After leaving San Angelo we headed west, on to a Corp of Engineers campground nestled in the trees along Proctor Lake, near Dublin, Texas. It seems everywhere we go is amazing and unique – but this place was especially so! From the moment we got there, we knew it was going to be perfect. The campground is spread out along the east shore of the lake, and most of the sites are near to being right on the water. Our site was asphalt and almost level, along with being wide and having a nice picnic pavilion all our own.
The kayaking was wonderful, because we could just walk down the bank and start paddling! We went out on several trips around the lake, and down to the playground, as well as just playing around in the cove. One windy evening, I decided to break out our big beach umbrella to use as a kayak sail. I’ve done it once before, at the beach in Florida – but that was with a steady wind. This wind would die down for several minutes, and then gust suddenly. At first, the wind almost pulled me over into the water! I had to practice holding it different ways, but by the time I was done I was convinced that a paddle is still the way to go.
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Dad, Uncle Larry, Aunt Judy, and I sitting at our campsite
overlooking Proctor Lake. |
My aunt and uncle live near the campground, so it was great getting to see them! They came over for dinner a couple times, and we went to their house for dinner and a birthday party for my aunt. My uncle showed us his big deer racks, and told stories of the wild hogs that live around there. It was a lot of fun, and I look forward to seeing them again when we go back there!
Near Proctor Lake is a little town named Dublin – named after the capitol of Ireland. And this town doesn’t just have an Irish name - many of the stores are “Irish”, along with the road names, decorations around town, and their events during the year. We happened to be there during the big St. Patrick’s Day celebration, and this was the perfect place to celebrate it. The whole town was lined up along the roads or out on the street participating in a HUGE parade that lasted for 30+ minutes. There were lots of tractors, old trucks, horses, and ATVs in the parade, and plenty of candy for the kids to pick up!
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Here are some Texan "Irishmen" competing in the Highland
Games during the Saint Patrick's Day celebration.
Here they're during rock hurling... |
There are two free museums in Dublin – a rodeo museum, and a Dublin historical museum. Both had very friendly people working in them, who took the time to walk around with us and tell us things that the little signs never would’ve. We ended up going to each of the museums twice, because we all enjoyed them so much!
Probably the most famous landmark around is the Dublin Dr. Pepper factory, right in the middle of town. They are the only company that still makes Dr. Pepper from the original formula, and there sure is a difference. I don’t even like soda, but this stuff was really good! After we paid a small fee, we were given a very interesting tour of the Dr. Pepper plant.
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Here are hundreds of old Dr. Pepper bottles that have been
refilled by the factory in Dublin. |
The main feature of the factory is the huge machine right in the middle that cleans the bottles, fills them with Dr. Pepper, and sends them into another room to be inspected and packaged up for sale. Once the factory part of the tour was done, we went into the little Dr. Pepper museum, which gives a history of its founder (who drank seven Dr. Peppers per day), and has lots of old advertisements and bottles from Dr. Pepper’s early days. In the museum we found out who Dr. Pepper is actually named after! His name was Dr. Pepper, and he was going to be the future father-in-law of the man who invented the soda. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out with that girl or her father, but he had already gone too far to change the name of it. So, Dr. Pepper soda is named after the man that wouldn’t let the inventor of it marry his daughter. Talk about awkward! And the real Pepper family has no rights whatsoever to the Dr. Pepper company...
Check back soon – we’re on the road heading east!
The campground is spread out along a big part of the southern shore and has a marina, store, playground, and lots of big shady campsites. Although it’d be a shorter walk to the lake from some of the other sites, we preferred one up near the woods with big oak trees all around it – and it was still well within walking distance of the lake. Our paved site was fairly level with a concrete picnic table under a large covered shelter, and was also totally shaded.
