Lost in the Woods

With work and school picking up, I haven't found much time for the outdoors, even just walking the Trails. Late nights serving/studying = RIP to my morning routine. One of my coworkers and I planned to run the Trails in the evening earlier last week, only to be rained out. While lamenting our lack of foresight (honestly there's a weather app: we should learn to use it), I had the bright idea that we should go for a hike! The extent of my planning consisted of googling the Fort Worth Nature Center, signing up for on online membership (b/c who doesn't want to support a Nature Center?), and reserving two spots for Saturday when the grounds opened at 7am.

For anyone not intimately familiar with my schedule, let me clarify a few things for you. I work as a waitress, mainly nighttime and double shifts Saturday and Sunday each weekend. A double = 2 shifts or 12+ hours, starting at 9:30AM, usually with no breaks.

Now let me clarify my plan TO HIKE. On Saturday morning. Before I had to go to work...  30 mins away from the Nature center...

I hope you're catching onto the fact that this was most definitely NOT one of my best plans. Especially considering the fact that I went to class then studied for 6 hours Friday afternoon and went on a date Friday night. Basically, RIP to my sleep schedule in addition to my morning routine.

Despite all the factors that should have made it a less than ideal morning, Saturday was AMAZING. The trails weren't particularly anything special and really more of a nature walk than a hike (side note: where are the mountains in TX pls someone tell me) but being out in the woods and seeing herds of deer, flowering cacti, fungi, dragonflies, and lots of other unidentifiable plants and critters was exactly what I needed after all the time I spend inside on zoom. 

We got to enjoy a beautiful sunrise shining through the trees and out over the water, bathing everything in gold. It's amazing how refreshing nature can be. I don't realize how stifled I feel indoors until I'll able to enjoy the free air and space and forest. We decided to ditch the map and just wander the trails which led to an utterly refreshing two hours of exploration and excitement upon finding each new creature, flower, or view. 

I think we were only legitimately lost once on our way back to the car once we realized we should head back to make it to work. Reality was much less magical than our woodsy adventure, but for anyone invested in the outcome, I did make it to work and clocked in at 9:31! (I did arrive sweaty in a sports bra + shorts and got chewed out by my manager for spending 16 minutes getting dressed + doing my makeup in the bathroom, but we don't have to focus on that.) All in all, definitely worth it.