Jet skiing Lake Livingston

 My newest nephew bought a jet ski this summer after he went jet skiing with some friends. He learned to safely navigate Lake Livingston, which is full of trees from when the CCC built the dam. He explored with his wife, had fun with friends, and made sure to invite all of us family members out for adventures regularly. At first, I was a bit nervous. I didn't want to fall off the jet ski. I was also afraid I would knock him off. I discovered if you can ride a cantering horse, you can stay on a jet ski. You do have to hold on tight when it launches over waves, and I bet if he went faster than 20mph ((it can go 60) you'd feel like you were in a horse race. I enjoy riding with him. I would not want to drive it myself. You have to stay very alert and don't have time to watch the scenery or the birds. I am looking forward to late spring when the lake is warm enough to go out again. A lot of photos wind up crooked, we are on a moving object. My little camera does pretty good. I do very little editing so the photos are mostly as taken.

Lockhart State Park

 Day 5 Trip to Lockhart and Lockhart

We drove a different route out of Lost Maples, We headed toward Henry and Kerville. The drive criss crossing the Guadalupe river was beautiful. Fortunately it wasn't heavily trafficked and I could drive at 45 mph and enjoy the views and the curvy roads. If you do this trip... make sure you map a route and write it down. You wont have any cell coverage within an Hour of Lost Maples. We did get cell coverage, spotty in Henry and good in Kerville. This was a beautiful drive and hiking in Lost Maples was an amazing experience. I really recommend it, but make reservations months ahead. Even the day use area was booked way ahead of time. 

Lockhart State Park was a little disappointing after Buescher, Bastrop, and Lost Maples. It is a small park that is mostly a 9 hole golf course and a big woody hill with views of the valley. The recreation hall is a lovely rock building on the top of the hill with a pavilion that would overlook the valley in the winter when the leaves were off the trees. The trails from the top were steep. I was not interested in "hilltop, ascending, or descending" after my hike yesterday so we stuck to the creek-side trail. The creek is beautiful with several rock dams that form small waterfalls and fishing holes. The golf course gives a good view of the sunset. Only 5 camp sites were open so the campground was quiet, but people camping were having fun. The main rv loop was closed for repairs to the electrical system. Fortunately we were able to fit in one of the pull through sites in the other loop. The only site in the pull through loop big enough for a large rv is site 11. That one also has a nice place to put your chairs to watch the creek. We were in a site further down. We could see the creek through the trees and the site next to us had a trail that went down to the creek. Peanut fell into the creek, Tippy and Roudy were more careful. The dogs and I also waded around the waterfall by the road. Tippy and Roudy enjoyed it. Peanut thought we were not so smart for hanging out in the water. We went to a BBQ place for lunch that was recommended on YouTube. It was very good. I had loaded fries. The fries started out really good, I wish some had been plain. Then they loaded them with ranch dressing, cheese, BBQ sauce and I chose chopped beef. It was better than any of the chopped beef BBQ I have had since Alabama when I was in college. I liked the sauce. I wonder if they sell it, I forgot to ask. For dinner mom made "angels on horseback" from her girl scout days. It was a hot dog wrapped with bacon. It was supposed to be cooked over a fire,, but there is a burn ban so we cooked them over charcoal. It was very good, (but not a good as the BBQ).