It is about 1 hours drive south of us. The park opens at 8am in the morning so I said we should get there early to make the most of it. The alarm went off at 7am and we managed to be out of the house by 8:15am! To avoid rush hour traffic, as most companies do not have Veteran's Day as a holiday, we went all the way down Dairy Ashford putting up with the lights, pot holes and 20 mile an hour school zones. In a funny way I reckon it didn't take us much longe
r, and certainly less stressful, than fighting with the commuters. Since we had no milk in the house this morning, after I polished it off in last nights scrambled eggs, we went to Starbucks for a coffee and bagel, actually that was from Randall's and it was one of my favorites jalapeno peppers and cheese!It was amazing escaping from the built up city limits straight into the countryside. Obviously it is utterly flat just huge field and sparse houses, that didn't have trees or hedges to show their boundaries. Some of the fields had crops in them, well corn, one field had some cows in it and the rest, not a lot. The road was straight except where you had to turn a corner at a field edge, like where the horses and carts turned in the past. It was tough staying within the speed limit along the single carriageway road. I must have been the only one because all the huge F350's (big double axle Ford pickup trucks) zoomed past me!
We paid $10 to enter the park for the day - you have to leave by 10pm when the gates shut! There was no one about which was lovely. It was only us and the man with the leaf blower in the car park.
We first started off with a walk around Elm Lake, well actually we were meant to be doing the Horseshoe Lake trail, but turned the wrong way! There were plenty of signs warning us about the alligators. Apparently, there are 300 adult alligators in the park so I was hoping to glimpse at least one. The walk around Elm Lake was nice with lots of bird life, including quite magnificent herons, ducks with bright red beaks and much more - listen to me the twitcher!! Apparently, the swampy look of the park is just how Houston was before it became the metropolis it is today! There was a lot of algae on the water but the birds seemed not to worry, and the tortoises we saw were covered in it, so they obviously didn't mind it either. We looked for the alligators nostrils poking out of the water - but saw nothing. Not even one basking in the glorious sunshine. After Elm Lake we moved the car to explore the other side of the park along Big Creek and the Brazos River. The walks were through woods and it started to get really humid
, not to mention annoying little flies following us - even the deet didn't put them off! I got stung by huge mosquito looking thing - so that was the last time we stood still for more than a couple of seconds. We saw absolutely no one for our whole walk - I can imagine at weekends it normally gets quite busy.
We first started off with a walk around Elm Lake, well actually we were meant to be doing the Horseshoe Lake trail, but turned the wrong way! There were plenty of signs warning us about the alligators. Apparently, there are 300 adult alligators in the park so I was hoping to glimpse at least one. The walk around Elm Lake was nice with lots of bird life, including quite magnificent herons, ducks with bright red beaks and much more - listen to me the twitcher!! Apparently, the swampy look of the park is just how Houston was before it became the metropolis it is today! There was a lot of algae on the water but the birds seemed not to worry, and the tortoises we saw were covered in it, so they obviously didn't mind it either. We looked for the alligators nostrils poking out of the water - but saw nothing. Not even one basking in the glorious sunshine. After Elm Lake we moved the car to explore the other side of the park along Big Creek and the Brazos River. The walks were through woods and it started to get really humid
, not to mention annoying little flies following us - even the deet didn't put them off! I got stung by huge mosquito looking thing - so that was the last time we stood still for more than a couple of seconds. We saw absolutely no one for our whole walk - I can imagine at weekends it normally gets quite busy. Still no alligators spotted!
The trees had lichen draping from their branches which look spooky - sort of and there were big creeper/vines just like Tarzan would have enjoyed swinging in!
OK the park warned you about the alligators, but they forgot to tell you about the wild pigs. We were casually wal
king through the trees on the path chatting when we heard what we thought was a dog, but it wasn't. We then saw next to us a light red brown pig get up from just beside the path and fortunately run into the bush, followed by another one. Both of us stood stock still in surprise and shock. The conversation that followed, was what do you do if a wild pig charges - stay still or run?!
king through the trees on the path chatting when we heard what we thought was a dog, but it wasn't. We then saw next to us a light red brown pig get up from just beside the path and fortunately run into the bush, followed by another one. Both of us stood stock still in surprise and shock. The conversation that followed, was what do you do if a wild pig charges - stay still or run?!Well in the end we were so sick of the little flies that we ate our sandwiches in the car, but there were picnic tables with BBQ all over the place that looked like fun. In the end we never did see an alligator, possibly it is the wrong time of year - so now we will have to go back!
The gardeners were here when we got home. I don't think I have ever seen them because I am usually at work. It is a team of three Mexican chaps, one is on the lawn mower, one with the strimmer and the other with the leaf blower. They cut our backyard grass with the strimmer!! But he does make a good job of it because the big mower is quite tight to get around the pool! The leaf blower man them came into the back and I notice he blew over Berty and Boris, the chilli plants, but give him credit, he picked them up. He then blew all our leaves into the neighbours yard -since they don't pay for them, I guess that is only fair?!!
This evening I had to go to the gym because it is a trainer evening, but I was extra good and managed a swim beforehand. Meanwhile Stu cooked us a yummy beef chilli with steak that was just falling apart - hmmm and there is plenty left of for the freezer.
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