Road Trip 2016: Palmetto Day 1

This is what summer should feel like - camping out under the stars at a state park, roasting marshmallows over a campfire, the smell of sunscreen and insect repellent, room to run wild and explore nature, and of course a dip in a lake.

After three days exploring Houston, I was glad to get out of the city and the crowds. Palmetto State Park has lovely camping sites with plenty of shade. It was hot! 103 F (39.4 C) during the heat of the day, 92 F (33.3 C) at 10 pm, and overnight lows of 86 F (30 C). We were happy to unload the car, set up camp, play a few games of badminton & frisbee, and take a dip in the lake.

The boys LOVED the lake!!! It was so much fun watching them jump off the dock and the floating dock. D and I even gave it a try. Boogs, J2, and J3 decided to start calling themselves "the scavengers". Every time they got ready to leap into the water, they would yell, "3-2-1 SCAVENGERS!!!" It was funny watching them. The water was as warm as bath water, but it still felt cooler than not being in the water.

I like to have a noodle or some other kind of float when I am in the water. The boys kept trying to take my floats. D showed off how she can float for two hours with minimal effort. We kept yelling at the boys to stay above the water. Jumping in was fine but we did not want them swimming underwater where we could not see them. It was a murky, brown lake and you could not see more than a couple of inches below the surface.

On the way back from our swim, the park host, Dale, stopped the boys to chat with them. The boys enjoyed trying to answer his questions about wildlife and the state symbols of Texas. We had to really think to remember the official fruit of Texas - ruby red grapefruit.  Dale had a wild pig skull he found  to show them. Of course the boys had to pose with it. Ewww!

 

Dale asked, "Did you boys ever think you would be able to put your finger where a pig's brain used to be?" It was an interesting encounter with Dale.

We headed back to camp, changed out of our swimsuits, and got the campfire going.

Really, you can't go camping without roasting hot dogs and s'mores on a camp fire. We forgot our roasting skewers so we had to improvise with bamboo skewers taped together with Gorilla tape to make them long enough for the boys to stay away from the flames. We were all exhausted after our long day. I think we climbed into the tents at 11pm.

This post is linked to:
Country Kids from Coombe Mill