Our time at Caprock Canyon State Park had come an end. On our way out of the park we stopped at the Visitor’s Center to hand in the Jr. Ranger packets, but our dismay, it was closed for lunch. The kids had worked hard on their packets and we didn’t want to deprive them of their badge, so we decided to circle back and go for some lunch of our own. At the edge of the park there was a BBQ stand that was only open on Fridays and Saturdays. Yay! It was Friday!

As we were walking in, we struck up a friendly conversation with a man about the storms we experienced last night. He was staying in the Ranger’s lodge and said he saw smoke from two of the neighboring ranches and he suspected that they had fires from the lightning. When he mentioned the lightning I had to show him the picture I took which captured a bolt in action. He smiled and said, he has always enjoyed watching the storms roll in. Curious, I asked him if he comes here often. That’s when he told me that he was the first park ranger here!