I had a safe journey down to Brazos Bend State Park. It took us 3 days and 2 nights. It was a smooth ride, and very pretty, too... it was nice to see everything become green as we went farther south.
We enjoyed Texas shaped waffles at a hotel on the way down. Awesome!
When we arrived at the park on Wednesday, we were immediately greeted by friendly staff and volunteers. They've been awesome to us... showing us around the park, telling us about nearby attractions, and even hosting a welcome lunch for us, complete with brisket. =) We spent Thursday and Friday getting to know everyone, talking to our supervisors about our work, and receiving safety training. Then we had the long Memorial Day weekend to relax and explore. I'm excited to begin working tomorrow!
Speaking of work.. it turns out the trail we were going to build here has to be put off for awhile. BBSP has to wait for approval from Texas Parks and Wildlife before they can construct new trail, and they've run into a little red tape. In the meantime, we will still prepare that area for construction as much as we can, and help with other things. It sounds like we'll be doing fun, varied work! We can work in the headquarters, Nature Center, and an observatory run by the Houston Museum of Natural Science. There's plenty to be done outside, too. The park is always doing electrical work and welding, adding gravel to make trails more accessible and repairing signs. They are also hoping to build a few new bridges and a self-composting toilet with our help.
I am learning to geocache! There are almost 100 caches in the park. I've also been doing a lot of reading in the shade. =) This weekend has felt like a vacation.
We checked out the nature center, where we got to touch a baby alligator. BBSP is home to over 300 American Alligators! It also has wild hogs, white tail deer, great blue herons and a ton of other awesome wildlife.
The park is soooo beautiful. Everywhere you look, you see different shades of green. There's Spanish Moss hanging off the trees. There are a few lakes, rivers and 37 miles of trail to explore!
This is my home during our stay. It is an empty dining hall, with an industrial kitchen and plenty of room for our cots. It's quite nice, and also air-conditioned! Thank goodness. It's very hot here; it should be in the 90s every day.
That's all I have for now. I'll have more to share once we start working! =)
