Timeless Journeys

Timeless Journeys with Sage Staycation – Lake Buchanan by Kimberly “Sage” Pridemore

Welcome to Infinity Magazine’s exciting adventure feature, “Timeless Journeys with Sage.” Sage has been with the Infinity team for several years, her wisdom, knowledge and experience makes her a perfect fit as Infinity’s Travel Editor for this special feature.

Each issue will be a wonderful adventure with Sage as she travels to amazing destinations. Sage will share her travels with helpful tips, interesting facts about her fun filled and relaxing get-aways!

Staycation – Lake Buchanan

Greetings from Texas! My last trip of 2019 was to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ray and I spent Christmas with my son Ari, and son-in-law, David. Little did I know that this would be my last trip for sometime. 2020 has remained a stay-at-home year due to Covid19 travel restrictions. I had three trips planned for this year: Oregon, the South of France and the British Virgin Islands. So far, all are on hold.

This month, I am going to share with you a boating and camping trip Ray and I did in June. We both have homes on Lake Buchanan, Texas, and spend much of our time in and around the water. We have felt blessed and fortunate to spend quarantine in the Texas Hill Country together. We have been doing a lot of swimming, pontooning, cooking and eating! I am a gypsy by nature, and wanderlust is in my blood, so as soon as other vacation plans looked too risky, I came up with a great idea: camping!

There are a couple islands in the middle of Lake Buchanan that we often pass on our Pontoon. The Pontoon has two names, by the way: Gypsy Mermaid and Imagine That. We each named her appropriately.

Over Memorial weekend, we spotted an awesome cove on the bigger island. It looked perfect to pitch a tent and make it our home for a couple of nights. Within two weeks, our plan manifested.

Lake Buchanan is the second largest of the Highland Lakes in Central Texas, with a length of 30 miles and a width at the widest point of just under 5 miles. Lake Buchanan also has an outstanding 124 miles of shoreline. Lake Buchanan is very popular with boaters, campers, fisherman and swimmers. One major benefit of being on a lake this large, is that you’ll never feel crowded. It is located 60 miles northeast of Austin and 95 miles north of San Antonio.

Ray was super excited that I actually wanted to camp out in the middle of the lake, so he began making his list of what we needed to bring. I was in charge of food. We decided to spend two nights and loaded up our pontoon with a tent, floaties, sleeping bags, ice chests and a few other things to make our camping as close to glamping as Ray would let us!

From Ray’s house, it is about a twenty minute boat ride. So, if we forgot anything (and we did) it was only a quick return trip. It had been almost twenty years since I went camping. I was super excited to decompress with a good book, my journal and some sunshine!

Our first day after setting up camp was spent mostly in the water and on our rafts. Ray did some fishing and we hiked the island in the late afternoon. The best part of this trip was that we had nothing planned, and nothing to do, but relax and chill out. Dinner consisted of campfire potatoes, grilled corn on the cob and cheeseburgers and brats! Delicious. We shared a wonderful bottle of Tempranillo from our local winery, Perissos Vineyards, while watching the sun set over the lake.

Ray made a campfire and we spent some time just enjoying the beautiful stars and night sounds. We also made s’mores over the open fire for dessert. It was super easy to climb in my sleeping bag and fall fast asleep.

The next morning, we were up with the sun drinking coffee and watching fishing boats while the bacon cooked. I made us bacon, eggs and fresh fruit for breakfast. Later that afternoon, our friends rode their jet skis to the island to join us for some lunch and swimming. What a great way to enjoy the day! My day also included reading, journaling and napping. We decided to take a sunset cruise and have dinner on the boat. We enjoyed shrimp cocktail appetizers and assorted cheeses. Dinner was a simple Greek salad with roasted chicken and feta, crusty bread and grapes. After we docked the boat back at our campsite, Ray made a fire and we again enjoyed an evening of listening to the crickets, the waves on the shore, all with a stunning full moon overhead. That night, we decided to sleep on the boat under the moon to enjoy the fresh, cool wind. It took me awhile to fall asleep that night, but I felt very blessed to be so in the flow with nature. It made me remember how much I loved sleeping outside as a kid. I made a vow not to wait another twenty years to do it again.

The next morning I awoke to the smell of coffee brewing and the sun rising. I felt super refreshed and renewed. Sleeping on the pontoon was not so bad! We took our time packing up our campsite and loading up the Gypsy Mermaid. We also started making plans to come back and do it all again in late summer.

So I have two zen moments on this trip. One was sleeping on the pontoon under the full moon and the second was getting back to Ray’s and jumping in the shower and staying there for 20 minutes! Nothing like a hot shower and washing your hair after two days of camping!

Next issue I will be sharing my Santa Fe, New Mexico adventure!

Blessings, Sage

Obviously Ray and my camping trip was something we pulled together on our own, however I am going to share some cool places to stay and things to do if you ever get out in my neck of the woods. Flying into Austin or San Antonio is suggested, in addition to renting a car so you can explore all of Texas Hill Country.

Places to stay on Lake Buchanan:

Willow Point Resort: Willow Point’s Texas cabin

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