On The Trail at Daingerfield State Park

The last several days have been miserable in East Texas.

Cold. Rainy. Thunderstorms. Lightning. Hail. With just a “tease” of warmth here and there.

But the weekend turned out glorious, and glorious weekends deserve to be spent outside.

Daingerfield State Park is just a 30-minute drive from the house, so Becky and I laced up our hiking boots, packed some water, and headed out for a little daughter/father bonding time with Mother Nature.

 

We started out our trail-breaking quite late – around 3 in the afternoon – with a clear sky and a bit of chill in the air. Pretty much a perfect day. The trail is about 2.5 miles long around the lake, clearly marked, and has some gentle hills to climb. We made it around in about 2 hours, just strolling and stopping to take plenty of photos.

But that’s just technical info.

The REAL fun began the moment my daughter agreed to go with me.

Hiking with your children is more than just covering the distance in the quickest amount of time so you can get back home to watch your favorite TV show.

It’s about discovering who this young person is – what they dream about, their goals, their likes and dislikes.

It’s about finding out who their friends are.

How they feel about school and their teachers.

It’s about discovering who they have a crush on.

About what music they listen to.

It’s about making a connection with a person who will always be a part of yourself until the day they put you in the earth.

And on that day, she’ll remember you spent a day hiking with her instead of being at work or glued to the TV set.

And maybe she’ll say something nice about you.

 

About how you two walked the trail at Daingerfield State Park, on a chilly day in February, just you and her.

You won’t be there to hear it, but it’s nice to know anyways.