Camping at Martin Dies Jr. State Park - Easter Weekend 2012 - Day 3

We all woke up bright and early Sunday morning. 

Connor and I made a quick pit stop by the restroom and then headed over to check out the Wildlife Trail.  We took the foot bridge we remembered from our last visit over to the island.

We took our time admiring the view by the light of the early morning sun.

We made our way over to the big wooden bridge and said hello to some early morning fishermen.

 We continued on to the head of the trail, stopping for one last look at the reflections on the perfectly still water.

As we started down the trail I warned Connor to stay in the middle and to stay out of the poison ivy that dominated the sides of the trail.

Despite a generous coating of bug spray we were all already spotting a smattering of lovely red dots that I might have otherwise worried looked like we had the chicken pox. 

Connor was an awesome hiking companion.  We had a lovely peaceful stroll through the woods.  He stayed right with me and chatted like a little magpie.  No need to worry about the bright red markers indicating the hunting boundary.  If there were any animals in sight our chattering would have long warned them we were coming.  :) 

When we got back Kevin had just started the bacon, and whipped us up some eggs and buttered toast on the grill.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.

Afterwards Randy, Diana, Luke, the boys and I took the boat up one of the little channels into the Neches river. 

We followed the river for a ways and stopped to check out a little off shoot cove area before heading back.  The path we took followed along one side of the paddling trails that I had considered taking before we headed out.  I was glad to have seen both areas and my arms were glad to have seen both without all the paddling - particularly against any possible current.  :)

After we had explored the river for several miles we headed back to lake and Randy took the boat around the island that Kevin and I had paddled as well so Diana and Luke could see the swamp.  And thankfully no alligators this go around.  :)  We got back to camp just as Mike, Lisa, and the boys were paddling back up to the site.  They had just gotten back from the same trip around the island in a pair of canoes. 

We spent the better part of the rest of the morning packing up the campsite, having lunch, and returning the canoes.  Afterwards Randy & Diana, and Lisa & Mike headed out.  We spent a few minutes enjoying the peace and quiet from my practically neglected hammock.  When I got up to get a drink Connor made himself right at home.

I eventually kicked him out and he joined Kevin and Ryan on the picnic table.

After a few minutes rest I untied the hammock, and rolled it up to be packed away in the car.  The boys were tired, but weren't ready to go by any stretch of the imagination.

We had promised them that we would do the short .8 mile Island trail before heading out.

They perked right up and were off to the races.

The snacks and juice might have had something to do with that.  :)

When we finished the loop we wandered out to the big wooden bridge for one last look around.

Like last time it was the perfect view point to see the alligators.  Or at least this little one anyways.  The boys passed out in the car practically the second they were strapped in and we started moving.  It was a shame because on the way out of the park they missed a sighting of the Easter Bunny.

We saw him for just a split second before he hopped back off into the woods.  :)



What a way to end a perfect Easter Weekend.  ;)

Camping at Martin Dies Jr. State Park - Easter Weekend 2012 - Day 2

As usual Ryan woke up before the crack of dawn on Saturday morning (about 6:45am).  He and Kevin got up and went down to the boat and did a little fishing.  Connor got up and crawled into bed with me and we snuggled and went back to sleep until almost 9am.  :)  Remind me why Connor couldn't be an only child again?? :)

While they were fishing Ryan caught a small bass.

Not long after we got up Randy, Diana, and Luke ventured out, too.  After a quick breakfast they took the boat out to do a little fishing taking Connor along this time while Ryan and I went up to take a shower.

Connor caught a crappie.

When they got back we got the boys dressed in their "Easter outfits."  I had hoped to get a good picture of them "dressed up."  And before they rolled around in the dirt or otherwise got filthy.  :)  Unfortunately they had other ideas...

I am afraid this was as good as it got.  :)

At least they were both looking at the camera and smiling!  And just in the nick of time - as Kevin got back from his shower and it was time to head over to Uncle Charlie's.

Lisa, Mike, Jeremy, Cameron and one of Cameron's friends followed us back to spend Saturday night at the park with us.  We totally lucked out as the people in the site right next to us packed up and headed out while we were at Charlie's.  So while they unloaded their truck and set up their tents we took the boys out in the canoe.

We took them on the same trek around the island as Kevin and I had made the day before.  Though we turned around past the first bridge and headed back the way we had come instead of taking the longer trek around having to paddle against the wind especially as the sun was heading quickly towards to the horizon.

Ryan took our admonishments to sit down and do not move VERY seriously.  He never budged so much as an inch without us telling him to do so.  He did NOT want to tip the boat.  :)  And he was terrified that the alligators were going to eat him.  In hindsight maybe he wasn't so far off... :)

In fact it made him VERY nervous when Connor turned around and crawled under the next bar to sit next to me.

In the swampy area we saw and heard several fish jumping.  We even saw a fairly large alligator gar jump near the canoe.  We listened to the sounds coming from the bullfrogs and tried to repeat it ourselves without much luck.  Then as I watched some bubbles near the front end of the boat I asked Kevin if he knew what made them.  We had seen similar bubbles surface near our canoe several times the night before.  I laughed and said it was probably alligators.

The bubbles continued and even more bubbles came up as we got closer to them.  Then just as we coasted over the top of the bubbles we heard a GIANT splash just off to our left.  I looked up just in time to see the end of an alligators tail splash violently into the water about 6 feet off to our left.  When Kevin heard the splash behind him he turned turned to our right just in time to see part of the alligators head.  The alligator was UNDER our canoe.  And by our best guess it was AT LEAST 10 feet long if not bigger... Needless to say we probably startled him and he DEFINITELY startled us.  We sat perfectly still and quiet for a few seconds afterwards just coasting in the water.  When the alligator didn't pop back up or attack our boat in some made for a horror story scene I nervously laughed and put on my best fake "WOW voice!" and gushed about how "cool" it was that we got to see that "GIANT Alligator GAR!!"  "He must have been chasing one of those baby catfish!"  Uh, huh... Sure...  We continued on nervously keeping an eye on the water and looking for any more bubbles.  

Luckily the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.  We found the bridge, made scary sounds and heard them echo back, and then turned around to head back.  As we neared the area with the giant gator we tread carefully nervously keeping an eye out for any movement at all. 

When we got back to camp we told everyone about the GIANT ALLIGATOR GAR without the G-A-R that we had seen on our trip.  The boys happily retold the story just as I told them.  :)

While the guys started a fire to cook the hotdogs Connor ran around with this pine branch on his head claiming to be a unicorn.  Yeah, I don't know either.  Just smile and nod.  :)

After the hotdogs and smores as the boys were running back and forth between campsites I broke out the glow sticks and gave them to the boys.  The bracelets are just a tad too big for the boys' wrists and they kept sliding off so I took some and put them around Connor's ankles instead.  Then we put a necklace around his waist.  He looked so cool when he was running in the dark.  All you could see were the glow sticks.  I tried to get Ryan to let me put the same thing on him, but he wanted no part of it.  But after everyone told Connor how cool he was Ryan changed his tune and wanted to be decked out just like Connor. 

It turned out to be a good thing we did, too as it was the only way we could keep track of them as they chased the older kids on their bicycles. The bigger kids put them on their ankles and wrapped them in the spokes of their bicycles.  It made them much easier to see at night.  I will have to keep that in mind if we ever make it to the midnight bike ride.  :)  The boys liked the glow sticks so much they insisted that they wear them to bed.  So we changed them into their jammies and put the glow sticks back on.  Luckily the blankets masked the glow so it was relatively dark in our tent and didn't keep anyone awake.  :) 

Not that there would have been anyone to keep awake except me as Kevin and Randy went out for more night fishing and I was so exhausted that I practically passed out the second my head hit the pillow. 

Camping at Martin Dies Jr. State Park - Easter 2012

On the way home from Kevin's families' Easter get together last year we made a detour to Martin Dies Jr. State Park on our way home.  It was a beautiful park we wanted to explore more, so this year we decided to head up on Good Friday and spend the weekend camping at the park.  Kevin's brother Randy and his wife joined us along with their grandson Luke.

We lucked out and got a beautiful spot right on the water.

There was plenty of room for Randy & Diana's motorhome.  Though the one-way street and winding, curvy road they would have to take to pull it out of here was a bit questionable.  :)

There was also a great flat shady area for us to pitch our tent.

A perfect landing area for the canoe with a convenient step to get out on.  Or so I thought... Kevin might not quite agree in hindsight, but more on our canoeing escapades later.... :)

There was even a perfect protected spot to pull up the boat under the shade of a tree where you could just step up and walk right on.

We really couldn't have gotten more lucky. We lucked out in the canoe department, too.  We got the last available canoe on our side of the park for the long weekend.  While the boys napped, and Diana kept an ear out for them Kevin and I paddled the boat over from the launch to our campsite. 

With an hour or more remaining of their nap Kevin and I headed out for a short paddle on the still glassy water. 

We paddled along the shoreline enjoying the views of the cypress tress and a thicket of lily pads. Before long we made our way into the slough on the adjacent side of the island.

The slough narrowed and the cypress trees spread across all the open water. 

About that time we decided we had better head back to get back before the boys woke up.  A quick check of the map however showed that we were about half way around the island and it was just as short to continue on as it would be to turn back, or so we thought...  So we continued on into the growing swamp alive with a cacophony of birds and bullfrogs making their presence known. 

Along the first half of our tour we had seen several people fishing from the banks and had passed 2 or 3 other canoers out for a paddle.  As we ventured further into the swamp and the sun headed further south we saw no one.  No signs of civilization what-so-ever.  It was about then that we silently started wondering if we would ever find our way back.  Or maybe that was just me.  Apparently Kevin's only doubts were that I could read a map that there was indeed a path that went somewhere... I assured him that there had to be a bridge ahead, and surely it would come into view any moment.  And I was right.  We eventually heard the rattle of traffic across the bridge long before we could make it out in the distance.  Re-assured we continued on and before long the giant wooden bridge we had visited on our first trip to the park came into sight.  The one where we saw dozens of alligators.  Out in the exact water we were now paddling.  :)

We continued on and made our way out into the more open unprotected waters, eventually past the fishing pier and finally the boat ramp where we had put in initially.  I had been telling Kevin for a while that the boat ramp had to be just ahead and that we would surely see it any minute.  I think he was beginning to doubt I had any idea where we were.  :)  So we continued to paddle against the wind, a little desperately knowing that the boys should be waking up at any moment and that we still had a 10-15 minute paddle back to our campsite.  And indeed by the time we got back Ryan had been up for 10-15 minutes.  Luckily Connor was still sleeping. 

Once we got back I hopped out for the second time of the afternoon using the handy tree and root bridge.  And then I went to "help" Kevin out by pulling the boat up on the shore a little more to help stabilize it and make it to where he could reach the tree.  And "help" him out I did.  Right into the water.  :)

Needless to say between his yelling, and splashing around everyone in the campsite knew we were back.  Ryan and Diana came running over to see what had happened.  Probably envisioning Randy or Luke having fallen in and drowning or being attacked by alligators. :)  Kevin, now standing up in the water promptly told them that I "THREW HIM IN THE LAKE!!"  And by that point I was practically doubled over with laughter.  I couldn't stop laughing long enough to even begin to tell them what had really happened.  :)  Luckily after he dried off a bit even Kevin had a hard time keeping a straight face about the accident.

With a few hours of daylight left Randy, Luke, Kevin, and Ryan went out to do a little fishing.  Connor who had just woken up and I wandered down the shoreline a ways to see if we could see them.

We could hear them for a while, but never did see them so we returned to camp to wait for them to get back.

 We finally gave up and got in the car and headed over to the other camp ground area to check it out.

We made it to the pier just before sunset.  The views were spectacular.

We watched the sunset and headed back to the campsite.  The boat had come back and they had started a fire for dinner. 

Randy cooked everyone hamburgers.  After we polished them off we broke out the roasters and the smores for a final treat before bedtime. 

Kevin and Randy headed off to do some more night fishing while I put the boys to bed.  I enjoyed the remnants of the fire and the soft light of the full moon for a while before finally heading off to bed myself.