Texas 'Pineywoods' Country

Jeramy and I were planning on getting together today with the girls, but did not know what to do. Katharine, who learned about pine trees in school last week, suggested that we visit a “pine forest” (in addition to her educational pursuits, she also wanted to nab some pine comes for future arts and craft projects).

Tyler State Park is 100 miles east of Dallas, and it was worth every minute of the two hour drive. It was 70 degrees, sunny, and the leaves were just beginning to turn color and fall. All of the kids walked the entire 2 ½ mile loop around the lake, and many pine cones were acquired.

A bonus is that the Caldwell Zoo is only 15 minutes away from the park. It is small, walkable, cheap, and has some of the best sight lines of any zoo that I have ever been in.

All in all, a very good day :)

Katharine's gigantic stick, which narrowly missed whacking just about everyone.

The girls went back and forth between fishing and making goopy pond soup. On a positive note, the gigantic stick became too slimy to carry.

This was the most convincing "crocodile" driftwood that we found.

At the zoo: