Sometimes we get distracted by alligators and ducks

We are still camped at Heartland RV Park near Huntsville, Texas.  One main reason to stop in this part of Texas is to explore all things about its favorite son--Sam Houston. We drove through the Sam Houston National Forest yesterday, and today we are headed towards Sam Houston University, the largest statue of Sam Houston, and Sam's hometown in Huntsville. But sometimes we get distracted . . .

Our first stop is at Huntsville State Park. We weren't surprised to see a line of cars at the gate, as this is a very popular park and it is a beautiful weather weekend. We were glad that we filled out the on-line registration for a reserved day pass, as some Texas state parks will turn away visitors when they reach their reduced-by-Covid capacity.

This is another park in the tall pines section of Texas, and we love to walk under these big guys. The first thing on our agenda was a little hike in the woods. 

But as often happens to us,  we get distracted. Our little hike turned into a big hike as we started the 7-mile Chinquapin Trail that circles the entire lake.

We had read on their web site that the park had a controlled burn four days ago, so much of our hiking scenery was a bit charred.

In fact, we wished we had packed some marshmallows for this hike. Some of the embers were still glowing and even flaming. They would have been perfect for a massive marshmallow roast.

As the winds picked up, they fanned some embers and we had to really hustle through this smoky section of the Chinquapin Trail.

That hike took longer than we expected, and we still wanted to get the kayak on the water. So we quickly ate a snack and were out on Raven Lake.

This "w-shaped" lake has lots of cool coves for kayaking and looking for animals. We found out that Lake Raven had some very interesting wildlife. Do you see it in the picture below?

A zoomed-in photo shows our first alligator of the day, hiding in the moss as we rowed by.

As we rowed in and out of the coves, we found more alligators in this very green environment.

Some times we even found two gators at a time.

In case you should think we are crazy, this pictures shows that other kayakers were out with the alligators this afternoon. We're not sure if the kayakers pictured below were aware of the gator that you see in the lower left hand corner of the picture.

Besides alligators, we found that wood ducks also love it here at Huntsville State Park. We had never seen a wood duck in the wild. Denisa was so happy, she took a picture every time we spotted one. Because we always seemed to find them perched on a log, we assume that they like wood. Perhaps that's where they got their name?

Sometimes we spotted four or six at a time. It looks like they are all paired up this spring. The flashy males with their beautiful plumage are each escorting a plainer wood duck female.

It's easy to get distracted with so many wood ducks around!

The farthest tips of the lake are filled with water lilies that are just beginning to bloom. A plastic barrier keeps the boaters out, so we were a little sad to think what great treasures might be in these protected lily waters.

We could see that the flowers are just beginning to bloom, and this section will be a beautiful sea of yellow very soon.

The water is clear in Raven Lake, and it's fun to see things under the water. This big turtle swam right next to the white edge of our inflatable kayak as we pictured him through the water.

We're back on the alligator hunt as we spot another gator near the edge of the lake.

We went to the ranger's program at the nature center right after our hike, and found out that there are 65 alligators here in the park. We're not sure how they do an accurate count like that, but we are keeping track of our sightings. We're up to #10 now.

and #11.

Denisa is wishing that she had kept count of the wood ducks. Since we've never seen one before, she still grabs the camera and starts taking pictures every time we find another.

The wind has picked up, and we see that the four-day-old embers close to the lake are fanning into sizable flames.

After a couple hours on the water, we're about ready to head to the boat dock. But we were hoping for a dozen alligator sightings. We got our wish when we spotted #12 sunning himself on a log. Those open jaws look like an ear-to-ear smile.

Alligators are so easy to photograph because they rarely move. This one was enjoying sunning himself this afternoon, and he certainly wasn't interested in moving as we passed by.

We're not sure if it was lucky or unlucky to find alligator #13 as we turned the kayak around.

Denisa also spotted one more male wood duck as we rowed toward the pickup. These alligators and wood ducks are so distracting! What a great day of kayaking!

With a long hike and a long kayak trip, we were well past our usual lunch hour. Denisa usually packs a lunch for these days away from the motor home, but for some reason she didn't do it today. So our stomachs were really rumbling as we finally left Huntsville State Park. We were so hungry that we didn't make the short detour to see the 67-foot-tall statue of Sam Houston. Remember, we were supposed to be focusing on Sam today! When we had our food from the local Chinese food restaurant, we finally made our way to Sam Houston Park in downtown Huntsville.

Log cabins from all over Texas have been moved to this delightful park, and it's free for the public to stroll among them--or eat dinner at one of the picnic tables. The Sam Houston Museum is also located here, but it was closed by the time we arrived. So we read the informational boards in the park to find out that this house--"Woodland"--is the home that Sam built for his wife Margaret. She was 26 years younger, and he had already served as General of the Texas Army and President of the Republic of Texas by the time they married. It was here that she gave birth to four of their eight children.

Also in the park is the Steamboat House. This is where Sam Houston lived out his final years, and where he died. His funeral was held in the upstairs parlor in this long white house that was designed to look like a steamboat.

We got a crash course in Sam Houston trivia. He was the first president of the Republic of Texas, General of the army that won Texas independence, Senator to represent Texas in Washington, and Texas Governor. He is a larger-than-life figure here in the Lone Star state. We meant to spend more time with him today, but somehow we got distracted by alligators and wood ducks.

We are easily entertained back home in Livingston, Texas

We had a beautiful camp site at Lake Somerville State Park. Is was so nice that we seemed to have company every day. This armadillo was really enjoying the shady goodness under our trees, and didn't even notice when Denisa was taking pictures just a few feet away.

In fact, he turned and headed right towards her for another picture. Denisa can take pictures of an armadillo for a long time, because she is easily entertained.

We loved our campsite at Lake Somerville, but obviously so does everyone else. It is nearly impossible to get a weekend camping spot at a Texas state park.  So even though we liked Lake Somerville state park, it was time to leave that field of bluebonnets and head down the road.

So for this weekend we are headed to a private campground near Riverside, Texas. Heartland RV Park is a very nice Passport America half-price campground with full hook-ups. Our journey through Texas has been a nice blend of camp sites at state parks during the week and private parks on the weekend as we make our way north. From this campground, we realized we were just a few miles from the east shores of Lake Livingston. Does that sound familiar? 

It's familiar because Livingston, Texas is our mailing address. The first question we get when people find out that we live in our motor home is, "How do you get your mail?" We always explain that it goes to our address in Livingston, where it waits until we have the Escapees mail service forward it to the closest post office where we are wandering. Since we are so close to Livingston, we're going to save some postage and pick up our mail directly. Denisa stood in line outside the mail pick-up window along with several other full-timers that were staying at the Escapee campground.

Actually, the main reason we want to pick it up in person is the very important packages that came in yesterday. We mailed in our passport renewals almost two months ago, and they arrived via certified mail to Livingston yesterday. What great timing for us to be here the next day!

We walked through the Escapees campus while we were visiting. It's made up of a large campground that can be rented to any RVer (but has a discount for Escapee members). There are also stick-and-brick houses that are owned by Escapee members who use this as their home base. All of these houses have parking and hook-ups for their RV, as most of the residents spend a good part of their year traveling. We spent some time camping here during our first year of travel, as we were getting our Texas residency finalized.

After picking up our mail, we were off to Lake Livingston State Park for the day. We are in the piney woods of east Texas, known for their tall pines that make Mark look very short.

Following the ranger's suggestion, we made the walk on the one-mile loop of the Pineywood Nature Trail Boardwalk. We didn't see any frogs at the frog pond, or birds at the bird overlook. But we were entertained by this lime green lizard on the boardwalk hand rail.

Our lizard friend was exercising, doing push-ups and then inflating the bright pink bellow under his chin. The bellow disappears as quickly as it appears. With all that motion, it's hard to get a clear picture before the chin bellow is gone.

We followed him from the hand rail to a nearby tree. We are obviously easily entertained when a lime lizard keeps our interest so long.

We were glad to hear that all of the trails here are flat and covered with pine needles. Bikes aren't allowed on the boardwalk, but they are welcomed everywhere else in the park.

So we rode a nice long loop trail that went up on the Trinity Trace Trail, and back down on the Bakba Trail. This five-mile loop runs the length of the road within the state park. We are obviously easily entertained with a nice level bike ride in a beautiful location.

We have to say that the drive to Livingston is a little boring, as those tall pines completely shroud everything around you. If you look to your right you can see trees. If you look to your left you can see more trees! It's a little like driving through a long green tunnel in this part of east Texas.

So when we popped into a grassy clearing, we couldn't help but notice the activity on the side of the highway. What is going on here?

Like we often do, Mark made a u-turn and we went back to check it out. We could see people suited up in bee-keeper suits unloading colorful wooden boxes from the truck. What can we say, this is more evidence that we are easily entertained.

We noticed that the white pickup beside the truck was beginning to back up, and we needed to get out of his way. But he motioned for us to stay. The driver was actually a very nice man who came to see if we needed anything. We introduced ourselves to Jasen Albrecht, owner of Albrecht Angel Honey of South Dakota. While his bees spend the summers in South Dakota, they prefer the winters in Texas. These bees are also trucked to California for almond season, as the farmers there need a couple hives per acre of trees to successfully pollinate their crop. These are well-traveled bees!

Jasen told us more about propagating queen bees, leasing fields of clover, and their honey business headquarters in South Dakota. When we asked if there was any place local where we could buy his honey, he turned back to his truck. He came back with a bottle of Angel Honey that he wouldn't let us pay for. How wonderful!

Mark eats honey almost every day, so this is liquid gold to him. It was especially neat that it was packaged in an angel-shaped container that was designed for this company.

We liked it even more when we saw it had a bible verse--John 3:16--molded into that special design. 

Jasen encouraged us to drive our pickup closer so we could watch the bees up close, and of course we did. He told us to keep our windows rolled up so we wouldn't get any bee passengers, and he even offered to suit us up in bee keeper suits. But we decided to stick with watching from the pickup. He explained that this is the growing season for his bees, and they are outgrowing their hives. So today they are unloading additional boxes for them to grow into. We often see "clover honey" on the label of honey we buy. It was fun to see the red blooms of the clover right beside the boxes.

A close-up shot of the bee boxes is blurry from all the buzzing of bees around them. But it shows that the bees need more room, as they all can't get inside the old boxes.

After our bee entertainment, we headed on down the road. We stopped at an overlook that Jasen recommended for our last look at the huge Lake Livingston. He knows this area well, as he and his family live in Livingston when the bees are in Texas. He was right, this is a nice view of Lake Livingston  and its Spanish-moss-draped trees.

Hungry by now, we decided to stop in the tiny town of Coldspring, Texas, based on a hand-made sign that Denisa spotted on the roadside. A place called "The Mason Jar" has to be good, right? We ordered their signature chicken fried steak, fried onion rings, and fried okra. That turned out to be the most fried food we had consumed in a very long time. The cafe is across the street from the County court house. We like the fact that we could see the electrical cords going out to the crosses over each entrance. These crosses are obviously lit up at night on all four sides of the court house here in Coldspring. We consider that a blessing.

It was a long day by the time we made the circle back to the motor home. Today, we headed out the door to pick up our mail. But we never know what blessings we will encounter along the way. It's good to be easily entertained as we continue to wander all kinds of God's wonders.