On Thursday we set out for our first family camping trip. We decided to go local and camp at Brazos Bend State Park, in Needville, TX, only about 45 minutes away from home.
On our first night there our tent was raided by a raccoon who decided to steal our dog food, (which we didn’t even realize was in the tent!) while we were out on a short hike. I guess since they had already gotten into the tent once, they realized they could do it again because when we went to bed, there was no sleeping going on. Poor Selah, our dog, paced the tent all night long trying to protect us. All night we heard the scurry of little paws outside our tent, and at one point looked out the screen window and saw a raccoon with our tent zippers in his paws trying to get in.
Well we took our lack of sleep and fear of being invaded again as a sign we needed a change. The park also offered screened shelters, and we said yes please! Our next two nights were much more peaceful staying in a shelter where we could lock up our things and didn’t involve raccoons trying to invade our personal space, at least not while we slept.
We had more raccoon fun the next night after John finished cooking dinner and we were sitting down to eat and a raccoon came wandering up, trying to get some dinner as well. I never realized how persistent raccoons could be, and how little they fear humans. He kept coming back, even though we chased him away with a broom many, many times. Eventually we chased him away to another campsite and then he bothered them for the rest of the night.
Overall the trip was so much fun, despite the raccoon encounters. Brazos Bend offered so many trails on which we saw armadillos, alligators, and tons of birds. We thought maybe this could become an annual trip, going every summer before we start back to school. Neither of us come from camping families, so this trip was a huge accomplishment, showing us we really could do this again.
The trip also provided us with some much needed quiet time. It’s amazing how the lack of computers, cell phones, and television really help you to focus on what’s important.
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