Camping At Brazos Bend State Park May 2009

Shane & Andrea were celebrating their 10th anniversary in a very special place and had asked if we could watch the boys part of the time while they were gone. We of course said yes and decided we better find something for them to do (the 4 of us in 1718 Gardenia get real close REAL quick). The decision was to take them camping for two nights. The plans were on. We were lucky enough to get a shelter at Brazos Bend State Park for Sunday and Monday night....so we were going camping.

The camping trip began with great excitement and anticipation. Mamah & PeaPa picked up Gabe and Chase from their Nana's house around 6:30 Saturday evening June 6th. As any almost 7 yr old will do, Gabe was driving everyone crazy worrying about what time it was and hoping we had not gone without him.

Sunday morning we finished packing the truck and around 11:00 a.m. we hit the road for Brazos Bend State Park!!!

We stayed in Shelter Number 2

which was very conveniently located just across the street from a very nice playground for the boys.


That afternoon we went to the nature center in the park and the boys got some "hands on" education about what kind of wildlife was there in the park. As you can see from the slide show below they got to pet a baby alligator, a corn snake, and a tarantula.

PeaPa cooked mini-burgers for the first camping dinner and later we had our first of four campfires (one each night and morning....good PeaPa!!!)......

......and our first marshmallow roasting.



Monday morning we found out that we had visitors during the night looking for food.....lots and lots of raccoon tracks around the shelter. Vicki & I learned the hard way years ago about raccoons at Inks Lake State Park when they got in our ice chest overnight and ate or ruined everything in it....we disappointed them this trip.




After a breakfast of pancakes, little smoked sausages, and eggs, we took a hike around Elm Lake to look for alligators.

We saw all kinds of plants, flowers, birds, a snapping turtle laying her eggs on the bank, and a lot of alligators on backside of the lake including one really large gator that was on the opposite bank.

We cooked hot dogs and beans for dinner and had another campfire complete with more melted marshmallows. The boys were really tired and around 8:30 they asked if they could go to bed. Poor Gabe had the only blowup mattress that leaked and we found him sleeping on the floor both mornings. Now that is a true camper!

Tuesday morning, after a round of Joe McMuffins for breakfast, we went to 40 Acre Lake to visit the observation tower there. Chase had a real hard time on his bike so he and Mamah stayed back. Gabe & I were almost to the tower when we came upon a gator on the path that would not move. The closer we got the wider he opened his mouth.


One thing you have for gators is respect and we gently walked around him until he slid back into the lake. We climbed the tower and got a good view of the park from there.

We went back to camp and packed up. Everyone had a really good time but we were all getting tired, and hungry so we headed back home. Andrea and Shane came in later Tuesday evening and our Camping trip with the boys was deemed a success by all.