Daingerfield State Park

We went camping for my birthday in April and like the majority of our trips, it rained.  Fortunately, Friday was gorgeous and we had an easy time driving to and setting up in Daingerfield State Park.  Saturday was supposed to bring 100% chance of rain, storms and some high winds, so we enjoyed the nice weather while we could.

Normally we go for a simple dinner the first night at camp, like tacos (with the meat cooked at home ahead of time) or sandwiches.  In light of the predicted weather, we switched things up and cooked burgers over the fire and ate at the picnic table.  Our campsite had a great layout and it would have been especially nice if we had gotten to spend more time outside.

We had a pull through spot with a nice grass area that was perfect for these three.  Picnic table and fire ring come standard.  What wasn't perfect was that the ground was already saturated and we were at the bottom of the slope.  We ended up with a puddle right outside the popup door.  In retrospect, we should have setup the other way facing the street and the lake.  It would have been "backwards" but we would have had better drainage.

And as predicted, the rain started Friday night.  We had come prepared with extra tarps, and while we couldn't sit outside, it did give ups sort of an entryway to get boots, raincoats and dog leashes on and off.  Interestingly, it didn't seem like everything inside the camper was damp, so it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.  We also got to test our roof patch (we got a hole in the roof on our last camping trip) and we stayed completely dry.  The biggest dripping issue was the water dripping between the camper and awning each time we opened the door.

Here's a glimpse of how we fit the dog crates into the camper.  The Garden Apprentice slept on the dinette (it folds down to make a bed) and the adults take the other bunk.  This was our first trip with three dogs and the extra crate kind of forced us to switch things up.  We have some other ideas on how to set things up if we aren't in a storm situation.

We still had plenty of time between waves of rain to take lots of walks.  Some with all three dogs, some with less dogs, some with the wagon, some with baby dolls.  We must have paraded up and down our camping loop 100 times.  We were the only popup there and we barely saw a sole.  The big rigs have plumbing.  We use the bathhouse.  With a three year old, you use it more than others.

Daingerfield is another CCC park.  The land was deeded to the state in 1935 and two different groups worked on it during it's construction from 1935-1939.  They build an  80-acre lake and its dam, roads, buildings, retaining walls, culverts, steps, trails, horse trails (no longer used), parking curbs, chairs, tables and benches.  The workmanship on some of the buildings is pretty impressive, but with the rain, I didn't get any pictures.  They also replanted the pines throughout the park.  There were definitely some fabulous trees and did they ever sway during the storms.  It's impressive to see how they can bend so far, but not break.  Overall the park was similar in many ways to Tyler State Park.

Over all the park was really beautiful (even if it was really wet).  The dogwoods were almost done blooming, but this one didn't get the message.  There were also a lot of Aesculus pavia, or Red Buckeyes in bloom while we were visiting.

One thing I have never seen at any of the other State Parks was this Little Free Library.  We borrowed a book, ironically about camping in the rain, and read it a few times while we were there.  We remembered to return it Sunday before we headed home.

There was also a bunch of crazy looking ducks and an automatic duck feeder.  Another group of campers were feeding them corn and gave our daughter half a can to feed them with.  They were apparently very hungry ducks who were used to handouts.  Over all they had great manners, though there was one rather scary looking Muscovy-like duck who was extremely aggressive about food.  

Even with gigantic, hissing, red faced birds, feeding ducks was the highlight of the trip for some members of the family.  They have requested as recently as last week to go back to that "camping ground for mommy's birthday".  Unfortunately we do not have plans to go back to Daingerfield this summer, but we will be heading out to Fairlfield State Park later this month.  Fingers crossed we will break the rain cycle and have nice weather.