Bonham State Park

Sunday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and then started driving north past Dallas to Fannin County for our first stop at Bonham State Park.  After paying admission, we parked near the group camp and set out on the Bois d'Arc Trail.  Soon, we came to one of several old fireplaces and seating areas constructed by Civilian Conservation Corps.

There was some beautiful blue false indigo flowering around it.

Continuing on the trail, we also passed some Jersey tea.

There were a few of these old stone seating areas built by the CCC along the trail.

Near the second one, we spotted a bowl and doily spider with an unusual web.

We followed the trail until it came out on the park road and followed that down to Armadillo Trail.  We were hoping to see some armadillos along the trail but no such luck.

There were a number of butterflies that were nectaring on the honeysuckle.

We also spotted some smallflower milkvetch with little purple flowers.

Finishing up the trail, we crossed the road to get on the Lake Loop.  Some coral honeysuckle was flowering along the lake.

The trail had nice views of the small lake and there was a spot to sit and enjoy the view from near the park entrance.

Alabama supplejack with impressive vines was growing along here.

At the end, we walked along the road past the dam and took Gnarly Root Trail back towards the headquarters.

Before finishing our hike, we headed over to the wildflower field to see what was blooming.

Indian paint brush and more blue false indigo added a beautiful splash of color.

There were some daisies blooming as well.

And we weren't the only ones enjoying the wildflowers in the meadow.

Several butterflies, including a monarch, were nectaring on the honeysuckle.

After some pictures in the wildflower meadow, we hiked the road back to our car and took off.

It was about lunch time, so we stopped in Bonham at Don Toro to get fajitas for lunch.  Then we headed into Caddo National Grassland and parked at the day-use parking for the Bois d'Arc Trailhead.  Trail 2 was a multi-use trail that made a 3.6-mile loop with a lot of wildflowers along the trail.

There were some dwarf dandelion and blue-eyed grass flowering along the trail.

Spiderwort was pretty common and we have that growing back home.

The longbract wild indigo had really pretty cream-colored flowers.

About half way through the loop, a short spur led out to an overlook on Coffee Mill Lake.

There were some birds out on the water, I think they were American coots, but hard to identify from a long distance.

We sat here for a bit enjoying the view of the lake before continuing on.

Some more meadow garlic was blooming along here.

Spring beauty was another wildflower that we see back home as well.

Despite being a grassland, the trail around the lake was mostly forested, but still a number of spring wildflowers popping up.

Common goldstar and crowpoison were a couple blooming in the shade.

Near the parking area, there was an open area with Indian paintbrush and crimson clovers blooming profusely.

The clovers are non-native but very pretty.

We then finished our hike back at the car.

We continued on to Paris and checked into the Comfort Inn.  Since we were in Paris, we had to go see the Eiffel Tower.

Being Texas, there was a cowboy hat atop the 65-foot tower.

We stopped in town for dessert at Sundae in Paris then walked across the street to see the Culburtson Fountain in the town square.

After dessert, we returned to the hotel for the evening.