Tyler State Park Camping, Hiking, Geocaching

Our time in Texas is beginning to grow short. This week we are headed to Covington to look for a new house, but last weekend we decided to attend a geocaching event at Tyler State Park and do some camping. 

Of course Pandora decided to hog the air mattress, but luckily she also added a little heat because it was quite cold during the nights, especially Friday, as it was misty and drizzling rain when we arrived. By mid evening it had cleared enough to go find a night cache! A night cache is usually along a trail and utilizes some form of fire tack. A reflective push pin that you can stick in a tree branch. When you shine a strong flashlight at it it will glow brightly. 

Saturday we woke up and had breakfast with friends then headed over to the main event which promised a lot of fun outdoor activities. We chose to go on a ranger led nature walk and had a great time. We saw a ton of deer near the end of the hike as well as ample evidence of the wild pig problem they have here. 

Overall it was a great weekend. After a rainy and chilly start the skies cleared and we had great 70 degree weather. Tyler State Park is a great place to camp. They have newly redone bath houses and the animal life in the park is diverse and plentiful. Well worth a visit and right off the I20 corridor. 

2013 Where Have You Gone?

So.... I am still alive, and I am still interested in continuing with this blog. But I hit a roadblock this year that made it hard to motivate myself to sit down and write anything. Work has been really rewarding but also much busier than normal. That's a good thing, in the past I have become incredibly bored with my career. Back in school I had the same issue, if I didn't feel challenged I could not bring myself to do the tasks I needed to complete. Even to this day trying to get me to do something more than a few days before it is due is like pulling teeth. I do not consider myself a procrastinator, I just like to be challenged.

Caution: Do not wake ZSandmann

Geocaching is still very fun and important to me as my number one hobby, but I have found fewer caches this year than any since I started. I have attended many great events and hung out with my caching friends though. And a good event is more rewarding than a hundred park and grab caches. I'll certainly up my numbers some when we go home for Christmas and with our impending move... More on that in a minute.

I made my 6,000th Geocache "Find" at the Texas Challenge

My biggest regret in terms of geocaching this year is that I didn't get to explore more places in Texas. It's a massive state and our three years here just have not been nearly enough to see all that there is to see. We are going to try and make a trip to El Paso over Thanksgiving, and if we get our passports in time we might even jump over to Mexico just to say we did. The passports are for a cruise we have planned in February for our ten year wedding anniversary. Ten years!  That's just awesome to me.

Pandora: No context to this post, but... this picture, ha!

Ok, so the move huh? I've been transferred to Covington, Louisiana effective January 1. We are excited and also a bit overwhelmed by the process. But in the end it will be great to be back closer to home. Hopefully there will be new adventures to blog about once we are there. Which leads me to my last point, I think I will try and open up this blog to more than geocaching. That gives me more ground to cover and I'll likely get more stories to tell. One such story is the antique dresser set we recently got from geocaching friends of ours. We've been stripping it and sanding and all the fun things to try and get them in shape for a place in our guest bedroom. When that project is completed I'll post it here.

GC62: Tombstone - The oldest active geocache in Texas. I found it earlier this year.

Until then, Cache On!

 

A Fairy hole or a geocache? You decide.

Caching Down to San Anton.....io

I've been working on two Geocaching challenges lately, one is the Texas County Challenge which is a long term goal and would be amazing to accomplish. To complete it you need to find a cache in all 254 counties which equates to several thousand miles of total driving I suspect. After this past weekend's trip I sit at 114 counties completed. The counties we visited this time were Val Verde, Edwards, Kinney, Real, Uvalde, Bandera, and Medina.

This is also the second year for the Texas State Parks Challenge which hides caches at most of the Texas State Parks and administrated areas. We visited Seminole Canyon and Garner State Parks, and Hill Country Preservation Area on this trip.

In Seminole we hiked the Rim Trail and the Windmill Trail which give great views of the canyon. Unfortunately our timetable did not allow us to stay for the ranger led tour of the pictographs but I would like to visit again for that experience. Seminole is not a large park in terms of the paved "tourist" area but with miles and miles of back country trails to the Rio Grande, it is worth the visit even in the remote location. It appeared to have very nice RV and tent pads.

I am told Garner State Park is best known for its access to the Frio River, and that in summer months it can be so busy that they actually close the gate to hold attendance to a certain number. Even on a cool winter day the river was very active with families fishing in the dam pools. We hiked up one of the cave trails and the terrain surprised me as it quickly becomes a matter of finding foot holds and climbing up steep limestone ledges. Which are also the reason for the great caves found in this area. They have a mountain (hill) named Baldy which looked like it would have one heck of a vista, we even saw tiny dots of hikers up there, but once again that is a hike for another day.

The last area was Hill Country Preservation Area. I was amazed at how large this area was and it is so tucked away that you really have to be looking for it to know it is there. But once you arrive, you find an area very much designed for both hikers and equestrians. The horse trails and ranch were very popular when we were there. Also even though we seemed fairly isolated when driving down the parks roads we arrived to a hiker parking lot with twenty cars in it! People were dressed in trail running outfits that looked as if they were in a city park for a short jog, but where could they be from? There are no large towns nearby so this secret seems to be out that Hill Country is a fantastic place for a day trip hike. There are also many back country camp sites and primitive sites for camping. One funny thing we noted in the area is that the locals seem to be trying to put a run on the local coyote population. We saw many fences decorated like the one below. A strange habit.

Sunday we took it a little more easy and visited the San Antonio Zoo. This was my first time and I was impressed by the presentation and condition of the facility, especially considering it will celebrated its 100th anniversary in March of 2014.

There is already construction under way for a large new area to celebrate the centennial but the rest of the park shows that they are constantly working to maintain and improve the living conditions of the animals and the way visitors interact with them. The animals seemed very happy in their enclosures and the staff was very helpful in interpreting the exhibits. I can't wait to visit again.

Fort Morgan "Gangnam" Style!

N 30° 14.150 W 087° 53.250

On October 6th my little brother got married in Alabama. So we packed our bags and flew home for the weekend. The weather was great for an early fall outdoor wedding. After the ceremony and celebrations my wife and I and a couple of our friends headed for Fort Morgan Beach in south Alabama. The weather was pretty good for the season all weekend, with just a cool northern breeze persisting most of the time. Our condo had a heated indoor pool luckily where we spent a good bit of time but we did indeed brave the Gulf waters. They were surprisingly warm compared to the air temperatures. One of the big memes of the summer has been the K-Pop song "Gangnam Style" by PSY. Since I spend way too much of my time on the Internets, I felt the need to recreate this video around our condo. Enjoy the photo collage.

Yes beer and Lunchables... Don't judge me!

Getting "down" on the trail

Don't drink the blue water

Tiny head is tiny

Gurgle Gurgle Style!

That. Is how I roll!

Couldn't get any other dancers. What's up with that?

Blue Bell Creameries - Brenham, Texas

N 30° 09.753 W 096° 22.708

We decided to attend a geocaching event in Brenham, Texas last weekend. It was planned as a fall gathering of the Texas Geocaching Association and sounded like a good excuse for a short road trip and a visit to Blue Bell. My wife and I both grew up with Blue Bell ice cream, but we had never visited its source.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The factory is located just outside of town and has fantastic saint augustine grass lawns (which we haven't seen since leaving Louisiana) and a nice little ice cream parlour attached to the museum and factory. A tour costs $5 a person but we get free ice cream at the end. No cameras (even cellphones) are allowed on the tour - trade secrets and such.

From wikipedia:

The Brenham Creamery Company opened for business in 1907 to purchase excess cream from local dairy farmers and sell butter to people in the Brenham, Texas, area. Beginning in 1911, the creamery began to also produce small quantities of ice cream. By 1919, the creamery was in financial trouble and considered closing its doors. The board of directors hired E.F. Kruse, a 23-year-old former schoolteacher, to take over the company on April 1, 1919. Kruse refused to accept a salary for his first few months in the position so that the company would not be placed in further debt. Under his leadership, the company expanded its production of ice cream to the local area and soon became profitable. At his suggestion, the company was renamed Blue Bell Creameries in 1930 after the Texas Bluebell, a wildflower that is native to Texas, which, like ice cream, thrives in summer. Until 1936, the creamery made ice cream by the batch. It could create a 10 gallon batch of ice cream every 20 minutes. In 1936 the company purchased its first continuous ice cream freezer, which could make 80 gallons of ice cream per hour.

We found it to be well worth the visit. The employees are happy and excited to talk about ice cream with you and are very knowledgeable. The parlour has about fifty flavors of ice cream and I am sure these rotate seasonally but there are many that are regional to certain areas like Rocky Mountain Road and limited release like Peach Cobbler.   



Pictured: Strawberry cheesecake and Krazy kookie dough. Eaten: Rocky Mountain road and Peach cobbler.

If you don't take the tour, or just want seconds, a large scoop is $1. Can't beat that. I discovered a flavor I've never tried before, Krazy Kookie Dough, which was awesome. It's a bit scary at first with brightly colored pieces, lots of food coloring I am sure. But the ice cream is cake batter and the cookie dough is sugar cookie, how can that not be amazing? I wish they just made the cake batter ice cream, I would eat way too much of it!


Blue Bell butterfly

One last thing to note. As we were heading down to Austin we took a wrong turn and ended up in Mason, Texas. I know there are some exposures of igneous rock in this region, but I had no idea that Mason is the type locality for Texas Topaz, the state gemstone. We also learned that for around $15 a day you can go to one of several ranches around town in non-deer season months and search for the stones in the local stream beds. This sounds like a LOT of fun and we are already planning a trip, maybe in March of next year!



"Milking" the cow



Summer is HOT, but Winter is Coming!

It's been a long while since I blogged. I blame the heat. It's been too hot to enjoy much of anything outside, geocaching, hiking, camping, you name it... The first cool "cold" front of the fall/winter season has encouraged me to post this blog. Hopefully more will be soon to follow. Thanks for checking back!

 Summer started off with a Geocaching Flash mob. I intended to make it duck themed but found out upon arrival that the park discourages feeding the ducks bread! Bummer, still a good time was had by all.

When we went home for the Fourth of July I saw the Mighty Mississippi at the lowest I have ever seen it. Sand bars were exposed that I've never seen, and the riverboat casino here in Vicksburg was completely beached!

 I said goodbye to my Toyota Tacoma "Blue" and got a 2012 Subaru Impreza Sport! Her name is Samantha, and she is a lot of fun to drive! I wish I could drive a stick though, a WRX would be even MORE fun!

 That's going to leave a mark!

 I seem to have moved from Phooning to Planking as my silly picture posture of choice. I blame the Internets! Here I am at the Buddy Holley Museum in Lubbock, TX

 This is Buddy's grave, pretty simple for a legend! In case you were wondering there are Virtual Caches at the museum and the grave site, no containers, so were very respectfully done. I honestly never would have come to this location without Geocaching.

 Ah Summer Mummers.... Beer through a straw, silly T-Shirt, and a popcorn bag crown. I don't even remember this being taken. Ha! SCIENCE!

 One of the few short trips we took. My In-laws came to visit so since Midland has nothing interesting to do I took a day off work and we went to Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks. A crazy-short trip but a lot of fun.

 Collaborate and Listen?

 "The night is dark and full of terrors" Ok that's two Game of Thrones quotes in this blog, I really need to get outside some more....

 My favorite Cavern formation. It went from being sexist "Breast of Venus" to racist "Chinese Hat" It speaks to me in some kind of way. I can't figure out why?

 I haven't seen a stick bug in forever! Here is one hanging out on the NPS sign at the Pine Springs Visitor Center in the Guadalupes.

It was very very hazy when we visited. The only hiking we did was a walk on the Butterfield Mail Stage Trail near Pine Springs. I would really love to come back and see McKittrick Canyon in the fall soon!

Tomorrow we leave for Brenham, TX for a Geocaching Event weekend. Look for a new post soon!

Taos Ski Valley - Memorial Day Weekend 2012

N 36° 33.411 W 105° 25.017

Last Memorial Day weekend we headed to Taos Ski Valley to try and summit Wheeler Peak. While we had a great time at Williams Lake we weren't able to make the climb because we were wiped out from hiking through knee to waist deep snow the whole way. As I started to plan a trip this year I learned that the Forest Service had constructed a new trail from Williams Lake to Wheeler Peak last summer and although still a difficult hike, it cut out the need to scramble up 2,000 feet of avalanche chutes full of loose stone like the old trail. With this new information I planned a two day trip with one night of camping at the lake bookended by nights at a Bed and Breakfast in the Ski Valley. I chose a new path to get us there that took us through Roswell, NM where I got my geek on at the UFO Museum. I just wish I had more time!

I come in Peace... Mohawk Man!

One thing I thought of when we arrived in Taos was that my wife had only ever seen the Rio Grande Gorge from a distance and we had never been out to the bridge together. There is a lot of construction going on out there so parking can be a bit troublesome. We also ran into hitchhikers and panhandlers before we even got out on the sidewalk. Once we were there we took in the great views, my wife wouldn't let go of me the whole time though. Every vehicle that goes across the bridge creates a vibration that you can feel from head to toe. We didn't see any rafters pass below us but it is easy to see how big the river is even when you are 700 ft above it.

Steph: "My Insides Feel Funny"

Sun Symbols are the NEW Hidden Mickeys!

The food, the food, the food! One thing I love about Taos is that there is a wide and varied assortment of food choices. Friday night we ate at Hattori a la Sushi in the Overland Sheepskin Co. building. We had an assortment of sushi rolls and some of the best seaweed salad and sesame chicken I've had anywhere. Despite being in a land-locked state the seafood was fresh and tasty. After our camping trip we ate lunch at The Bavarian in the Taos Ski Valley. We knew from last year to get the grilled chicken sandwiches with goat cheese and roasted red bell peppers, but the BEST thing was Diet Coke. We had fasted from sodas for the week leading up to the trip to try and get hydrated, also Midland soda tastes terrible! Lastly, Sunday night we ate at The Gorge Grill in Taos Plaza. I had never eaten at this restaurant before but when I looked at the menu on my iPhone I saw that they had an eclectic menu of New Mexican inspired food. We had fried green beans to start and I had a burger with green chilies and homemade lemon aioli. Steph had a Ceaser Salad but they forgot to put dressing on it at first, oops!

I'm Licking My Screen Right Now

Now on to the hike! We left our warm room at the Alpine Village after a power breakfast Saturday morning. We drove to the hiker's parking lot behind the Bavarian and began our trek up the road to the Williams Lake trail. The trail begins as a pretty steep dirt road, but quickly levels out once you enter the spruce forest. This year there was MUCH less snow, there were only a few places we got ankle to knee deep and Pandora had no problem getting through those places. There were also a lot more people on the trail, we met other hikers of all ages and their four legged friends. The best part of the hike were the meadows created in past avalanches where spring was coming late and everything was green and blooming. The weather was calm with a temperature of about 75F so we made good time to the lake.

Late Spring in the Meadow

A Bouldering Corgi?

Which Way Do I Go?

The lake this year had no ice on it, last year it was almost completely covered. We set up camp where we thought we would have a good wind break. I bought a new three-season tent just for this trip because I was afraid it may be cold at night. Boy was I right... After setting up we went to the southern shore of the lake to see the waterfall that feeds the lake, then Pandora chased marmots and chipmunks while we made a dinner of backpackers lasagna. About sunset the nice warm breezes became cold winds and we ran to the shelter of our tent. All night the wind blew, sometimes at least 60 mph or more. For the most part the tent did fantastic, but our sleeping bags need to be upgraded post haste, I think it must have gotten into the 20's with wind chill. It was a very cold night!

Looks Beautiful, But at Night... BEWARE!

Williams Lake Waterfall

Sunday morning we got up and out into the sun to try and warm up but the wind was still blowing making it difficult. We melted some snow for water and made breakfast. I had planned to hit the trail to Wheeler early but with the cold night we were slow to get moving. Steph was having trouble catching her breath so she elected to stay in camp while I went solo to the summit. The trail starts off with a decent climb through the forest with frequent switch backs. There was more snow here than on the other trail of course it was higher in elevation as well. Williams Lake is just over 11,000 ft and Wheeler is 13,161. You gain 2,000 feet of elevation in about .7 of a mile. As you break treeline you have two choices of path. The switch backs add more length to the hike but are far more gentle than the avalanche chutes that the old trail takes. I chose the chute at this point because the new trail was still snowed in here, it seems most people are taking the path of least resistance. After you rejoin the path you have about 700 more feet of elevation to gain through two wide switch backs and a final loop to the southeast around the summit. On a clear day the views of Horseshoe Lake and Williams Lake are spectacular but unfortunately the fires in the area made the visibility lower than desired. coming back down I got jelly legs, but overall I am glad I made the hike again.

Roads? Where We're Going We Don't Need Roads!

From Here Everyone at Williams Lake Look Like ANTS!