Stop number 2 had been highly anticipated for a couple of years after our visit to nearby Longhorn Cavern. I was also very optimistic about our campsite! A less crowded weekday reservation allowed me to have options to choose from and I was able to select a well reviewed water front site! And it did not disappoint! We had a long, level concrete pad with a perfect shade tree over the camper. The water front provided an ideal kayak launch as well! So ideal, that other nearby campers politely asked if they could share the launch and they ended up being a very sweet couple we enjoyed chatting with. And as icing on the cake, the nearby bathhouse was brand new and air conditioned (!) literally the nicest one we have ever seen! If I have to list a con, it would only be that there is zero privacy between sites. That appears to be the case throughout the huge 300+ campsite park anyways. The hilly landscape and lake more than make up for it.

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Once we were popped up we headed across the camping loop to the trail head for The Devil’s Waterhole. Along the way we were distracted down/up another trail to take in a large section of Gneiss (pronounced nice, thanks for reading that plaque Ashlyn!) rocks and ended up in the dried up bed of Spring Creek that feeds into the lake. Apparently when it’s flowing, the area is a beautiful waterfall and lovely to swim in!

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We finally made it to a more reliable swimming spot coined the Devil’s Waterhole. The rock formations and cliff sides surrounding the narrow corner of the lake were stunning! The water, however, left a bit to be desired for me haha. The clarity was decent enough, but the globs of weeds? pond scum? sludge?….not quite sure what it was… kept drifting by and I wasn’t hot enough to swim with it. I guess the kids were though! They just swam around the chunks and found a good perching rock. We were able to witness one person jump from the highest point of the cliff and it got Weston’s attention, but we decided best to save that for the next day.

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After dinner, we drove to the other side of the park, which is quite large, and tried a fishing pier. We chunked lures for a bit, but didn’t catch anything other than a beautiful sunset.

The next morning after some bacon, eggs and biscuits Ashlyn, Weston and myself hopped on the kayaks while Archer and Sally lounged in the AC of the camper. We paddled around the corner back to the Devil’s Waterhole and up into the narrows as far as we could. Weston hopped off and attempted climbing up the cliff side to jump, but couldn’t get a good grip on the slippery rock in a bulky life jacket and I wasn’t ready for him to jump without one. Another time. They both enjoyed more swim time before we paddled back for lunch.

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Later, Archer gave kayaking in our cove a go and found it kind of meh. Weston and I went back out before dinner to look at another fishing pier. We were really loving that launch site! The boys waded around chasing minnows until dinner and then Weston built a fire for our s’mores. The rest of the relaxing evening was spent watching the fire and the water until it got dark and Archer was ready for bed. The 3 of us opted to sit in the dark and wait the fire out…until a skunk showed up and started digging through our not yet thrown out trash! 😆 Once our light hit him and we realized what he was, it was a race of who ran from who faster! Lol After he stayed away for a minute or 2, I retrieved the bag and sent it to the dumpster. Archer was a little bummed he missed the chaos haha.

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The next morning, Archer hopped on the bow of my kayak and we paddled into the Waterhole and he casted along the bank. One more ride before it was time to pack up. We WILL be back and will get that exact spot and will stay longer and will bring Nathan! Everything was amazing and we barely saw the highlights. We were rallying from Lockhart for sure, onward to Lake Brownwood!

-Lindsay

On August 21st, we started a 14 day camping trip during which we would hope to visit 8 different state parks, staying at 7 of them. We were really excited to see how we would do away from home for that long as well as setting up and breaking down camp every 2 days. I booked all of the sites in advance online and while laborious, I was optimistic we had some good selections. Starting our trip on a Saturday, our first park only had one site left, so little choice there. But everything else from what I researched looked promising! And to top it off, Wanda had just received a new facelift! New tires rated for better highway speeds, replaced and structurally reinforced trim work, all new LED lights, AND fresh paint from top to bottom! The exterior checklist was done! That just leaves the interior for next year. 👍🏻

We started with a less than 3 hour drive to Lockhart and I was so excited to have the opportunity to visit the Luling Buccees for the first time in YEARS! I’m not even sure the boys have ever been to that one. Of course, there’s bigger locations now, but this one is OG for me lol! I also thought my loaded down car and camper looked cool in the lot 😜

We arrived around lunchtime to our unique site and I understood why it was the last one available. It was classified as a pull thru site, but what it failed to mention was that it shared the pull thru driveway with 2 other hookups! Really bizarre and quite tedious having to pull past other camps on the narrow driveway. Then came the leveling. I always pull up to a site, get out and walk the pad before backing/pulling in to survey the best positioning and could see right away this was going to be a nightmare. The entire driveway sloped down a hill….my 30 year old camper doesn’t self level lol! After 2 hours, which included hitching back up to adjust, the use of 2 jack stands and 2 hydraulic lifts…and did I mention the site had zero shade? Oh yea… I finally called it good enough and even then the door barely worked. Why even have that site available? Ugh.

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Extremely hot and tired, I sat down for a minute before making lunch and was able to take in the actual perks to our site. We were right on the bank of the prettiest part of the Clear Fork Creek that runs through the park. And then I broke out in hives.

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I was a little panicked because this had only ever happened once before as a reaction to a vitamin supplement and as a result I don’t regularly carry adult strength Benadryl. So we hopped in the car, drove to Lockhart and were at a Walgreens in less than 10 minutes. Yay for our first park being close to town! While waiting for the 1 Benadryl to work, we went to Sonic for a much needed bite to eat and the hives GOT WORSE. Double ugh. 2nd pill then and they finally started to go down. But then for the rest of the day I was in a fog.

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Our entire camp site was still inundated in 98 degree direct sunlight at 2:30, so we drove 30 minutes to Buda and killed time in Cabelas(they allow dogs btw). We got back, made and ate dinner in a corner of shade and by 8pm it had finally cooled off in the camper tolerably. I’d be lying if by that point I hadn’t thought about scrapping the trip. This was day one of 14 and there was already a lot of bullshit. I didn’t want to bail out to a hotel already, but our next park (Inks Lake) was still full for Sunday night, so we needed to power through just one more night at what I had already coined the “shit park.” Hahaha.

Sunday morning after a crappy night’s sleep with the hives returning and then subduing without meds (still have no idea why that was a thing), we decided we would sight see in the morning and hit the swimming pool during the heat of the day after lunch.

We walked a short trail along the bank of the creek with fishing poles in hand casting where openings allowed. An added bonus was a “story walk” the park installed along the trail and it happened to be Eric Carle’s “Hungry Caterpillar!” A long time favorite of the kids. 🙂 We crossed one of the many CCC dams throughout the park and checked out the ruins of an old latrine lol! The kids couldn’t get over “just pooping out in the open sitting on a hole on rock! And side by side at that!” 😆 I’m thinking there may have been a wood privacy structure at one point. So our morning walk was entertaining, scenic and historical(?)…off to a good start!

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We ate our lunch and headed to the pool in time for its 12-2pm session only to be asked if we had pre purchased our tickets as it was sold out. Oi. Thankfully the 3-5pm session was not sold out and I purchased our entry tickets at $1/kid and $2/adult. Whatever. What to do until 3pm during the heat of the day then…shaded creek to the rescue! A hammock stretched perfectly across and I genuinely rested while the kids built dams and raced leaves.

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Our pool experience was fine. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the diving board and I soaked until I felt water logged enough.

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With more time to kill after dinner before the camper would feel cool enough for sleep, we drove around checking out more CCC attractions. Which this park has plenty! We looked at more dams, a recreation hall, water towers and the site of the original swimming pool. The old pool area really impressed.

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Apparently the CCC also installed golf courses at a number of the parks they created across the state and Lockhart is the only one to still maintain theirs. We learned the original tee-off started hundreds of feet above the course atop a hill by the rec hall and was reworked out of the course in the 70s. Even as non golfers, we thought that would’ve been neat to do.

The next morning we packed it up early and headed for Inks Lake State Park with lots of optimism for the rest of the trip. Lockhart had so many interesting features, but just not enough to make us hurry back. Apparently the city of Lockhart is famous for BBQ. Maybe if we came back to partake in that, we could camp there again. But book in advance and not on a weekend and definitely in another RV area. The other sites in our loop looked just as unlevel and chaotic. The full hook up sites were quite fancy and would be worth the extra fee to save a headache…or hives. Lol

-Lindsay

Now that we had Wanda back and were mostly settled into our new home, I was super anxious to get out again and make up for our losses of the last year! I couldn’t think of any better location for our triumphant return to travel than one of my favorite places in Texas, the Frio River. Which after being a 6+ hour drive my whole life was now a measly 3.5 from Rockport! And to make it even more serendipitous, I was able to book 4 nights at Neal’s Lodges for one of their RV sites just two weeks in advance! The exception was Saturday night of course. Which after looking all over the area for another site, we “settled” for a night in Bandera at their Best Western. Yay for a spontaneous vacation coming together!

After an easy drive out Thursday morning, we were soon popped up and our sweaty selves were ready to cool off! We loaded some essentials back in the car and drove across the highway to the swimming hole. Navigating down the hill to the river and finding parking amongst the trees and boulders was quite a task and I decided then that future trips would just be on foot. But for now, we were here and oh my god did that water feel amazing! After some coaxing<dragging> through the water in her life jacket, Sally got situated on a rock in the river near us. Weston wasted no time jumping off the big rock. He then convinced Ashlyn to join him. Soon, it was time for dinner and the kids wanted to check out the playground after dinner as well.

Once we were at the extremely “vintage” playground, we noticed a barn/pavilion area that turns out hosts nightly dances/music/bands, has a bar, AND is kid/dog friendly! That wasn’t a thing last time I stayed here! (15ish years ago 😆)

So that night, we went to the bar! Mom had drinks, the kids had an arcade to blow all my quarters in, Weston learned the “sport” of GaGaBall and became obsessed playing all night with a hoard of kids, and Ashlyn and I managed to have a dance or 2 when we were able to rope one of the boys blasting by to sit with Sally a minute. Great first day!

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Feeling ambitious Friday, we rented a tube for Mom and Sally (the ice chest tube was a great option) and hopped on the shuttle that dropped us off upstream for a 4.5 hour float! Growing up on this river I remembered the areas of rapids and waterfalls and felt confident in our ability to handle them. What I had forgotten were the areas where you draaaaggggg hahaha. Turns out that 15 years can change how your body reacts to stumbling over rocky river beds and falling on your butt after slipping on the smooth ones. Too bad I was no longer light as a feather and just zoomed over the low spots like the kids. I also have a new found respect for my dad handling the ice chest all those years. Having that and the dog’s float tethered to me made things even more chaotic. But! We survived, had SOME fun and decided we didn’t need to float anymore this year. By the time we got back up the hill and were fixing dinner, Momma was ready for a drink! Back to the bar that night!

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Saturday was time to bug out for the night and being pretty sore and tired from the day before I was happy to enjoy a hotel room for a little bit. The drive to Bandera was gorgeous as most hill country drives are and we were able to check into our room a little early! After showers and some cable tv, we walked down to the Old Spanish Trail Cafe (OST Cafe) for some awesome grub! I had what could easily be called one of the top 5 best chicken fried steaks in my entire life and Ashlyn experienced chocolate pie with a 5 inch layer of meringue.

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The next morning after our covid room serviced hot breakfast (that didn’t suck and much preferred to crowding in a buffet room), we re-provisioned in Bandera and headed back to The Frio.

The rest of Sunday and all day Monday were spent swimming, rock jumping, and water sliding. The evenings were at “the bar” which is called Joe Jimmy’s by the way haha.
Once home, we had mixed emotions enjoying seeing Nathan and resting, but at the same time missed the cool, fun water. No biggie, though. 10 days later we were back! Haha

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At some point during the previous river trip my bestie, Alisha, “convinced” me to return and she would meet us with her youngun, 3.5 year old Garrett. Never mind that they would be sharing a dinette turned twin sized bed in the camper, the Frio is worth it! 😆

Somehow the first weekend in August had one RV spot open and it happened to be in a different area than we had previously stayed. And we really liked this spot! It backs up to a creek bed, has a clear path to the fishing pond, is across the road from the bathhouse and is COMPLETELY shaded all day. We’re booking this site in advance from now on! The only con compared to the other RV area is the complete lack of privacy. You will see and hear everything going on, but there were only 4 other sites in the area and no one was rowdy, this time.

We proceeded to spend another 3 days swimming, jumping and sliding and 3 nights hanging out at “the bar.” Garrett fearlessly had fun and ran amuck with the rest of them. My kids were happy to have a few more days, even though Weston initially took some convincing haha. And after 13ish pre-baby years since mine and Alisha’s last river trip together, I thoroughly enjoyed our mom version 🙂

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We all agreed that was enough Frio River for the year. Time to get back to our State Park touring! It is so good to have Wanda back.

-Lindsay

Once we were settled into trailer park life, we started looking for any chance to get out of the trailer. Thankfully the winter weather on the coast, so far, was incredibly mild and we made the most of it with a day trip to the beach. The State Park is located on Mustang Island just a ferry ride away from Aransas Pass or bridge drive from Corpus Christi. We didn’t put a lot of prior planning into the visit because returning anytime would be easy, so we just packed the car with a few sand toys and lunch. The park boundary covers both sides of the narrow barrier island and consists of beach, marsh/wetland and camping. We decided on actual gulf beach before checking out the bay side.

Unlike other parts of Mustang Island beaches, this section in the park is not scraped and maintained with a roadway and while driving on most of the beach is still allowed, it’s quite dicey without a 4WD. So we opted for the parking lot a short trek over the dunes to the water. I quickly appreciated their policy for keeping the landscape wild. The dunes and drifts in the sand were very picturesque! And it allowed for much of the beach to remain powdery and pleasant to walk on.

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The water was beautiful and looked inviting, but the surf was quite rough and the water was decently cold, so the kids stayed knee deep. I was satisfied with just getting my feet wet! Brr! Sally, of course, had a ball zooming around the kids. lol

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Now that everyone was sandy and salty, we walked about a 1/4 mile to the bathhouse and were pleasantly surprised with how nice they were! But then it hit me that they were completely rebuilt after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Given that most State Park bathhouses were built no later than the 80s, this was a pleasant surprise! The kids enjoyed showers inside and Sally even got a rinse off in the outdoor area.

We hopped in the car and drove across the highway to a caliche road that snaked alongside a channel that connects the bay to the gulf. We were immediately disappointed that we spent so much time at just the beach! We want to fish this area! The kids really liked that we could have the car nearby (they were sour about carrying our stuff across the dunes), the water was calmer, and there are still beachy areas.

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We got a pretty good idea what this park has to offer! We will definitely go back for some fishing. I doubt we will bother with camping. While the sites looked well maintained and level, they are of course sitting out wide open and actually share the same bathhouse area that the public uses. Since we were there during the week in January, crowds were not an issue; but I could see the bathhouse being miserably backed up during popular times.

Now that tourist season has calmed down in the area, we may be getting around to fishing that channel sooner rather than later! I’ll update this post with a report. 🙂

-Lindsay