens.
I sometimes do the same things. I’m trying to learn not to, but I worry sometimes over how my husband, mother, brother, Mom’s caregiver, to name a few, will feel if “x” does or doesn’t happen. I cannot control their feelings. I am responsible only for my actions not how they feel about them. I am certainly not responsible for their feelings about what someone else does or doesn’t do! Being anxious for others doesn’t help them and it can lead to me behaving in ways that are counter-productive.
I’m learning that it is best to ask them how they feel and not assume I know because of how I would feel in their situation. Asking gives them a chance to talk about it which really can be helpful if they are upset. Sometimes, I discover that my anxiety for them is, even more than usually, unnecessary because they aren’t even upset about the thing I thought they were.
Sunday, I found myself starting to feel anxious and upset for my husband because of a particular turn of events in a ministry he is newly involved in. I realized what I was doing, that I was taking on anxiety that wasn’t mine to bear, so I asked him how he felt about the situation and discovered he wasn’t upset at all. In fact, he was relieved! I’m thankful I asked before I got any more caught up in worry and catastrophizing on his behalf!
Worry really zaps my energy. After reading the article I realized that I was letting a whole lot of those pesky “what if” thoughts distract me from things that I needed to do today. Things that really are my responsibility and that I can do.
I’m thankful I was able realize it and derail the worry train so I could get on board the “glory train” of getting things done and having peace and joy again.
Caprock Canyon State Park, Oct 2, Tuesday, Day two 2018 vaca,
Tuesday morning, our first full day at Caprock Canyon, when I stepped outside I was surprised and amused to see these tell-tale signs of a nocturnal visitor--little paw prints on one of our lounge chairs and plastic bin/side table--
Maybe he could smell the scent from the grapes and cheese we enjoyed on our 'patio' Monday evening. He must have a good nose because we cleaned up every crumb and also had a citronella candle burning to keep the mosquitoes at bay.
We decided to hike the 2 mile Eagle Point Trail. Since it was rated moderately difficult, John, my kind (and fit) husband, drove our car and parked it near the trail-head at the other end to spare me the 4 mile round trip. Then he hiked back on the trail to our campsite.
We set out around 10:00 a.m.. We had a slow start as of course wehad to stop and take photos of the monarch butterflies and flowers along the side of the road before reaching the beginning of the trail.
The trail was not difficult at all. The only difficulty being to not spend all day photographing the beautiful and interesting things there were to see
A close up of the little purple flowers shown in the foreground of the above photo.
These white layers are calcium carbonate deposits, also called caliche.
According to Wikipedia calcium carbonate is the main component of pearls. You probably can’t tell from the photos, but that would explain why the pieces we picked up sparkled and shimmered in the light.
Caliche is a major part of what creates the huge spectacular scenery of
the canyon.
Close up of caliche crystals that were forming while they were buried under the dirt.
Here a large deposit of caliche has been carved out with water to create this pool.
Caliche resists erosion so it must have taken some time.
The water is so clear you can see all the way to the bottom.
A brochure said this was broken open from tourists standing on it. That's a shame but it is nice to be able to see inside.
We didn't see bison on this hike but we did see wildlife.
We saw a couple of lizards. This one is, I believe, an Eastern Collared Lizard. It was about 9-12 inches including the tail.
About halfway we stopped for a rest. While we were eating our snacks I noticed an insect that kept flying back to the same tiny hole in the ground (we were in the only part of the trail without a gorgeous view so the only thing to look at was the ground!) Each time it came back, it paused to peer in briefly and then it climbed down into the hole and disappeared. A few seconds later it came out again and quickly flew away. I wondered what it was doing and if it was taking anything into or out of the hole. After watching it several times I pointed it out to John. He took these, very zoomed in, photos to see. When it came out again it always flew away too quickly to get a photo. So he took this video as well. On looking at the video it appears to be carrying a clump of dirt in its “hands.” I'm guess it was digging the hole and didn't want to have a mound of dirt next to the hole to draw attention to it. Since it always came back very quickly, it seems like it must have just been dropping the dirt randomly rather than taking it to a particular place.
Here it is pausing to check before climbing in
Here is a very brief video of the little insect coming out of the hole holding what looks like a clump of dirt (the only way i could make the video play was to make a youtube video of it and include it here. Unfortunately being youtube it will then show you some other random video it thinks you might want to see next. It won't play it unless you click on it. If you want to see the insect video again you have to hit the refresh button.)
We reached the "natural bridge"at the end of the trail about two hours after starting--that included many stops to observe, take pictures, and occasionally rest.
John climbed down to the "bridge." The trail goes over the top of this. It was quite a climb to where he is here so i just got far enough to take this photo. We neither one felt like crawling through to the other side.
