Berry Summer Adventure- Part 1

Saturday morning, June 5th, we left from Burleson, TX around 9:00 a.m. Once we were on the road, I called Palo Duro Canyon... our first stop, to make sure that we could still get a campsite. To my surprise the campsites were full! We had made no reservations because we weren't really sure how long we were going to camp or if we even could go on our trip until a couple of weeks before we left. There was a major cycling race that weekend, and there were no campsites left. I frantically called Abby who looked up campsites near Amarillo, which is the closest city to the canyon. After calling around, Shawn and I finally settled on camping near Lake Meredith, about an hour's drive from Palo Duro. We were a little skeptical...things weren't going as planned, but as we drove up to the campsite, Fritch Fortress, outside the little panhandle town of Fritch, (anybody heard of it? Me, either), we were pleasantly surprised. Turns out, the lake had filled a deep quarry of quartz and other rocks. It was a beautiful, long canyon of reds and browns. We chose a site on top of a hill with beautiful views of the lake and set up camp. The best part was that it was free! If anyone is in the area of Fritch, TX... just passing through, I wouldn't recommend driving up there just to camp there, you should try it. The lake is pretty clear and there were tons of boats and jet skiis. Shawn and I went for a quick swim, and came back to our camp to rest before cooking dinner. The wind was blowing and the sun was going down and reflecting off the red of the canyon. We could see for miles. That night's sleep was the best I ever had while camping. It was so peaceful and the weather was just right. We slept with the rain gear off... so we were quite exposed in the tent, but after awhile, I just put my earplugs in (I have to camp with those so I don't freak out at every single noise) and fell asleep. What a great and unexpected first day!