A Relaxing Weekend Bathed in God's Beauty!

Mark and I have been so terribly busy with work and home and family and other such things that take up time. We were both in such need of a break from life and the busyness that comes with it. This past weekend, we had a long weekend with Friday off so I decided that it was time to get away .....("Wanna Get Away?" :))

I've been interested in some of the nearby state parks for a while now so it seemed a perfect time to visit one of these parks. The one I've been most intrigued by is Possum Kingdom State Park. It is on a lake named Possum Kingdom Lake and is about 1 1/2 hours away from us.

As I was packing on Friday, I was thinking....'There are so many things we could do here. I know Mark wants to get stuff done around the house...should we really go?'. Well, then I knew we had to go at that point, but it was still work getting going. We finally took off late afternoon for the park. Driving out there, it wasn't too far away. Yet I was surprised when we got up in the area (west-northwest from our house) at the amount of elevation change! I thought west Texas was flat. I know Fort Worth is pretty flat. But it was actually quite a pleasant drive up through some hills, the Palo Pinto mountains actually, near the lake.

The first night it got dark pretty quickly so we set up tent shortly after arriving and made dinner in the dark......First night was split pea soup....one of Mark's favorite!

The stars are so much brighter once you get away from the city lights and I just love seeing the stars. Also, there was a storm out west of us, so we saw some facinating lightning before going to bed that night.

The next morning, we woke up to see how beautiful the place was that we were staying.

Here's our view from the tent. We stayed just several feet from the lake front...mmmmm.......
And enjoyed watching the sunrise over the lake, while sipping our campfire coffee...of course.

We took the bikes out with us and went on a small bike ride in addition to a hike on a trail in the park. It was warm, but not too hot in the daytime. Here's a picture from the highest point on the trail, overlooking the lake below. Also, one of us on an interesting rock formation a little ways down the hike, again with an awesome view.
Probably the site that the Possum Kingdom Lake is most famous for is a rock formation named "Hell's Gate". It's basically a place on the lake where two masses of rock stick out from the land rather close to each other and rise several hundred feet in the air. It looks like a gate to the lake, which I assumed is where it got its' name. However, I did a little research and legend has it that the name came from an incident back in the early 1800's with some fur traders that had stolen some fur from the Indians. When the Indians came after them, they found themselves at the edge of one of these rocks. One of the traders was heard to say (as he jumped to his death from the cliff) that he would rather go through the gates of Hell than return the stolen fur to the Indians. ....Who knows if it's true, but makes for a good story!
An overlook near the gate.
Lastly, I had to show it just because....we're in Texas and as the saying goes..."Everything's bigger in Texas"!
Here's to an incredibly enjoyable weekend of relaxing, slowing down and enjoying the simplicity that life can be at times like this, if you allow it!