Welcome to Delaware and Trap Pond State Park

We have had a great introduction to the camping possibilities offered by Boondockers Welcome. We have just finished our first three stays, and they were all awesome locations with hosts that made us feel so welcome. It has enriched our trip into Maryland so much! But after six days with partial hook-ups, it is time to visit a full-service campground so we can dump our water tanks and do some laundry. So we crossed the state line into Delaware today, where we are now camping among the tall tress in Trap Pond State Park. This is the first time the motor home has been in Delaware. Normally we would include a picture of a new state sign, but we were traveling on such little rural roads that we didn't get greeted to Delaware with a sign today.

We dumped our tanks coming into the park, and we'll dump again going out. That's because we have lots of clothes to wash during this two-day stay. It was only a 20-mile drive to Trap Pond, so we still had time this evening to get the kayak out on the pond at the center of the park.

The water was like glass, reflecting the shore trees like a mirror. What a beautiful evening to be out on the water!

This is a special lake with special trees that don't confine themselves to the edge of the water. The cormorants love having a place to perch in the middle of the lake.

These special trees are cypress. They reproduce via stumps that grow up from the root. These little stumps that start growing around a mature tree are called cypress knees.

After our long and arduous kayak trip yesterday, Denisa's arms are unusually sore. We rowed so long and hard to try to beat the low water tide that her arms just ached last night. After a restless night with aching arms, Mark won't allow her to row even a little this evening. Her only job is taking pictures from her perch at the front of the boat. So she's clicking away with the good camera, taking pictures of the water birds this evening.

When she started to take a picture of a green heron, she realized the camera was out of battery. Now she's really useless on this float. She can't row, and she can't even take pictures. So she's just sitting in the best spot in the boat enjoying the view as we glide among the cypress trees. What a free-loader!

Because there is absolutely no wind, the tall cypress trees are reflected in the water around them. That makes for an interesting striped picture.

We are kayaking among more of God's wonders this evening!

Besides the neat trees, we were entertained by the lake critters. Denisa couldn't take pictures with the good camera, but she will still take blurry wildlife shots with her cell phone.

This big blue heron took off right in front of us. We sure wish that Denisa had re-charged the good camera batteries!

One other boat was enjoying this picturesque lake with us this evening.

The sun was setting as we headed back to our dock. Sunset kayaking is one of our favorite activities. It is cooler and requires no sunscreen. We didn't notice any bugs out this evening. We feel blessed.

After a quiet night's sleep in this nice state park, we tried a morning bike ride. The Bob Trail is a good flat trail that encircles the lake, so it makes for a shady loop ride.

We dismounted our bikes to take a face-time phone call with our grandchildren. We stop whatever we are doing when they call! When we finished, Mark noticed some movement on the trail as he walked back to his bike.

A close-up of his head reveals the tell-tale signs of a poisonous snake. This guy has the triangle-shaped head and the elliptical pupils. We are glad to see that he's heading away from us.

But if we wouldn't have seen that copperhead snake easily on the trail, he would have been much harder to see in the leaf clutter to the right of Mark's bike tire. Can you see him in the picture below?

Our five-mile loop took us around the lake to Bethesda Church. Built in 1879, it had an active congregation until the 1970s. A building left vacant quickly deteriorates, and it was in a sad state of disrepair when the state provided funds to refurbish it to its past glory in 2008. 

We enjoyed our time during our first stop here in Delaware. We have to learn the state park system for every state we visit, and we like Delaware so far. We had to pay an extra $7 per night because we aren't citizens of the state. But they gave us $2 off because we are old. We are finding that other states are not as nice to their out-of-state visitors. So we are feeling welcome here in Delaware at Trap Pond State Park.