Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Exploring Lake Livingston

The sun was shining brightly and a gentle wind was whispering in the trees, so what better time to hop on the motorcycles to explore Lake Livingston and the Lake Livingston State Park area.  The scenery was very bucolic—lots of fields with cattle, horses, and sheep.

 
Lake Livingston is one ginormous lake!  Constructed solely for water supply purposes, it has over 450 miles of shoreline across four counties (San Jacinto, Polk, Walker, and Trinity). 



 
The park offers a variety of amenities:  swimming, fishing piers, nature trails, picnic areas, campsites, even horseback riding.


We Cross Paths With the Horse Back Riders
We completed the 3-mile Livingston Trail, which runs through all of the campground areas.  Many of the campsites have water and electric hookups, and all of them are in wooded areas for that authentic camping experience.  We also did the 1-mile Pineywoods Nature Walk through wetland habitat.  This turned out to be a very bad idea—it was a mosquito haven!  I must be a very tasty stuffed rat based on the number of bites I have!


When we stopped for fuel, Mom noticed this poignant 9/11 mural on the local American Legion building.  Originally from New Jersey, my parents remember this tragic day vividly: the fiery destruction, the desperate feeling of helplessness, the deepening sadness of learning of the losses of childhood friends’ family members, yet the patriotic sense of unity that our country had not experienced in decades.  We will never forget—and we thank the American Legion Post 629, Cold Springs, TX, some 1500 miles away from New York City, Washington D.C., and Shanksville, PA, for remembering all these years later.
 
American Legion Post 629, Cold Springs, TX



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