early – Texans Travel Life

Our trip to Lake Brownwood State Park could be considered a series of unfortunate events at first glance. The fact that we left our house at 5:30am would be the first of those unfortunate events to 3/4 of the population of Smiths living in our home in North Texas. Fortunately, The Reader is a morning person and once we picked her up at 6:15am, there was a second cheerful person on board the S.S.Suburban bound for Lake Brownwood State Park. We chatted. I read a humorous chapter from Of Mess and Moxie to her. She laughed at my observations. She showed me adorable pics of her furr babies. I coveted her new iPhone. Just a delightful passing of time as we headed west in the wee hours of the morn.

And then we stopped for gas and a bio break. No biggie, except this time while The Man was filling the behemoth tank of our land yacht, he noticed this, which could rightly be considered the second in our series of unfortunate events –

We just didn’t think the “wires” of our inner tire should be showing. And since we’d had the tires checked the day before at a reputable tire place, we were scratching our heads as to how this could have happened.

Sigh.

Not only was the Suburban filled with coolers (plural), sporting equipment, fishing gear, 5 humans, and Our Awesome Aussie, the spare tire was also in the back instead of in it’s rightful place under the vehicle thanks to a years ago off-roading adventure gone awry. Hence the sigh. We were going to have to offload three bikes so that we could unload the heavy coolers and finagle around our miscellaneous sporting equipment in order to get the good spare tire out and onto the truck. And by we, I mean The Man and The Manling because the rest of us are ladies (including our Awesome Aussie) and the ladies promptly took off for a photo shoot with the cool sculptures and such that make roadside gas stations more than just pit stops.

Thirty minutes saw us back on the road – which I count as a miracle because the jack that the giant Suburban had looked like it would have had trouble lifting the Tiny Toyota Tardis (because the Yaris is bigger on the inside), so kudos to the makers of that priceless piece of engineering! About an hour later, we reached our destination without further incident.

After taking our group selfie at the entrance –

In what the lady-folk would consider the third unfortunate event, Kinder Frau pointed out the leavings of a snake’s skin – right at our feet. {Just. Breathe.}

– we headed straight for the HQ to register our vehicle and get the lay of the land from the excellent Park Staff. Which is when I noticed the flyers stacked on the counter inviting everyone for a volleyball game at 10:30am and a kickball game at 1pm. You see, I had called earlier in the week to talk to the Park Staff about a couple of items I’d noticed on their website – volleyball courts and a softball field – that were free for use by park visitors. I asked if they could invite other visitors to join us for volleyball and kickball the day we would be there and they enthusiastically replied, “Absolutely! We are all about community.” That same day, I saw an announcement posted on their social media! Upon arrival at the park, we saw the flyers sitting right on the counter where everyone checked into the park! Major props to the LBSP Staff for living their motto!

Since it was about 10:15am, we headed straight for the volleyball court by the swim beach. We played a hilarious hybrid game of volleyball & nukem that attracted a fair amount of odd looks from the few people that walked by and maybe weren’t living their best lives like The Smiths clearly were. Not everyone can live our level of cool in the heat of summer.

And then things got real – someone joined us!!! The social media blitz combined with the old school flyers landed us an actual human being willing to join our crazy shenanigans! And he was in full length denim pants, people…owning the court! Let’s take a moment to give proper kudos to Caleb for going with the flow, laughing, and pretty much #winning at that carpe diem thing!

Our new bestie Caleb, The Man, and The Manling in about 1000 degree weather

This shot makes us look like we know what we’re doing. The Reader took video that proved that we were more of a spectacle than spectacular. But we had fun, so we’re cool with that.

Hot and tired. And also the self-proclaimed winners.

We told Caleb about our upcoming kickball game, invited him to join us at 1pm at the field for more fun, and then headed back to the truck for some lakeside eating in the comfort our air conditioned Suburban. Nothing spectacular to report except the lake views, which are gorgeous and complete the ambiance when you are eating in your air conditioned vehicle lakeside.

Once we were fed and cooled, some of us felt energized enough to tackle the Nopales Ridge Trail atop our bikes, so we reparked the Suburban at the trailhead (which is off the main park road on the right, just past the split). We left The Reader and Kinder Frau to read, relax, and chill in the Suburban with Our Awesome Aussie while The Man, The Manling, and I took to the trail.

It started simply enough, lots of flat earth shaded by pretty trees and serenaded by the call of locusts and birds. Then we got to the portion that the Park Staff forewarned might be “challenging.” I’d like to say we kicked the trail’s butt, but honestly? We had to get off and walk portions of it because the rocks were so big and I was on my city hybrid bike with the teeny tires which I was morbidly afraid would go POP! rendering me a walker for the remainder of the trail while the midday sun slowly melted me. So we experienced about a fifth of the trail on foot, which inherently held it’s own challenges to me because of the cactus and the incredibly rocky, narrow path on the “challenging” portion of the trail and my recurrent fear of snakes, which I was assured lived in the park when we were registering our vehicle earlier in the day, but I had been less afraid of encountering on the trail when I was enjoying it atop my bike at a decent clip. Eventually we made it back to the wider, more earthy trail and we were riding the bikes once more, enjoying the wind in our faces as we blazed through the rest of the trail and back to the Suburban. We had so much fun overall, I suggested that The Man and The Manling do it again sans me and my sissy bike after our kickball game, an idea that held real appeal to my menfolk.

As we were storing gear, loading up the bikes, and downing H2O, The Reader kindly let us know that a rather alarming engine-related message appeared on the dashboard while we were gone. Long story short, without thinking we did a big no-no (our fourth unfortunate event of the day, for those that are counting) and this happened –

We quickly emptied water bottles into our coolant reservoir and headed slowly to the sports field for kickball at which exactly no one joined us, which was not a mystery because it was

but that didn’t stop The Smiths from playing the most ridiculous game of four-way kickball ever invented! The Reader served as our permanent pitcher while the rest of us constituted one-man teams and Our Awesome Aussie jogged around the field not sure who she was rooting for and far more preoccupied with the abundance of new olfactory sensations to care anyway.

We were all winners after our epic 23-minute, four-way, individual kickball game, but I might have had more of a reason to smile than the others when it ended. Just sayin’.

Game over, we re-focused our attention on the fourth in our series of unfortunate events. We oh-so-cautiously drove to the boat launch area with hopes that we could possibly find a boat owner with engine coolant to spare. While The Man and I searched and read manuals and refilled water bottles to add to the car’s reservoir, the kids treated Our Awesome Aussie to a much-appreciated swim because Our Awesome Aussie is practically ferrel when it comes to the likes of water and wallowing and she was about to melt from the heat trapped in her beautiful blue merle coat.

Once we found a generous boater with coolant to spare, the Suburban seemed right as rain again (Thank you, Jesus!). We headed back to the Nopales Ridge Trail to drop the guys off to re-do the loop on their manly bikes with their ginormous tires while the gals explored the rest of LBSP via Suburban.

I want to post the cry-laughing emogee, but that’s not an option.

The Manling might have petered out during their second take of the “challenging” mountain bike trail and left The Man outside to load the bikes back onto the Suburban.

The second, more testosterone-filled mountain bike ride, both The Man and The Manling crashed (fifth in our series of unfortunate events) at the very spot we previously commented seemed way too narrow for handle bars to fit through. Apparently, we were right. We hit the road shortly after the guys’ smashing second mountain bike ride and thusly brought our day-long series of unfortunate events to a surprisingly happy conclusion.

Why We Love Lake Brownwood State Park

Water. Summer + Texas + Water = Smiles
Mountain Biking. This. Was. Awesome. It’s the first time in years we’ve taken the bikes to a State Park for some off-roading and we were feelin’ every minute of it! Just make sure you have thick mountain bike tires. You’ll need ’em.
CCC. LBSP has the most CCC structures of any of the Texas State Parks. You have to take a moment to enjoy their historical beauty. The Trails Map points many out to you, along with a news bite of information. You can find out more info on the park’s History page.
Athletic. I love, love, LOVE that LBSP encourages you in outdoor pursuits. Bring your thick-tired mountain bike and ride the Posales Ridge Trail. Explore the beautiful Lakeside Trail on foot. Borrow a volleyball and get a game going at one of the two volleyball courts. Check out all the equipment you’ll need to enjoy America’s favorite past time at the HQ. Go for a swim in the refreshing waters of Lake Brownwood. Like Nike would say, Just Do It.

Must Do’s

Play. Listen up. The HQ has loaner equipment so that you can play til your heart’s content, my friend! For FREE. Take them up on it and hae some old school fun playing with some peeps – old, and new!
Explore. There are around 6 miles of trails you can hike, run, or bike. Explore them! (Note: If you explore by bike, bring some thick tires. These trails aren’t made with sissy city tires in mind.)
Fish. There is a super cool bridge around the boat launches that has a pier behind it where we saw three generations of fisher people catching crappie while we were there in the heat of the day. Give it a try.
Swim. We saw people enjoying the water the whole time we were there. LBSP has a GREAT beach area, which is exactly what the doctor orders when it’s 103 out there.
Grand Stairway. Short, sweet climb to a precious little shaded sitting area with scenic views of the lake. The Man and I enjoyed some alone time up there on our visit, but it would be the perfect spot for a small family picnic.

We’d love to hear about your experiences at Lake Brownwood State Park! Please share your thoughts on this eventful park in the comments.

*In all natural areas, you are a guest. Educate yourself on what lives in the areas before your visits, always talk to the Park Rangers upon arrival and take precautions so that your experiences end as positively as ours.

In the effort of full disclosure, I don’t think we were able to give Lake Casa Blanca International State Park our wholehearted attention during our visit mid-June 2018 because of this –

Dry heat may be better, but 103* feels hotter than H-E-double hockey sticks no matter if it’s served up dry, or wet.

Other than snapping our traditional entry photo, Kinder Frau did not exit the vehicle. Honestly. She sat in the air-conditioned Jeep tending her social media. The whole time. She knows what she’s about. We, on the other hand, exited the vehicle in an attempt to seize the day in the blistering Laredo mid-afternoon summer heat. What that seizing looked like was this for about fifteen minutes –

Really beautiful spot, but with the temps over 100* even the sturdiest of anglers begin to melt.

-followed by this for about forty-five more minutes…

Nobody’s fool, The Manling gave it the ole college try – in the shade.

The Manling was working the shade under the fishing pier. The Man and I were doing the same on the pier proper.

…before he cried uncle, packed up his gear, and headed for the great indoors of the Jeep.

The Man at this point was still hopeful for some hiking, so choosing the shorter option of the two the Park Staff suggested, we parked near the trail head of the Osprey Hill Loop, which promised to give us the best views of the park and surrounding Laredo. The Manling and Kinder Frau opted out of this adventure, instead offering to keep the Jeep cool for our return. They are self-sacrificing that way. The Man packed waters for us while I prepped my borrowed trekking poles (to fend off any foes that may try to assail us on our 0.75 mile travels) and with a wave we headed onto the dusty, dry trail.

The Man has a habit of being all about business when we hike, so this is oftentimes my view. Hate to see you leave, babe, but I love to watch you go. 😉

Once we appreciated the views properly, we noticed a side trail and decided to explore it and discovered this little architectural gem!

Looks like a building something important must have happened at, right? We never saw signage and a quick peek through the window revealed nothing. Really pretty though, right?

Later, when heading toward the parks HQ during our premature exodus of the park, we discovered we could have driven to that neat building perched atop the hill. Such is life.

Why We Love Lake Casa Blanca International State Park

Trails. Since LCBISP is about 7 hours from home, we weren’t able to bring our bikes. The trails at this park would be great for exploring via bike.
Fishing. Shoreline fishing in the middle of the afternoon in the heat of a Laredo summer day proved unfruitful for us, but there were some anglers on the lake that may have fared better in deeper water.

Must Do’s

Arrive Early. Timing is important when the temps soar above 100 degrees.
Hike. Great, easy trails, but remember to take more water than you think you’ll need. And plan your hikes for early in the morning or at the end of the day when the temps are more bearable.
Fish. The fishing pier and surrounding area is great for shoreline fishing, but plan to do so at the beginning or end of the day.
Try Something New. The park offers some activities that are out of the ordinary that would be fun to do – tennis, volleyball and basketball courts in addition to a softball field! There is also a convenience store for tube, kayak and boat rentals. Or you can download the Geocaching app and go modern-day “treasure” hunting.

We’d love to hear about your experiences at Lake Casa Blanca International State Park! Please share your thoughts on this international treasure in the comments.

*In all natural areas, you are a guest. Educate yourself on what lives in the areas before your visits, always talk to the Park Rangers upon arrival and take precautions so that your experiences end as positively as ours.