Empty Nesters' Camping Trip

We went on a camping trip at Eisenhower State Park during Labor Day Weekend with a group of empty nesters -  4 families including us. 

This is not just any group of any empty nesters, we got to know each other through our youngest children since their kindergarten time through youth soccer team.  As years passing, the bonds between the parents have become strong. We continue to social with each other after the team was disbanded after elementary school, after the boys went to different high schools. We become friends for life!

This camping trip was special in another sense: it is the first social event we had since covid-19 pandemic started in Texas.

Kayaking

We arrived in the early afternoon at the campsite on Saturday, well before the other three families. So we kayaked on Lake Texoma. Rocky shorelines under bright sunshine, kids practicing balance on a stand up board and making faces for my camera, grey herons and snow egrets.... Grey herons were so well camouflaged we were surprised by their sudden taking off a few times as we  were too close to them without noticing them. It was a perfect lake-shore kayak excursion. 

We got back to the campsite around 5:30pm just when the rest of the group were arriving.

Camping 

The other 3 family still have big tents; Our tent is a 2 person tent, we right sized a few years ago when we went to outer bank for a summer vacation by ourselves. We have been camping so many times before - everyone is proficient in setting up the tent. 

2 of the 4 tents

The tent sites are well spaced from each other, and it was densely wooded. We did not experience a lot of bugs/mosquitoes on the first night, but a little bit bothersome the second night. The main issue we had was unexpected bites from fire ants. 

It was pretty cool and dark those nights there, except some noise nuances from a boat dock behind the woods across a cove on the first night.  We had good sleep especially the second night. 

The park has clean bathrooms with hot water shower. It is good for a wildness experience without losing all the amenities of modern life :).

Sleep under the stars, and wake up in the sounds of birds. Very poetic!

Hiking

A main activity for us was hiking along the lake shore in the morning of Sunday. 

The morning was cool, and quiet, the sun was bright. We left our campsite around 8 am as planned walking north on Ike's Hike and Bike trail. The trail is in the woods, and is well shaded, and we were in a leisure pace so we did not feel much heat!

Bird chirping accompanied us almost all the time, and there were wild flowers along the path. We saw black cows behind a fence on a ranch by the trail. The ladies had continuous chat and only the encounter of a family of deer interrupted their conversations, and caused a small commotion.   

We stopped to rest at a cove, about 2 miles into the hike. A big white boat was parked in the cove, adding accent to the lake view! 

Resting on rocks, enjoying beautiful lake view, talking about possible and sometimes wild plans for retirements in future. We stayed there for quite some time, at least 30 minutes. During the time, I saw school of small fishes making splashes on the other side of the cove by the shore, and big fishes jumping out of water a few times as well. A big, nearly transparent fish swam to the shore by the rocks we rested on, but I could not catch it on my camera.

Picnic and etc.

BBQ/Grill is always a big deal for a camping trip. Despite telling ourselves we can not eat much without big boys, we brought too much - pork, beef, lamb, shrimp, salad, grapes, water melons, yams, corns  .... eating and talking till dark when stars appeared overhead.

This was the first time the group camped for two nights, a lot more time to talk. It used to be all about kids' education. Now they are grownups and away. We talked about kids a little bit, mostly other topics  - politics, election, work, health, medicine, spirituality  ..... 

day 1 - before dinner 

Day 2 - potluck

Star gazing

Eisenhower State Park is far away (60 miles) from major metropolitan, and  it is very dark there at night. It was clear night both nights we were there. 

We turned off all lights at our sites each night near 10 pm, and went to an open space and looked up - big dipper was easily identified, and milky way galaxy was clearly visible above our heads. 

I happened to read about galactic year Saturday afternoon - galactic year or cosmic year is the time the Sun takes to orbit the center of the milky way  - it is about 250 million years long! Our solar system is a tiny speck at the edge of the vast milky way.

Every time I see the star filled sky, the mystic outer space, I am in awe, I wonder and ponder. 

Epilogue

Seeing us in our beautiful Emma in water made our friends want to have a kayak as well. One family ordered a kayak similar to ours, another bought a small boat which can be used a kayak/canoe.

We enjoyed our trip together so much, our autumn foliage viewing trip together has been booked already!