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Another weekend and another opportunity to visit more Texas state parks.

10/19/23 – Preparation

I have had a hard time understanding how camp site rentals work at the Texas state parks. Some spots can be reserved in advance and other cannot. I did not understand the terms they were using when I asked about it and so I spent the evening planning for where I would go and also trying to understand what the reservation terms mean.

It turns out that walk-up camping and walk-in camping are not the same thing. Walk-in camping is sites that must be hiked to and walk-up camp sites are ones that cannot be reserved in advance. Show up and ask for a spot to get one.

As I did not want to get blocked from having a camp site again, I got online to reserve a spot in advance. I had already planned out where I was going and so I searched for sites nearby and found a site at Possum Kingdom state park. I signed up for a state park account and began the process of reserving the spot, but the website wanted to charge me extra fees since it did not know that I had a park pass. I tried to figure out how to attach my card to the account and came to learn that this is not an option. When I signed up for my park pass I also created my account, so I needed to figure out how to log into that.

I was able to log into the correct account, but I was not able to reserve the campsite that I had found as it was reserved for 15 minutes on the other account that I had created. I tried to un-reserve it, but had no luck and so I just poked around to find another site to rent at another state park.

This is how I found Lake Arrowhead which had many open spots, almost nothing reserved and walk-up camping.

“Great.” I thought to myself. No need to even reserve.

This place has plenty of sites, almost no reservations and even if they do fill up, I’ll just grab one of the walk-up spots.

And so I went to bed.

10/20/2023 Saturday

This weekend I decided to try to limit myself to three parks per day as last weekend’s four parks per day felt too rushed.

I also chose to wake up later so that I wouldn’t be exhausted at three in the afternoon again.

On the evening of Friday the 19th my garbage disposal stopped working and the sink was super clogged. I used a bowl to scoop up as much water as I could and drain it down the other side of the sink, but I was hoping that what was left would slowly drain and not leave sitting water to get stinky while I was away.

Unfortunately the water level had not gone down any further. I grabbed a metal chopstick to poke around to see if something had gotten jammed up in the garbage disposal, but when poking around the drain felt too shallow… Like there was a small cup sitting in the drain that was holding the water and why it was not draining and perhaps also setting off a safety feature to stop the garbage disposal from running…

Yes. A small glass was wedged in there just right to be invisible, stop drainage and halt the operations of the garbage disposal.
Off to adventure!

Stop 1: Lake Brownwood State Park

The plan was to watch a How to Camp session hosted by park rangers. I figured this would likely be mostly for children, but perhaps they knew something that I did not.

I arrived too early and so I went to explore a bit first.

I snapped a quick picture of this bug that was sitting on top of the car. I have never seen a bug with an elongated mouth like this before.

I hear the rangers setting up their event and mentioning that they do not have stakes. I figure I’ll offer them mine when I return. For now I am off to explore for thirty minutes.

After this exploration I went back to where the rangers were and offered them my tent stakes which they gladly accepted.

No one else showed up for the display and so we spoke about topics such as hiking, the Appalachian trail, lizards and the interpreter (the rangers who host these public events) was kind enough to show me how to put up a bear bag.

This was far easier than I thought it would be, though I suspect the difficulty lies in throwing the rope over a tree branch which I have not yet attempted on my own.

Around this time a woman and two children showed up for the event and so the rangers taught the children how to put up the tent and went through a series of necessary set of items that should be brought along.

I have added a multi-tool to my shopping list because of this conversation.

I learned a lot and when I explained that I was planning on going to Arrowhead for the night and for an even they were having there later in the day I was told to say “Hi.” to the interpreter there from both of the rangers that I was speaking with.

Delightful visit.

I need to send these ranger a postcard.

The next stop is not a park at all, but a pie festival in Cisco, Texas.

I don’t care for pie, but if ever there was a time to understand and learn to enjoy this encrusted (heh) desert it would be today!

And so I arrived in Cisco, Texas, found a parking spot and walked towards the event.

This is a lovely old town with many grand buildings that are now sit dormant.

Happy to see a bucket list out there in the wild. What a delightful item to have at a dining area.

I was able to find the location of the pie festival and I could see loads of people, but there was no pie in sight.

I browsed through a few of the stalls, but there was nothing that was catching my interest.

I was ready to give up, but the last stall I saw said they had chocolate bombs and I saw them and I thought it would be nice to buy my wife a nice bath bomb.

It turns out a chocolate bomb is not the same as a bath bomb, but I awkwardly bought one as well as a tissue holder and decided that this visit was a bust and that it was time to leave.

As I was leaving I did find the restaurant that had the pie festival inside of it, but it was very packed and busy and I was already a bit burned out and now I was carrying around a $5 treat that I wouldn’t be able to eat that was clearly going to melt soon and so I skipped the restaurant and began the trek back to the car.

But then I saw more empty old buildings and wanted to take some pictures.

While peeking in here, I saw a small stand selling pie away from the hustle and bustle of the main area. It turns out that I had met a couple who had just moved to Cisco, Texas and who had also missed the deadline to enter their pies into the contest and so they purchased a license to open a stall outside of that area to sell their warez and I ate a caramel apple that had been coated in chocolate and a crust.

For the life of me I cannot remember the name of the crust, but I would like to use this when I make sweet baked items myself. It’s a frozen item… I think I’ll recognize the name if I look for it in the frozen section of the grocery store.

They were a nice couple and while this may not be a pie, per se, it delightful and delicious, though I was only able to eat half of it.

I shared my story about accidentally buying a chocolate bomb and asked if they would be willing to take it from me since I would not be able to eat it and they were kind enough to take it off of my hands and run it inside of their home to put in their refrigerator.

And so after a nice fifteen minute conversation I attempted to leave Cisco, Texas again.

And then I found the quilt shop.

I may have accidentally signed up to a quilting club while visiting this store. I’m not entirely sure, but I had the best conversations with a woman inside of this store and I am determined to make a quilt at some point.

I do not believe that I will drive to Cisco, Texas to learn this as I am sure there must be a place in Austin where I can achieve this feat of sewing adventure as well.

Though it would be nice.

I really loved this shop and its employees.

I do think that the nice lady helping me was trying to make it clear that I should not worry about my masculinity if I want to make quilts, but I promised her and I promise you that this will not have an effect on my decision. I would love to make a quilt.

I could use another quilt!

I purchased a book about quilt making…

For my wife.

It’s not for me.

And then I left Cisco, Texas to head towards the campsite for the night. Lake Arrowhead state park.

This did not go to plan.

I’ll tell you all about it in the next post.

Geddy says “Hi.”

Also, Geddy is the newest member of the family.

It is quite the whirlwind of events that led to this lil fellow into joining our household.

Also he sleeps wrong, but I’ll never tell him.