We’ve been stuck at home so long that I thought it might be worth trying to find an outing for the family. Luckily, the state parks have opened back up and they graciously extended the annual state park pass expiration since we weren’t able to use them for so many weeks. There were limits to entry though, so we booked Memorial Day in advance and hoped for good weather!
I picked Stephen F Austin because it was close to home and supposedly had some decent bike trails. Unfortunately, the rest of the weekend was rainy and there was a warning on the park’s website that some trails would be closed due to mud. Sounds like biking would be out, but no harm in just hiking around on foot. It was still something to do!
Boy were the kids happy to be out of the house! And there were new trails to explore besides the ones we have been walking over and over near home. The park was pretty empty, so we even let the youngest down to run around like a crazy toddler.
Except she kept randomly stopping and bending over. It took us a while to realize what she was doing because she was taking off when we caught up to her. Turns out she was just taking a chance to spit on the trail?!? Why?? I’ve not seen the boys doing this, so I have no idea where she got the idea…
Luckily we convinced her that was yucky and to knock it off. Would have been an adorable photo of her too if she wasn’t being a spit monster. ;)
Once she was done lagging behind to spit on the trail, she was no longer happy with being behind her brothers and was yelling at them if they got to far ahead. Henry decided she would be happier if she could hold his hand. And he was right! :)
We finally made it down to the Brazos overlook! The river looked nice and full thanks to all the extra rainfall. It was a pretty small overlook, so we didn’t stay long. The park was fairly empty, but there were other people and no one wanted to be too close to anyone else!
Poor Thomas was trying so hard to keep his new sneakers from getting muddy. He tried the other side on the first passing of this muddy spot, but slipped around enough he was hoping this side would be better. (It really wasn’t!)
They are trail/hiking sneakers, so I am pretty sure they can handle a little mud. ;)
Such a happy girl to be getting out of the house. She mostly did all of the walking herself, just needed a little bit of carrying towards the end (and whenever we were passing other people - she wasn’t great at social distancing).
Despite the complaints that they were getting hot and sweaty, I think the boys had fun too! We had a quick snack of cookies under the shade of the trees before heading back to the car. If I planned ahead a little better we could have had a full picnic, but throwing snack packs of cookies was the best I could do. ;)
As a side note, we tried to have a snack earlier at campsite table next to the hiking trail and got lectured by a park host about not using campsites we didn’t reserve. Apparently the fact that the park was completely closed to camping didn’t make a difference that “Rules are rules!” The next time it might be reserved and we might assumed that using someone else’s table was acceptable if they don’t enforce those rules now.
Eyeroll…
Other than the over-powerful camp host in a golf cart, it was a great time out in the world and definitely a much needed breath of fresh air!