Buescher State Park

On Dan's blog you can read about our first camping trip which was to Inks Lake State Park.

It was a 'one-nighter' but a great introduction to camping in general as well as camping with dogs!

On our second adventure into the world of camping we had an even better time tackling more daunting challenges such as breakfast!

I am proud to say that we had bacon, pancakes, fresh brewed coffee and fruit. Last time we had cut fruit and a danish from the store that we attempted to heat over some hot coals.

Here you can see me posing with Reese and AJ next to the elusive double-head, banded 'line-marker'. This amazing display of color was caught on camera by Mr. Dan Perkins. Not often are these beauties found in the wild! An amazing experience I assure you!

Our first day was spent setting up camp and feeding ourselves before it got too dark. The camp ground was full of cyclists and the spandex clad dudes were impressed with Dan's Guru that he brought to ride on Sunday morning.

Picture this: Dan sitting in a chair cleaning his bike drive train (happy Dan), Reese & AJ snoozing on the tent 'patio' (happy dogs), and your's truly simmering up some sauerkraut & bratwurst in a pot of Shiner Blonde (happy tummy!). Fresh corn on the cob was soaked in Shiner as well and grilled up nicely over the fiery hot coals. I nearly forgot the hot german potato salad! E-YUM!

Needless to say our after dinner walk with the boys was followed closely with S'mores and bedtime.

Wildlife we saw (aside from the double-head, banded 'line marker' that is): Lots and lots of butterflies, a huge moth in the shower, a bird flying around like crazy in the bathroom (which I reported to the park staff so they could get her out safely), an overly confident squirrel, a cool little pointy nosed frog, some crazy little inch worms and a juvenile copperhead snake. Did I mention Dan nearly stepped on the thing! I'll let him tell you about that.

My cool little frog dude. He was probably about the size of my thumbprint. One minute he posed for the photo and the next he shot back into the water.


Here are my cool little inch worm friends. They were all over the place. I got to use the super-duper close-up function on the camera to capture these little lovlies. They were just having a grand old time on the slender green vine. Dan had a hoot over how many photos I took of little inch worms along the trail. And flowers. And half-eaten trees. And butterflies. Next time I'll remember to charge the camera battery before we leave...!

You can't see the copperhead very well in the photo but he is in there! The photo was taken with AJ's lead in one hand and the camera in the other. When the snake started back to the trail and lifted his head we decided to skip the 'better shot' and move along.

I'm glad to say that I see many more camping trips in our future :) Snakes and all! Dan and I have some reading to do...!