Cooper Lake State Park, TX

JoAnn and I drove to Cooper Lake State Park in Northeast Texas for a day outing. The lake has docks and piers for fishing and sightseeing. The park also has campsites for tents and house trailers. The elevation of the lake is 450 ft above sea level. 

This is a photo of Cooper lake. We arrived just at the right time to see hundreds of water fowl and several pelicans in the water. 

The sky was really quite pretty and the temperatures in the 60's with low humidity. Unfortunately, the trails were muddy due to heavy rainfall earlier in the week. 






The pelicans are the white birds among the other water fowl on the lake. 

View of the water fowl from another vantage point. 

Here is the shoreline of the lake. The trip was actually quite fun with excellent weather. Due to heavy rainfall, the lake is quite full.

Sunset Cove. The pier is a good place to view most of the lake.

Sign at Sunset Cove. Note the trail map and descriptions of the area.

Talimena National Scenic Byway

We made a one-day trip to the Talimena Scenic Byway that is a 50 mile stretch of road between Talihena, OK and Mena, AR. The road essentially runs across a east-west mountain ridge. The fall colors are typically quite beautiful in the area. Along the way to the byway, we stopped at Sardis Lake in Oklahoma.

Here is JoAnn at the spill way looking across the lake.

We have arrived at the western side of the byway and here's JoAnn at the welcoming sign that greets visitors. 

This is a panorama taken from the top of the mountain ridge along which the byway runs. There are many observation points along the road all of which provide various views of the surrounding countryside and forest. 

While we were at another viewpoint, this hang glider drifted by. This viewpoint had several dozen visitors most of whom were busy taking photos of the glider. 

This is a panorama telephoto of some of the farm land in one of the valleys below us and gives some impression of how high we are above the plain. We enjoyed the drive very much.