Yesterday (yes, YESTERDAY! I’m getting on top of things haha) the kids and I day tripped to a state park about an hour and a half away on the east side of Tyler. I wanted to get one more use out of our state park pass that is set to expire at the end of the month (don’t worry, I’ll be getting another next month) and with the weather forecasted to be a balmy 65 degrees, we took advantage. We loaded up a lunch bag, some fishing rods and our new puppy, Sally, and we were out the door by 10.

I knew the park was situated on a lake that cooled a power plant similar to our previously visited Fairfield Lake SP, but I had no idea there so much history to the area as well!

We started our visit with lunch and set out on a 1 mile hike around an island just off the shore of the main park. This was Sally’s first real go being on leash and she did great! Ashlyn and I took turns walking her and we marveled at the landscape and trees on one tiny little island. We went from towering pines to a plateau of prairie and post oaks and even found the most unusual “growth” in a tree branch.

Once we completed our trip around the island, we retrieved the fishing rods and headed to the pier. I had initially just packed some bread to ball up for bait (don’t judge…3 kids with 3 rods means 3 hooks…I really wanted to keep it simple haha), but we intercepted 2 ladies on their way out who gave us their leftover night crawlers and crickets! Score! We settled Sally on a blanket with a bone and she contentedly chewed herself into a nap while I got the kids lines in the water.

I’m forever in awe of the kids new found love for fishing. Not a bit of activity was happening, yet they were hard at for an hour. Sure they wanted to “check their bait” every 30 seconds and asked out loud quite often where the fish were; but by the end of the hour, Weston was casting like a damn pro (seriously, I was shocked), Archer lost a few worms to bites and Ashlyn caught a perch bigger than her first one! They managed themselves so well, I was able to turn my attention away and take some glamour shots of the pup!

After this already full day of activity, I figured we had enough and we loaded up to drive the remainder of the park to see what the campsites were like. The park offers cabins, cottages (both with AC), screened shelters, primitive and water/electric tent camp sites AND large RV spots. Many of which had permanent awnings constructed over the picnic tables. We drove past a trail head and I explained to the kids that it led to an old historic road from the 1800’s that people used to travel between Henderson and Shreveport back then. Much to my surprise, all 3 exclaimed they wanted to see it even with it being another 1 mile round trip hike! Probably had something to do with our Oregon Trail Unit study we are working on currently 😉.

We piled out with a tuckered and reluctant pup and, really, we were not disappointed! The old road met up with our trail from private property and we did indeed get to walk in the same footsteps as travelers from back then. The kids were intrigued that old roads lacked the many roadside attractions we see today.

We made it to Martin Creek which was dammed to create the lake that cools the power plant. The original road disappears into the lake now and I’m not sure if the preservation of it picks up somewhere on the other side or not. From the state park installed bridge over the creek, Ashlyn and I were convinced we could make out a creek crossing even though there wasn’t any signage confirming our theory.

The park had another larger trail East of this one that took you around the setting of a once popular pit stop town along the road named Harmony Hill. The community disappeared once a railroad came in, bypassing it in nearby Tatum.  I’m thinking that would be another interesting trail to try, but not at 3pm on our supposed to be day trip at the park.

So, obviously, this park warrants another trip with some overnight stays to explore that last trail, enjoy some swimming and give fishing some more tries. Definitely a great park to kick our 2018 adventures off on!

-Lindsay

So on the weekend of SEPTEMBER (took me a while to post this one) 27th-29th, we visited our 19th state park. It originally wasn’t intended to be Bonham; we wanted to take the kids to Dinosaur Valley that weekend, but a line of forecasted thunderstorms sent us farther north. Regardless of location, we were super excited for this trip because Daddy would be joining us AND we were road testing the pop up camper for the first time! And because we would have the convienences of the camper, we decided to bring Skye along for the first time since Nathan and I were just dating!

We arrived after dark Friday night and successfully picked a spot, backed in, “popped up,” and had the kids tucked in for the night all within an hour. Not bad! Major lesson learned on that event was to have headlamps. Holding flashlights and trying to use our hands slowed us down. Before everyone went to sleep, I snapped some pics of how we arranged everyone. Cozy, comfortable and effective!

The following morning, we loved waking up to seeing the view of the lake and we were content with our in-the-dark campsite choice.

Daddy cooked breakfast while the kiddos played tic tac toe with collected sticks and rocks

The kids desperately wanted to hit the small lake’s swim area, but it was still too overcast and chilly. We opted first for a quick 1 mile hike to check out some of the park’s well known CCC structures.

With more time to kill before it was warm enough to swim, we left Skye in the comfort of the camper after lunch and took the kids out on the pier to fish

We had so MUCH fun fishing! Considering we were only prepared with 2 kiddie rods rigged up with bobbers and treble hooks baited with balled up bread, Ashlyn and Archer each caught a little perch and Weston had a lot of bites. It was thrilling to see them so excited during their first honest attempt at fishing!

We fished until we ran out of bait and the weather was finally right for swimming. Which was actually short lived because the kids let a float get away from them in the breeze and Daddy’s attempt to retrieve it didn’t work out. Incidentally that was the only picture of swimming time I took.

After a very active day outside, we loved being able to get the kids cleaned up before dinner time and having the indoor space and comfort of the camper for them to play games and read in. Definitely an upgrade on tent camping!

Bonham State Park is very small. Which was very appealing for not attracting many visitors. There were very few full hook up sites and about an equal amount of tent sites. There was a new bath house facility, but it was located what I found to be pretty far from all of the sites. The tent sites being the farthest away at that. However, we could definitely put this one on the visit again list.

And number 19 unfortunately wrapped up 2017’s park visits. With a total of 6 accomplished. Not the 9 I was hoping for. There’s a ton of excuses for why it didn’t work out, but I’ll just skip straight to the part where I say that this year I hope to recoup with a total of 12 visited for 2018. I’ll even go as far to put a goal 12 list on this  beginning of 2018 post! 😊

In no particular order:

• Dinosaur Valley
• Lake Bob Sandlin
• Martin Creek Lake
• Huntsville
• Enchanted Rock
• Devil’s Sinkhole
• Lake Mineral Wells
• Fort Parker
• Old Tunnel
• Cleburne
• Cooper Lake
• Cedar Hill

Wish us luck!

-Lindsay