East Texas

March 24-27, 2005

After spending time in urban San Antonio, we headed for East Texas since we needed to start moving in the direction of home. The next stop was Village Creek State Park, which is just north of Beaumont. This area is known as the piney woods section, or "wet Texas", since it is wooded and has swamps and bayous. It has more in common with Louisiana than with arid west Texas. We were interesting in doing some kayaking, but that seemed limited at Village Creek, so we spent one night and moved north to Caddo Lake State Park, which is about 70 miles south of Texarkana. Caddo Lake is billed as the only natural lake in Texas. It seemed strange to us northerners that Texas has only one natural lake, but that is what the state park literature says. The lake was formed when a mass of trees and debris, produced by natural causes, blocked the flow of the Red River north of Shreveport, LA. In order to make the upper Red River navigable, the trees and debris was removed. This drained Caddo Lake, leaving a swamp. To restore the lake, a dam was put in. So it seems to us that referring to Caddo Lake as "natural" is debatable.

Kayaking through areas such as this with cypress trees and Spanish moss was interesting. We kept a sharp lookout for floating "logs" that might turn out to be less benign creatures, such as alligators, but fortunately we saw none. The cypress trees looked dead since they showed no sign of green. The ranger assured us they were alive; they are among the last to green up in the spring. The Spanish moss is not a parasite, but merely hangs on the trees without feeding from them.

There were a lot of turtles in the area. These turtles disappeared into the water as we circled around them trying to get a  frontal picture.

The next stop was Saint Louis, to see our son Dan and his fiancée, Ashley. They are in the midst of planning their wedding and we wanted to meet her mother. Dan and Ashley will both graduate from medical school in May and will begin their medical careers as residents in hospitals in New York City in late June. We had a very nice visit with them and with her mother.

That brings us to the end of this trip. Tomorrow we head for home and back to teaching, doing tax returns, and other such activities that take up our time between trips.