Right after Memorial Day, we were sooo ready for a change of scenery that we headed out to Brownwood, TX for a stay at Riverside Park RV. We couldn't make state park camping reservations yet, but we were able to get day passes to Lake Brownwood State Park. Our little sites near the city park were pretty great!
My parents and Chris' parents met us there on Tuesday. We had some outdoor fun when we arrived.
Our proximity to the park made for great morning and evening bike rides and walks. We had THE BEST weather that week!
Noah and I went for a bike ride that first evening and noticed several stray cats around. One was friendly and led us to a cat paradise! People had set up little cat houses and were obviously feeding the cats at the park. We noticed several had clipped ears, indicating that they had been neutered and released by the humane society. Many were friendly, and we couldn't wait to show our family of (mostly) cat lovers!
My dad is particularly fond of cats, so we dubbed it "Pandy's Playhouse."
We found the placement of this sign near the cat hideout to be serendipitous....
Did I mention how beautiful and serene the park was?
One funny thing about our RV sites was a little tomcat that was hanging around, meowing loudly and INCESSANTLY! He was cute but slightly obnoxious.
Soon we realized Mr. Meowser had his eye on a pretty kitty the kids dubbed "Charlotte Chaplin."
On Wednesday we headed to the state park and explored some of the CCC buildings and hiked a trail before picnicking in the shade.
When we camp, we eat WELL. That evening the kids helped put together shish kabobs.
Thursday we headed to Lake Brownwood again to hike a more challenging trail. We had some dicussions over the trail map but finally overcame the challenges of following a state park trail map. We definitely earned a swim in the lake!
Of course, after our swim we came back to camp and took our usual walk/bike to Pandy's Playhouse, aka the kitty haven at Riverside Park. While there, Drew and Chris witnessed someone in a car dumping two more cats. We went to see the new arrivals, heartbroken over the thought of people abandoning their animals like that. One of the cats was a beautiful dilute tortoiseshell that was obviously pregnant. Audrey started calling her Georgie because she had the calm personality of the the mare Audrey used to ride. Jamie took a shine to her and we kind of thought she might take her home with her! We showed the kitties where all the food was and sadly left them for the night.
Friday was Drew and Jamie's day to pack up and head home. Before they headed out, we went back to the park for some exercise and cat visits. The two cats from the day before were still there, and I picked up the little gray momma and turned to Chris. Half joking, I said, "Do you think we can take her home?" and about fell over when Chris didn't shut me down. He was consdering it and working out logistics! He said, "We would need to take her straight to the clinic before introducing her to Skywalker. If she has any diseases, we'd have to put her down. And we would not keep any kittens!" Jamie chimed in that she'd take a kitten! Suddenly we seemed to be working things out to rescue this sweet cat.
We brought her back to our campsite and Chris ran to the store for a cat carrier. We called the vet and got a drop-off appointment for her to get checked out and vaccinated. I didn't really have time to reconsider!
River wanted to nose around in the brush by the river and Audrey was nervous she would fall in or run away, so we fashioned a leash for her and she didn't object.
After Drew and Jamie left, the rest of us went into Brownwood to see the sights.
We found some historic buildings but couldn't go inside because of the coronavirus shutdown.
Back at camp, some took naps while others played and rode bikes.
Saturday we packed up early and rushed home to see our new cat! After battling over the name, the kids finally settled on "River" after the park where we found her. We were so relieved to hear that all of her tests came back clear and we were told she'd be having kittens any day now!
She settled right in to her new home!
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