50 years ago the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department was created by the merger of the Texas Game and Fish Commission and the State Parks Board. Since then our mission has been to make "life better outside" in Texas. We hope our efforts have helped make it possible for you to enjoy experiences in the outdoors.
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It was a hot mid-August afternoon in the Texas Hill Country. Jamie had never been to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area and this was the perfect time for her first trip.
We had been dating for a little over a year and loved hiking and spending time in the outdoors. She was a little reluctant given the extreme heat but I was on a mission.
We left our home in New Braunfels late afternoon as I wanted to reach the summit before sunset. As we drove through the Hill Country, I was trying to explain how truly impressive this place is. She kept giving me glances and they weren't "I love you" looks. They were more like, "are you kidding me, it's 100 degrees outside!"
As we arrived, the time was slipping away and I knew we had a long hike ahead if we were to make it to the summit in time. I "lovingly" encouraged her along, and we gathered our water and laced up the shoes tight. It wasn't long before I looked back to see her panting and, again, giving me "the look." I tried to be positive, telling her that this sunset would be one of the most memorable of her life. We trekked up and up, reached a seemingly flat spot, and then up and up some more. Our calves were burning but we pushed on.
As we finally reached the summit, she was exhausted but pleased with the view. As we sat there to catch our breath, I told her about how children use all of their senses to experience the moment. I asked her to close her eyes and use her sense of hearing and smell to experience being in a magical place.
When she opened her eyes, I was on one knee and asked if she would honor me by becoming my wife. I will never forget the look in her eyes as the tears immediately started flowing. She kept saying "are you kidding me, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" I finally had to clarify if that was a "yes". It was.
We embraced and she immediately started planning the wedding. Needless to say, we don't really remember the hike down nor did we feel the burning in our legs any longer. The year was 1999 and we had one cell phone with no service. As soon as we did, she began calling family and friends.
This year we will celebrate our 13th anniversary and we have been blessed to work, play and experience the great outdoors with our two sons in some of the most spectacular places in Texas.
This photo is from a weekend on Galveston Island. The cottage we rented faced the water and we had a beautiful view.
We enjoyed getting up and having our coffee out on the deck and watching the sunrise. One morning, we caught this photo that hangs on my wall at work.
When I feel overwhelmed I take the time to look at it and remind myself that though I may be a small fish in a big pond, life is beautiful and life is better outside.
When I was growing up, my mom never really had much of an interest in the outdoors, although she always encouraged my dad, brother and me to fish, hike and hunt. Outdoor adventures were just something "the boys" did.
But then I had a child of my own. Now "Mimi" and my son are big buds – so much so that she eagerly accompanied my five-year-old and me on a fishing trip to Colorado Bend State Park during the annual white bass run a few years ago.
It will forever be a special and memorable moment to have shared with my mom, whom I never thought I would see out on the water with a rod and reel, on her first fishing voyage with my young son. Fantastic trip.
By the way, Mimi held her own, and landed eight white bass.
There have been many times that I have witnessed my child thriving in nature, making me aware of how important it is to keep him plugged in to fresh air, sunshine, water, trees, wildlife and wind.
As a very small child, he swam in a spring fed watering hole on our property in Austin. He used to sit on my lap on our porch and talk to "Mr. Moon." He had his first kiss at a dance at Garner State Park.
We have many stories about camping and glamping at Guadalupe River State Park, McKinney Falls, Bastrop, and Colorado Bend, to name a few. This picture was taken recently at Garner State Park, where a group of our friends meet annually to hike, sing, dance and swap lies around the campfire. Life's better outside 'cause it makes you want to clown around with each other.
One of my most memorable days was a chilly February morning in 1988. I was wade fishing the lower Laguna Madre with a crew of fellow biologists from Palacios and Corpus Christi.
The bite was slowing down a bit when I decided to respond to a more urgent call of nature. This was a decidedly complicated matter owing to the layers of clothes, waders and assorted other paraphernalia.
After I was put back together, I hurried back to the water. As I took the first step back into the bay, a clear sand pocket next to a raft of dead seagrass caught my attention. It was an unlikely spot: six inches deep at best, six feet from dry land.
The sudden swoosh of a fish attacking the plug caught my attention, stopping me dead in my tracks. But I was too impatient and set the hook on air. A quick retrieve back and a quicker cast back revealed nothing. Did I miss my chance? One more try.
As soon as the plug hit the water, the water exploded. Boom! Wait for it… wait… I waited to feel resistance. There, let her rip: paydirt! I had a career-best 8 lb 12 oz trout in six inches of water who put up a "speck"tacular fight.
During a 1999 archeological survey of the rock basins at Hueco Tanks State Park in El Paso, our team found a rock overhang on the south side of the central basin that reminded me of a small chapel.
As I continued to study the archeological data, I became more and more convinced of the special role that these water-holding rock hills in the Chihuahuan desert played over the millennia. I did not yet realize that the park would come to have a central role in my life also.
Nine years later, my fiancé and I considered options for what would be the second wedding in our (now) middle-aged lives. We decided on a small wedding in a natural setting. What place could be better than the church-like rock alcove at Hueco Tanks?
We made arrangements for a day in early November and envisioned a midday wedding followed by a romantic camp stove dinner and dancing via our Jeep's CD player at Campsite 12, which has a secluded, beautiful view.
Like most weddings, things turned out beautifully but not quite as planned. The differential on the Jeep began to whine when we hit I-10 and had burned up by the time we reached El Paso. A dealer honored the warranty but parts had to be shipped in from New Mexico. We transferred the camping gear to a rental car and headed out to Hueco Tanks.
On the big day, we met our pastor at the airport and drove out to the park. The wind began to rise as we donned our fleece vests and hiked to the rock overhang. My wedding hairstyle quickly became a ponytail.
We had a deeply meaningful ceremony with the Park Superintendent (and personal friend) as our witness. She then took us on a tour of a few rock art sites; our pastor was impressed with the spirituality they represented.
After the ceremony, dust began to kick up. We battened down our equipment and tightened our tent ropes. Our romantic dinner turned into hastily-prepared turkey wraps. Dancing plans were abandoned. We put on all the warm clothes we had and hunkered down in the tent.
Temperatures dropped to the 30s that wedding night. In our planning we had not realized that there is a huge difference between October and November weather in the Hueco desert valley.
My husband woke early and heated coffee on the camp stove as the sun rose and warmed our campsite. We headed to El Paso and reclaimed the Jeep, which was said to be repaired but whined all the way back to Austin.
When I described our wedding to another new bride, she termed it a "destination" wedding, though I suspect most bridal magazines would not include early winter camping in that definition. Nevertheless, we remember that special day very fondly, and the enduring spirit of Hueco Tanks is an essential part of our lives together.
I will always treasure the memory of my two stepdaughters' first trip to Big Bend National Park.
Megan and Tricia were teenagers when we first drove west with them to experience this wide open landscape. They were city girls who were always in front of the computer or the TV, and they weren't sure they wanted to leave their comforts and friends to spend the Thanksgiving holiday camping.
But it didn't take long for them to become enchanted with this natural playscape. They became free-spirits and grew more confident with each hike. Every night we could hear them talking and laughing together in their tent. The sisters got along better on this trip than they had in months.
On our last day, we hiked into Ernest Tinaja Canyon where they marveled at the canyon's unique geology as they scrambled high up the layers of multi-colored rocks. They bravely followed their father deep into the canyon, jumping over the natural water holes (called tinajas) and climbing inside the natural rock chimneys where they stretched their arms, their legs and their imaginations.
As we started our hike out, the girls stopped to create animal shadows against a rock wall as sun began to set behind us. Their carefree and improvisational play was a joy to watch, and it made me feel very grateful for the great outdoors that allow us to feel so free and yet so connected to each other.
