Campsite six at Mission Tejas State Park turned out to be a great spot in the late fall afternoon sun to butterfly watch. I think I’ve seen hackberry emperors around a few times before but I’ve never spend a lot of time watching them, so I wasn’t even sure that’s what it was when I […]
Flora, Fauna, and Fungi at Lake Livingston State Park | Part II
White Heath Aster, Symphyotrichum ericoides I think this is likely late goldenrod, Solidago altissima. Either way, an open field of goldenrod flanked by bushy bluestem is my kind of fall scene! Bushy Goldentop, Euthamia leptocephala. Solidago’s look-alike cousin. The trail we were on when I saw this mushroom was an elevated boardwalk. I hadn’t seen […]
Flora, Fauna, and Fungi at Lake Livingston State Park | Part I
I never know with these flora, fauna, fungi type posts whether to write up something to go with it or just share the photos. Part of me writes for an audience, albeit the tiny one that I have, and part of me writes for myself. I am sure most people skim over a lot of […]
Camping at Lake Livingston State Park | October 2018
October felt a million months long. So long that this trip to Lake Livingston State Park feels like it happened about three months ago and not four weeks ago. We only stayed a night and cut our trip short Sunday morning as I wrote about here that Forest had had a rough night from being […]
Fungus, Flora, & Fauna | Martin Dies Jr. State Park
I have a new obsession: iNaturalist. I signed up the spring of 2016 when I had my iPhone 4 but didn’t stick to using it because I didn’t enjoy trying to update sightings via the phone. I deleted the app and then kind of forgot about it until I had a conversation with someone who […]
First Camping Trip of the Season | Martin Dies Jr. State Park
Previous posts for this park: +Campsite Scenes +The Slough and Forest Trails | Martin Dies State Park +The Wildlife and Island Trails | Martin Dies State Park The first campout for the season didn’t start off quite on the right foot. Rain was predicted for at least Sunday but we ended up having a little […]
A Short Jaunt on the Lone Star Trail
In early September we hit up our spot in Sam Houston National Forest for our annual family photos with Forest. The photo session, as it was last year, went very quickly with many grumpy faces all around. Actually, Chris and I weren’t as grumpy as last year, just Forest. He’s been better about taking photos […]
Pedernales River Explorations Part II
Palafoxia callosa Cooperia drummondii Pluchea white mist flower—not sure, one of these three–> Ageratum, Conoclinium, Eupatorium I couldn’t find a white version in my Texas wildflowers book(s). Senna lindheimeriana While Chris fishes along the Pedernales, I usually take time to poke around the fringes of the rocks to see what plants or invertebrate wildlife may […]
Pedernales River Explorations
Pedernales Falls State Park is one of those state parks you wish was in your backyard. A park that you could easily pop into on a weekday after work or for a good weekend adventure. In some ways, mostly in its size, definitely not in its habitat, it reminds me a bit of Jonathan Dickinson […]
Wildflowers at McKinney Falls State Park
Let’s return back to McKinney Falls State Park over Easter weekend and wrap-up our time there with some wildflowers (with a side of vines, trees, and shrubs—it was spring, things were blooming!). According to my post drafts, I have another post for Pedernales Falls State Park that I didn’t get around do. Looks like I’ll […]
