On the Road Again

As I write this, we are on our way to Arkansas via Dallas to spend some much-needed time away in the woods. This trip will mark our third trip to the Albert Pike Recreation Center in Arkansas and we are very excited to return after a one-year break from our November tradition. Last year at this time I was pregnant with our now five-month-old daughter, Vera, and sleeping on the ground did not sound at all fun.


We have built some really special family memories on the past two trips and we have had fun on this drive reminiscing and laughing. On our first trip, we were a little over-zealous and decided to car camp for a part of the trip and backpack for the rest. We also brought our biking gear. Oh and we tacked that trip on to our Thanksgiving trip to Dallas. So the results were an incredibly loaded down car and way too much time packing and repacking our different bags. However that trip did afford us with some really cool pictures of us being hardcore with our mountain bikes and also with our first ever night in the backcountry. 

The next year we decided just to backpack, but we had the brilliant idea to bring our dog, Marley, for his first ever camping trip (which somehow resulted in even more gear than the previous year). But again, we were able to come away with some pretty incredible photos of our dog that could easily be featured in an REI ad. 

So this year we are keeping it simple. We are dropping off the dogs and the baby in Dallas with family and heading out on our own -planning to backpack the whole 27 mile loop in about 3 days. We are going about 2 weeks earlier than we have been in the past and are very hopeful that this will mean that we actually get to see leaves on the trees and maybe even in that beautiful array of fall colors. Either way, we are sure to enjoy the cool weather, and the time sleeping, eating, and playing outside. Zach has been teaching me to play frisbee lately and I think the disc might make an appearance on this trip.


I will write more later in the week and hopefully post some really magnificent pictures. But for old time’s sake, I will post a few of our favorites from our previous trips. Enjoy!