I know it’s been ages since I last posted. Long story short, we’ve moved to Texas, ya’ll. To be honest, I still get homesick for Cairo every now and then, but we are really enjoying life in our little town. When we moved to Texas in August, everything was dead and brown. Now that spring is here, I am amazed at how beautiful this place has become. Since the wildflowers are in full bloom and it’s not oppressively hot yet, we decided to go camping this weekend at Lake Georgetown.

The hike was beautiful. The terrain changed from sharp volcanic rock with scrubby little trees to fields of wildflowers and prickly pear.

We saw two or three small cacti with absolutely brilliant pink flowers and vowed to stop and take pictures on the hike back. But when we returned, the flowers were gone.

We saw tons of butterflies and even more caterpillars. I even tracked a wild boar for all of one footstep. Ha.

We decided to camp at Sawyer Hollow. After a 7 mile hike, this sign was a welcome sight (despite its grizzly story).

Our tent was very cozy…

…and very attractive to caterpillars.

We made our own blend of awesome trail mix with almonds, raisins, peanuts, dried cranberries, shredded coconut, sunflower seeds, and banana chips. And because I didn’t want to be “that guy,” we decided to forgo the campfire and instead had fireless-fireside veggie dogs and tortillas with avocado and pico de gallo. I had forgotten how much I love veggie dogs.  Yum!

The views from the campground were really nice. We were right by the lake, and the sounds of the water and chorus of chirping frogs, crickets, and birds were awesome. I don’t know whether it was the time of year or the copious amounts of Burt’s Bees bug repellant I used, but the bugs, despite their great numbers, pretty much left us alone.

The full moon made the night sky pretty bright. We couldn’t see many stars, but the reflection of the moon as it rose above the lake was quite a sight. It first appeared huge and orange, but by the time we got the camera and tripod it had already risen over the edge of the lake.

These next two shots are long exposures of the full moon.

This was the first time I’ve ever camped without the luxury of the car nearby (oh, memories…), and therefore may be the first time I have ever had to carry so much weight on my back. I felt a little ridiculous and a little bit tiny with my huge backpack, but it was a great experience!