Socially distant

The usual summer travel habits Cas and I have established so far have to change this year.  In fact, they had to start changing at spring break.  If this had been a normal year, there would be a series of entries in this blog from March about the trip we fully intended to take to New Orleans.  Alas, the novel Coronavirus has changed everything.  Walk into any public space, and all of the sudden, people are in face masks.  The world turned sideways for a bit- I mean, there was absolutely no toilet paper at grocery stores or warehouse stores for over a month.  People stopped getting their hair cut.  The young and healthy were encouraged to behave on behalf of the older and infirm.

In parallel to that, of course, our summer travel plans withered on the vine.  Maybe next year...  We were going to travel to major cities exclusively within the US, but now, it seems, we are sticking even closer to the house than that.  Still, the fact remains that we are teachers with a whole summer stretching out before us, and fun stuff needs to be done.  

So, here we go.  Cas had his last meeting or whatever work-ish thing he did yesterday.  I had my last day of work on Thursday of last week.  We are free until somewhere in August, and certainly, we don't intend to spend the entire summer holed up in the house.  But how do we keep ourselves virus-free while having a good time?  It will take some strategy, to be sure.  Today's strategic move: The Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area Nature Preserve.  

Cas and I packed a few sandwiches, a few apples, some hand sanitizer, bug spray, wipes, etc. and headed off for a hike.  They have several hiking trails, there, and we walked the majority of one, switching to another for the most shade on our trip back to the car.  We saw the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, a log home from 1869 and plenty of bugs, flowers and butterflies.  It was a good first thing to do, and a nice way to dip a toe in the water, so to speak.  We have now ventured out of the house for something besides groceries, takeout food and socially distant lawn chair happy hours.  All in all, a great start to a rather unusual summer.  More to come.  

Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2XJ3mX7a61qq3KRj7 

If you are interested: Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area- $5/car- https://www.llela.org/llela-home