One Year of Mother Neff - My State Park Journey in Photos of Visits Throughout the Year

Happy one year, sweet Mother Neff

Check out this awesome state park! Mother Neff State Park in Moody, TX. My very first visit was exactly ONE YEAR AGO from today, so I'm celebrating by sharing my journey with the park in photos. Enjoy the captions and visuals. It's been a wild, wonderful year. If you're interested in visiting my park, come out on Saturday, February 18! I'm organizing a volunteer opportunity. See me on Instagram or Facebook for more details. Volunteers visit for FREE! Plus, the Buffalo Soldiers are doing a reenactment on the same day. Or just come when you can!

JANUARY 31, 2016

On this day, I remember being aching to go outside, so I looked for green spaces on my map app. The first green space that showed up was Mother Neff State Park, and it was DEFINITELY a green dream last January!

Absolutely perfect day. I napped pretty well.

The wash pond was mesmerizing, as always. This is my very first look at the wash pond, so it grabbed me by the heartstrings and never let me go. 

The trails are short yet cozy and beautiful.

NOVEMBER 5, 2016

The next time I came was during a CCC event at the park. It included food, crafts, and fun. I brought my two youngest siblings and introduced them to Mother Neff for their first time.

The wash pond was flowing and lively! 

Parks have a special vibe when its raining. Like this damp yet lovely shot.

This section right next to the cave was entirely alive! My little brother had fun looking cool.

The cave provided a nice relief from the rain, much like we imagine it did back then for native people. My baby sister stands in the background as I attempt to get an artistic shot. Did I succeed??

NOVEMBER 8-10, 2016 

This is the pond near the prairie loop. On this visit, I camped out alone for my first time.  

I had dreadlocks! My first solo trip was very rewarding.  

So many things were gorgeously carpeted with moss.

I did a little backpacking practice to prepare for our training. The park rangers thought I was funny for walking their short trails with a backpack until I explained why!

It was also rainy during my solo trip. This time, the trails were haunting and eerie, which was fitting for the mood I was in at the time.

Overall, I had a great time! During the night it was a bit scary, wondering if any animals or weirdos were out in the woods watching me. Other than that, Mother Neff was an amazing place to practice solo. 

DECEMBER 5, 2016

During this visit, I brought my friend Sarah along for a formal photo shoot! She was raising money for the World Race via photos, and I was introducing yet another person to Mother Neff! Win-win :)

And...Once again...it was raining! Made the shoot extra fun. 

Spicy Cat.

It was Texas fall time, so everything was bursting with color. Sarah did her best to capture the colors in the artsy way she does.

This photo looks like I'm living a pure dream. I love it!

Wash pond water-play. 

This was also the shoot designate to feature my unibrow, which I wrote a blog about and you can find here.

Sarah does absolutely amazing work. I'm missing her as she galavants around the globe.

DECEMBER 10-11, 2016

Mother Neff had a Christmas event and I brought some friends along! Mother Neff events are fun, PLUS we have a beautiful headquarters, which makes the partying EXTRA jazzy.

They had a campsite decorating contest. This is what you can do with borrowing/dollar store items.

Camping with friends is the BEST! And these people were great. Would 10/10 go with them again.

DECEMBER 22, 2016

Then Melissa, the park superintendent had a party and it was a good bit of fun :)  I didn't take photos, so I have screenshots from videos. The human hiding behind this caption is Daniel, one of the park employees. He's pretty cool!

This photo literally says it all.

JANUARY 1, 2017

On January 1, we had our first day hikes. Mother Neff topped the attendance charts with 549 people walking our trails! It was a fun day of dogs, humans, and nature. Photo taken by Ky Harkey.

I helped out Jeremy and Ky with guiding our longer hikes. I got my 'official' on with my ambassador name tag and a walkie   talkie.

JANUARY 8-10, 2017

During this trip, I was filming some videos and taking some more time for myself.

I also met up with my park superintendent and saw another ambassador, my friend Seph!

A perk I got for being an ambassador was staying in our CCC cabin for free and staying in the intern cabin as well.  I created some very cozy feels in those cabins.

The intern cabin!

My adventures are memories here are very dear and treasured. Thanks for taking time to step into my Mother Neff world. See you there soon!