When in Elementary School I went to camp with the school, now that I look back i realize it was not "real" camping. We stayed in a two story lodge with all the commodities including a full kitchen. Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to have a real camping experience with my family thanks to Latino Outdoors and Texas Outdoor Family. Before the camping trip I had no idea that the Texas Park & Wildlife had these Camping Workshops which makes me even more exited to share with you.
The Texas Outdoor Family Workshops are hosted all throughout the Texas State parks. Our trip was to Garner State Park. The workshops provide all the equipment and fun activities. It was perfect for us since being first time campers we had no idea what to bring along. The rangers and Josie (fitfunand) where really informative since the start. The workshop was also hosted by Latino outdoors whose mission is to connect Latinos with the outdoors and empower them to explore and share their stories. Regardless anyone that is interested can participate not matter ethnicity,language or race. I took lots of pictures and trust me it was really hard to choose my favorite ones because they show how much fun and family bonding we had.
At our arrival we learned how to set up a tent.
We learned how to build and put out a fire safely.
Zoe with her smore after successfully building a fire |
Going up |
We learned about native plants on our way up.
After the hike we adventured by ourselfs and ended up at the Frio river. As the name imposes the river was frio and only Ever and Zoe where brave enough to jump in.
We learned how to kayak and had a relaxing time on the river. The water was crystal clear it was beautiful.
We also had a night walk where we searched for night animals. We got to see two scorpions that glowed in the dark when flashed with a black light, a frog and some crickets. Zoe and the kids from the other families made a dump cake in dutch oven and learned about different night animals and their sounds.
Josie from fitfunand.com helping the kids with the cake |
During our time there we didn't have cell phone connection which allowed us to fully take in the experience. We learned a lot from our rangers, we are definitely more confident and want to explore more state parks in Texas. Find the next workshop here:camping workshops Learn more about Latino Outdoors here:click here
I am so glad you enjoyed yourself with the family. Hearing that you want to return to parks melts my ♡. Planning two more next year at different parks. Garner will be hard to beat though. Thank you again for trusting in us.
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