After our 3 hour detour around Big Bend Ranch State Park due to flooding, we arrived at Paisano Village RV Park and Inn in Terlingua around 5pm. Dad had a hotel room on site while we set up Wanda at a full hook up site. The park manager was so helpful at making sure we were sorted and even confirmed permission for Ashlyn’s tent to be on site since they weren’t booked up. In fact, there was only one other rv there our entire stay! The national park offers limited rv sites, a motel and cabins up in the mountain range, but after our experience in Guadalupe National Park, I’m no longer keen on camping in national parks. Paisano’s was only 10 minutes to the national park entrance and was clean, quiet and had reliable amenities. I was so happy with the experience at Paisano, that it more than made up for the “inconvenience” of commuting daily into the park. We also enjoyed exploring the town of Terlingua each evening.

And we didn’t waste any time that very first evening! After dinner, we caught the cemetery at sunset then had drinks and snacks at High Sierra Bar & Grill and the Starlight Theatre. Terlingua/Study Butte were built on mercury mining in the 1880s, saw it’s heyday in the 1920s before the Great Depression reduced demand and all mining companies had vacated by 1946 leaving the area in a ghosttown like state. Today, Terlingua caters more to the tourist/desert wanderer/adventure seeking crowd while still maintaining a ghost town charm. We loved it.

Things were also looking up with the weather! The rain had cleared out for the forecast for the rest of the week and by 11pm, we got our first new moon, starry night glimpses!

The next morning, we enjoyed a slow morning and had Ashlyn driving us through Big Bend National Park by noon. We were still having to alter our plans day to day due to the Rio Grande still being out of banks, so our first attraction for the day was Balance Rock. The 7 mile gravel road to access the trailhead took an hour to reach the parking area and was some great practice in patience for Ashlyn!

The 2 mile roundtrip hike was diverse and scenic throughout, but the rock structure itself was marvelous! The area surrounding balance rock also made for a great rest stop with a breeze moving through at the top of the hill and kids had a great time scrambling the rocks.

That wrapped up day one in the park. The next day at camp, the rising sun showed off Santa Elena Canyon, another popular spot in Big Bend that was inaccessible due to flooding. Park Rangers the previous day told us they were having to rescue hikers out of waist deep mud because they didn’t heed the warnings.

Since we would be unable to access the canyon or the hot springs, we decided to drive to the far east end of the park for a safe view of the river and take in the sights before heading up into the Chisos Mountains. We really enjoyed strolling around the Rio Grande Village campground with the free roaming horses and perusing the merchandise set up as honor system “stores” that had been placed by makers across the river.

Ready for lunch, we left the river area at an elevation of 1,850ft and 95 degree sunshine to arrive an hour later in the Chisos Basin at 5,400 ft elevation and 65 degree shrouded in fog/mist. We had a fantastic lunch at the lodge taking in the view of “The Window.”

That evening the boys made us a fire for smores and the sky showed off again.

We would spend one more night in Terlingua after we explored Big Bend Ranch State Park the next day, but our time exploring the National Park had come an end. For this trip anyways. What we did get to see and experience was unique and awesome, but I am bummed that we couldn’t do my top 2 points of interest. I tried to time this trip around crowds and weather. September trends as a good month at the end of rainy season but before the fall crowds show up with cooler weather. This time, rainy season just went into some overtime. No regrets, though! The Chisos Mountain Lodge has since closed to undergo a massive renovation for an indeterminate amount of time and we were some of the last to experience it in its historic form!

-Lindsay

We woke up rather water logged from a second night of thunderstorms in the Davis Mountains and had to pack everything up soggy unfortunately. We were on our way to our campsite in Big Bend Ranch State Park with a stop/check in at Fort Leaton. Big Bend Ranch is a huge, rugged state park with only one paved road that meanders the southern border alongside the Rio Grande. You access the park from either the West side via Fort Leaton or East side via Barton Warnack Visitor Center. Then it’s 50 miles of hills and switchbacks on the River Road that connects you to the 27 miles of gravel roads inside the park. One could spend DAYS just driving to destinations within the 300,000 acre park. Due to our time restrictions and towing a trailer, our plan was to spend the night boondocking at a River Road side campground after we checked in and explored Fort Leaton since it is listed as its own state park as well. That was the plan anyways.

When we arrived to checkin, we were immediately informed that the previous nights of storms had the Rio Grande at a flash flood already and not only was the road closed, they were evacuating riverside campgrounds and the interior campers were cut off until the 4 feet of water over the road receded. Obviously we weren’t going to be driving through or camping that day. The ranger also couldn’t give us a time frame for accessibility because while our area wasn’t forecasted for anymore rain, the mountain range in Mexico was and all would be running off into the river as well.

Our only option was to drive right back up to Marfa, head to Alpine and then drop into Terlingua. We were already booked at a RV park/motel starting the next day in Terlingua and thankfully I was able to call and add the extra night. But, before we embarked on our 4 hour detour, we needed to explore Fort Leaton!

The adobe home constructed in the 1830s was sold to Benjamin Leaton in 1848 who turned it into a fortress for his trading and other less legitimate business operations. After a string of murders, the fort was abandoned in 1926. Eventually the site was donated to the state in 1978 and TPWD started restoring and preserving it as a state park. And they have done some great work!

We spent an hour wandering through the property, ate a picnic lunch and hit the road for Terlingua hopeful the rain would let up.

-Lindsay

This post will be just like my Wyler Aerial Tramway post. We came (kind of), we saw (from afar) and we left. And because TPWD still counts it as it’s own park on the official list, it gets it’s own post! haha. The CCC built Indian Lodge is located INSIDE the park boundaries of Davis Mountains State Park and serves as lodging…. hotel style. It has been under renovations off and on the last 4 years and is actually set to open fully and functionally later this year. Fingers crossed.

When we visited September of 2024 on our 10 day Big Bend trip, it was not open in any capacity. There also wasn’t any way to drive or hike anywhere near it. We took the best option that the Davis Mountains’ rangers could provide and got our views from the Skyline Drive.

Missing out on an official visit stunk. But after visiting the other amazing towns in the area and the National Park itself, I’m ready to come back for what I’m calling the “Boujee Hotel Tour” and Indian Lodge will stop number 2.

-Lindsay

The stars had aligned and it was time to tackle Big Bend and the rest of the West Texas state parks. And when I say the stars aligned, I’m not joking. I came up with a 10 day itinerary for the first week of September, during a new moon (dark sky) and both Nathan’s and Dad’s schedules fit! We would be caravanning our car with Wanda and Dad in his truck staying at campsites, rv sites and hotels. The first leg of our drive was straight through to Balmorhea State Park for one night. I wanted a redo of that park since our first visit in October of 2022 when the weather was not cooperative and it worked out wonderfully as a kick off to our trip. The newly renovated campsites had just opened this year and the weather was perfect allowing us to finally explore the pool properly. I still want to come back with scuba gear in the near future as well!

The next day, a short 30 minute scenic drive later, we arrived at Davis Mountains State Park for a 2 night stay. On the first night, we had a star party booked at nearby McDonald Observatory and then we would attempt to see the Marfa Lights on the second night. I really liked our particular campsite as it was nestled in trees and we didn’t really have close up neighbors since the road curved around us on one side and a creek bed was on the other. But with it being Labor Day weekend, the park was full and there were quite a few campsites that were set up to party all weekend.

After setting up and eating lunch we decided on checking out the Skyline Drive in the park while we killed time before our star party that didn’t start until 9pm. The drive was beautiful and entertaining as we switchbacked the narrow road up one of the peaks. There were a couple of pull off areas where we were able to view the town of Fort Davis, the observatory and most importantly, Indian Lodge. More on that in the next post :).

Once back at camp, Ashlyn and I decided to walk the 1 mile round trip trail to the headquarters in search of stickers. We checked out the fanciest bird blind we had ever seen and some unique plants along the way.

When we returned from that, it had started to rain. About 30 minutes later, I started receiving notifications that the star party was cancelled due to the weather and cloud cover. We still had the option of entrance to the observatory grounds but no telescopes would be set up. We decided on completely canceling for a full refund and venturing out to Marfa instead for the evening’s entertainment. We went to Cactus Liquors, a liquor store AND plant nursery all in one that was definitely one of a kind and then enjoyed a beverage at the bar in the historic El Paisano Hotel where we already had plans to eat dinner the next night.

It stormed off and on the rest of the night, but everyone faired well and after breakfast, the 5 of us hiked a 1 mile trail enjoying the elevation gains and views.

After lunch, we headed out for the day stopping at the National Historic Fort Davis site and explored the buildings and artifacts documenting centuries of operations. Most interesting to me was the strategic location at the base of the mountains along a settlement trade route, but also blocking off a known Native American trade/hunting route through the mountains that intercepted the new one.

We then headed back to Marfa where we had snacks and drinks at the very eclectic Planet Marfa. Our dinner plans at El Paisano fell through when we found out at arrival that the wait would be about 2 hours even with our reservation. We ended up at The Water Stop and enjoyed their creative craft cocktails and original menu. Marfa is a really unique town and had plenty of entertaining features, but there was an air about the people we encountered that we didn’t really click with. Not that people were unkind…just kind of stuck up, which seemed weird for a small town famous for desert and art.

We made it out to the highway rest stop/mysterious light viewing deck before sunset and settled in hopeful for a show with chairs and a cooler. About 30 people had gathered by the time we called it at 9:30pm. We definitely saw lights that could not be explained by us or anyone there. Were they, in fact, Marfa’s Mysterious Lights? We didn’t care, it was a cool to just be out there and searching the dark horizon like people have done for years.

We spent one more rainy night at our campsite in Davis Mountains and continued on to Big Bend the next morning.

-Lindsay

It was time for the final leg of our road-trip and quite possibly the most adventure packed portion of it! Even though we would be going a little out of the way, it still felt like we would be “in the area” enough to route us through the middle sections of Arizona and New Mexico so we could see the Grand Canyon and Roswell “on the way home.” We ended up packing in so much more and it was amazing.

We started at 6am Friday morning departing Minden, NV where Nathan would be finishing his class that day and then flying back home early Saturday morning. We had a lofty goal of reaching the Grand Canyon South Rim National Park before sunset after picking up a special guest in Las Vegas that day. Our drive to Las Vegas was pretty much back roads through small towns and lake areas before hitting a stretch of desert highway. We drove past Death Valley National Park to the north and wished we could’ve stopped in there, but the time of year and our priorities were not conducive to that. Hopefully, we can make it back! Near that National Park, we’re pretty sure we also passed a test driving location commonly seen in car commercials. You know, the ones where they’re doing donuts in the sand? We also passed by THE Area 51 military base and stopped to use the bathroom in quite a touristy and entertaining alien themed gas station.

By 2pm, we were in Vegas and picked my dad up from the casino he arrived at the night before. I took a break then and he gave us the grand driving tour of The Strip. The kids and I were in awe of the shear size of the casinos/hotels and theming that go into them. I was able to get a picture of the famous Mirage before it’s demolition as well!

After refueling, I jumped back in the driver’s seat and we tore off for the Grand Canyon excited that we would be driving across the front of the Hoover Dam before hand! Now, I took great pride in my planning and research for this trip; but I’ve got to say, I dropped the ball on this particular attraction. I THOUGHT you get a view while driving across the bridge in front of the dam and deemed the stop at the lookout point unnecessary. I didn’t account for the fact the bridge is designed to keep traffic safely moving with 10 foot (guessing) concrete walls in all sides. Maybe 18 wheelers could see? At any rate, we blew right by the Hoover Dam and didn’t. see. a. single. bit. Gonna need a redo on that one.

That disappointment soon lifted once we made the turn North for the Grand Canyon National Park entrance. The scenery was quickly changing to hills and towering trees, we were gaining elevation and were watching the temperature drop on the dash of the car. But the sun was also dropping! By the time we reached the admissions gates, they were already unmanned and people were paying via kiosk. Not sure if it was against the rules or not, but we bypassed that process since we had a season pass and drove right in. Then we had to dodge the people standing and cars parked in the middle of the road staring at Mule Deer *facepalm.* We FINALLY reached a parking lot near the South Rim look out point and the kids took off running!

And we made it! Not only did we catch sunset over the Grand Canyon, Mother Nature decided to show off when a thunderstorm started to trace through the canyon creating constant changing colors in the horizon and canyon walls. We even witnessed lightening strike deep into the canyon. We were completely awestruck and know for a fact no matter how many times we may come back in the future, we will never see it like that again.

It was nightfall by the time we got back to the car and we had to drive another hour through the incredibly dark roads looking out for mule deer before we got to Flagstaff where we picked up dinner and hit our hotel quite exhausted but very accomplished.

Our second day across Arizona started around 8am and about an hour of driving later, we found ourselves, “standing on a corner in Winslow, Az.” If you didn’t immediately hear the chorus of the song in your head, we can’t be friends haha! We had excellent coffee and heard some great music while there as well.

Next stop that day on our way to Roswell, NM was Petrified Forest National Park. We entered on the north end of the park off of I-40 and managed to drive through the entire park pitstopping at POIs along the way before exiting on the south end on highway 180 that we needed to continue our route. The Painted Desert is stunning with its colors and ever changing landscape. We explored ruins of a 10,000+ year old village and pictographs. Then the grand finale of the petrified wood itself and the inconceivable reality that a forest once existed in the now barren landscape.

I feel this park is so underrated. It is so dynamic and other worldly. I would prioritize going back there before the Grand Canyon, honestly.
We kind of dilly dallied longer in the Petrified Forest longer than anticipated and didn’t make it to Roswell till after 7 when most of the shops and restaurants were closing. We grabbed a bite at Whataburger, took some photo ops outside the McDonalds and called it a night.

The next day, we got to enjoy the “theme” of Roswell a little more. We grabbed coffee at Stellar Coffee Company, bought merch at the Alien Invasion Store and had fun with more props.

10 hours later, we were home! Nathan and I returned the minivan that night 3600 miles heavier than before and the next day, I dropped Dad off at the airport to head home before I went into work. Back to reality just like that! This trip was surreal and epic. When we started road-tripping state parks with the kids, I would say, “and maybe one day, we’ll road-trip out of state with them!” And then one day happened. I’m so proud of us and am already thinking up more epic road-trips in a rented minivan.

-Lindsay

Apparently this is my 100th blog post! Fun!

The fourth day of our awesome road-trip started three days of getting to stay in one area and explore Lake Tahoe. We gave our self a slow morning enjoying breakfast with Nathan before game planning our day.

Looking for some R&R after all the driving, we opted for a simple beach day followed by early dinner with Nathan once he got out of class. The lakeshore was a scenic 30 minute drive “up and over” the mountain from Minden and by 10am we pulled up to the gate for Nevada Beach. Most public access to the lake is via charged admission beach areas or resorts. The 2 closest beach areas where we drove over were Nevada and Zephyr Cove. I went with Nevada since the reviews stated it was more laid back and a local favorite. We waited behind a few cars and paid $10 for the whole car load. Not bad at all! We would learn the next day what lengths people truly go to access the water though.

It was so much fun walking through pine trees onto a beach! With mountains in the background! The sand was a super fine crushed granite, which was hot and made me think it was man made, but it’s the prevalent substrate of the lake! The waterfront was already lined, but we were happy to set up towards the back near the trees. And, of course, I threw an umbrella and beach chair in the minivan before we left for just this occasion!

We hung out for about 3 hours venturing in and out of the water. It was absolutely frigid and chills would set in after 15 minutes so the dry 90 degrees out of the water was a welcome warm up. It was crazy just how fast our skin and clothes would dry once out of the water! I did swim out where I was barely touching at one point just to see how far the clarity of the water could go and I never got far enough to NOT see the bottom. Equally fascinating was once I was standing chest deep, the bottom on my feet was warm! The sun shining through the crystal clear water was heating the granite “sand” below.

By the time we left, the parking area for the beach was closed due to capacity and people were parked for a mile along side the road walking in. Glad we missed that! We chilled the rest of the afternoon at the hotel and then had dinner at Great Basin Brewing with Nathan.

The next day was supposed to be our adventurous hiking day with Sally. My plan was to start at Cave Rock State Park, followed by a hike down to Skunk Harbor then finish at Sand Harbor State Park before driving back to Minden via Carson City. I ASSUMED since 10am worked the day before, 10 am arrival on a Wednesday would be just fine as well. Wrong. We pulled up to a closed due to capacity sign for Cave Rock. Oh well, at least we got to drive through the tunnel. Then the parking area along side the highway for the trailhead to Skunk Harbor was blocked by construction which was also a horrendously long wait coming and going. 2 strikes. THEN we pull up to a closed park sign for Sand Harbor as well. Honestly, I’ve never had every single part of a plan be a bust before! After an hour and a half of driving the entire East side of the lake, I managed to spot a cafe that had free parking for customers and actually had spots open. I would’ve paid to park AND paid for a meal at that point if it meant I could just stop the car some where. Our lunch was a delightful reset and we decided we would head to Carson City and try a hiking trail to a waterfall.

On the way, we managed a quick pull off onto a roadside lookout point that had a path down to the water. Parking was limited to 15 minutes, so we got down there, explored on some boulders for 5 minutes and got out.

By now, navigating the highway along the shore was insane. It was lined with cars, many squeezed in on the edge of the cliff side the road runs along and people were trekking beside it all carrying coolers, floats and bags for MILES. At this point, I realized there is nothing in the world I need to see this badly. After finally escaping that mayhem and a little gps complication later, we pulled up to the parking lot for the waterfall trailhead. Annnndddd there was a sign posted no dogs allowed to the waterfall. While I confirmed the park itself was dog friendly, this particular trail was not. I threw in the towel at that point. We definitely had an adventurous day….but more along the stressful variety.

After seeing a portion of Carson City on our way back to Minden, I mustered up some inspiration in one last attempt to redeem the day. We decided we could come back to the waterfall with Nathan but without Sally and then have dinner at a neat looking brewery in downtown. And this time the plan went off without a hitch! Our hike was short and simple and the waterfalls were better than expected! We hung out for about 30 minutes exploring and enjoying the sights.
Our dinner at The Fox Brewery was awesome and after we went to the original location for Great Basin for some more beers and merch. I ended up sharing the day’s woes with our friendly server and he confirmed that even locals will get in line at the state parks at 4am just to secure entry. The true cost of living at world wide marvel, I suppose. Made me appreciate the comparatively little effort I have to put in these days to secure Texas State Park reservations.

Our final day in Lake Tahoe, we got up and at it arriving at Zephyr Cove Marina by 9am to have a chance at paddleboarding. We managed a parking spot and were the first ones in line to rent boards when they opened the booth at 10am. We did a 30 minute rental on 3 boards since they are restricted to ages 12 and up and weren’t allowed outside of the smallish cove area. The wind was kicking up pretty good already that morning and we didn’t quite make it to the far edge of the cove, but definitely felt 30 minutes was just right. Ashlyn took to the skill quickly and even beached the board standing! Weston wasn’t the biggest fan and struggled with the wind, but I’m proud of him for making it back to the beach on his own. Archer did great on the bow of mine and I managed to stand up on mine for a whole 5 minutes haha! It took every bit of muscle just to keep the thing balanced in the wind and waves! I couldn’t really make head way with paddling on top of that.

After our paddle, we ate some lunch and decided to wade out to the picturesque boulder cluster in the cove. We actually managed 30 minutes in waste deep water people watching and enjoying the scenery before chills set in. Another unique feature we observed about this lake is when you’re in shallow, high traffic areas of the water; the “churned up” effect fills the water with a kind of glittering from the granite. Whereas that much activity anywhere else would make the water cloudy from silt. It really is the clearest, most beautiful fresh body of water I’ve ever been in. Sorry, Frio River.

That evening, we gave Nevadan Mexican food a try and were not entirely disappointed! We then called it an early night in preparation for our 6am departure that Friday morning. We were heading to the Grand Canyon!

-Lindsay

This trip, yall. One for the record books! It started as a basic tag-a-long plan for another one of Nathan’s work trips at the end of July that quickly grew into a 9 day road trip in a rented minivan to Lake Tahoe and back. We decided the experience to cost ratio of driving it far surpassed that of flying and we were right! I broke it down into 3 days to get there, 3 days to hangout at Lake Tahoe with Nathan and 3 days to get home via a different route. We allotted 10-12 hours of travel per day and Ashlyn quickly supplied an awesome list of “along the way” sights. Nathan flew out the Friday before his week long class and on Saturday, I loaded up 3 kids and a dog at 5:40 in the morning and we were off!

Day one, as you could imagine, was spent just getting out of Texas. Our set up in the minivan was proving quite comfortable and the boys got some napping in while Ashlyn stayed strong as copilot. Before we departed, I decided our fueling rule would be to start looking for gas every time we hit half a tank. Which was put to the test right away in West Texas. We passed Ozona with over half a tank thinking we would make Fort Stockton without problems, but we didn’t account for our bladders! Miraculously, an Exxon station appeared on the horizon like a mirage about half way to Fort Stockton and we were very grateful for the clean bathrooms and “on brand” fuel! The joke became to never skip Ozona, but if you do, there is some hope haha. We were entertained the rest of the drive to El Paso by “dirt devils” and distant mountain ranges. (Which we would be visiting a month later!)

We topped off one more time in El Paso and stopped twice more in New Mexico before reaching our hotel for the night in Deming. The first stop was for that typical state line sign and the next was unplanned, but when you see a tourist attraction sign touting a TRANSFORMER you have to check it out! Ashlyn and Weston darted inside the giant souvenir shop and did a great job not getting distracted by all the trinkets to get the photo op 😉. That night, we enjoyed Burger King and History Channel shows in our comfy Best Western room and were all sacked by 9pm.

Day 2 we were up, ate breakfast, loaded and back on I-10 by 7 am. An hour later, we were in Arizona! So fun how quickly statelines get crossed once out of Texas! We had a little bit of fun at the rest stop (note the sign? Yea, the kids did too. VENOMOUS people, not poisonous haha).

As we rolled into Tucson, Ashlyn noticed a sign for Saguaro National Park and said, “Hey! Aren’t those the old western style cactus??” Her google search while I got fuel confirmed it and also confirmed just how close the west side park is to the interstate. We decided the detour was too easy to pass up! We spent about an hour and a half in the park coupled with 30 minutes getting to and from the interstate, so it added 2 hours to our day, but it was worth it! It’s such a unique park and you truly felt like you were transported to a typical western movie. We could’ve just taken in the visitor center and been happy, but Ashlyn saw 2 other trails that looked interesting and were short. However, it was heat of the day in the desert and not safe for Sally to be out. So the boys, Sally and myself posted up in the shade of a picnic site and watched Ashlyn as she had a little solo adventure up a hill to look at some petroglyphs! She got some great photos while up there and learned that some historians theorize that the images may not hold any particular meaning but were rather created by “bored youth” of the tribe 800 years ago! Kids will be kids not matter the time period!

Four hours later, after some tough driving in traffic around Phoenix then blazing hot and monotonous scenery in Western Arizona, we finally crossed into California. Since it was approximately 115 degrees out, we didn’t get out to pose with this sign. The scenery didn’t improve much and was very desolate, but our fueling strategy was holding up well.

We finally made it to the Twentynine Palms entrance on the north side of Joshua Tree National Park and began our drive through tour around 4:30. We stopped and got out to explore the area around Skull Rock and it was a welcome break from all the driving. The temperatures had significantly cooled down with the time of day and the mostly 4,000 feet elevation we were at that Joshua Trees thrive in.

It took us another 2.5 hours to finish driving through the park then 30 more minutes to our hotel in Indio on the outskirts of Palm Springs. I paid $50 for our Dairy Queen dinner and we were in our room by 9:30pm with daylight and 100 degrees still outside! The next morning when I took Sally out at 6am, the sun was already up and it was in the 90s. Not much appeal to Palm Springs for me!

Day 3 (Monday) we gave ourselves a later start after the previous day being longer than expected and were on the road by 8am. Our goal by the end of the day would ultimately be meeting up with Nathan in Minden, NV. But, first! A driving tour of Yosemite National Park that was practically on the way. It was quite an interesting drive through middle California seeing farms and orchards for miles before climbing into brushy hills that turned into wooded mountains.

We entered at the south entrance and were initially seeing remains of wildfire destruction, but the further north we drove on the winding narrow roads the more we became covered in towering pines and sequoias.

But we had no idea what we were about to pull up on when we exited the tunnel over looking Yosemite Valley. I was completely shocked and overwhelmed and quickly pulled into a parking area so I could dry the tears in my eyes and the kids hopped out to take some pictures. Which ABSOLUTELY do it no justice.

Once composed, we made our way into the valley and found another spot to pull off near the river to touch the frigid water and enjoy another perspective photo op.

After that, we started to make our way out of the park via Tioga Road and about an hour later stopped at the Olmsted Point look out and enjoyed more views amongst the remnants of ancient glaciers.

An hour more of driving after that we were officially exiting the park in complete awe of what we had just witnessed. I absolutely have to go back. So many trails to hike and places to just sit and take it in that I need more time with. To date, it is the most beautiful landscape I’ve seen in the U.S. We made it to Nathan’s hotel in Minden after 8pm that night where he had burgers waiting for us and we slept hard that night. We were excited to not have a 12+ hour drive the next day. Instead we would be beginning our exploration of Lake Tahoe for 3 days!

To be continued in Part 2!

-Lindsay

We were able to snag the four days before Easter this year and completed our visits to the remaining parks in the East Texas region! Not only were we excited to accomplish this, we were looking forward to camping amongst the pines and using our kayaks once again. Aside from Caddo Lake, B.A. Steinhagen Lake that the park’s shoreline covers a portion of is well known for towering cypress tree groves. We were ready to do some paddling trails!

Day 1 of our trip was rather long after daytripping Huntsville and Livingston State Parks along the way, but we were able to set camp up with enough daylight and it was a beautiful set up! We had a neighbor close on one side and the near by highway noise was noticeable, but the trees and water front scenery were picturesque. Even after the long day, the kids convinced me we still needed an inaugural camp fire. They were right!

Day 2 we delayed our paddle trip hoping for warmer weather on day 3 and drove an hour away to daytrip Village Creek State Park. That day ended with chips and dips from a Casa Ole we saw on the way back and another camp fire.

On day 3 our faith in the forecast was rewarded and it was a beautifully sunny and warm day. Since we still only own 2 kayaks, we went to headquarters to rent a double kayak and 3 life jackets since I learned last minute that Ashlyn’s lifejacket was the only one in good shape/fit. We were surprised to learn that since the double kayak only seated 2 people, they would only loan 2 lifejackets and paying to rent additional lifejackets isn’t an option. HOWEVER, their canoes are rated for 4 people and we could get up to 4 jackets included in that rental. OK. Seemed to me this was far more complicated than it needed to be, but I was also the person short on life jackets. Beggars can’t be choosers, right? So that day, the boys and I learned how to operate a canoe haha! The launch area was located in a narrow slough section of the paddling trail and all of the kayaks and canoes were already set up along the shore ready to be launched. With a little creativity, we got our kayaks over to the site and were ready to go!

Ashlyn took on our 10ft kayak, Weston started out on the 7ft kayak and Archer took the bow of the canoe. The trail we chose is a little under 3 miles and would take us around the entire unit of the park that was actually an island. We thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic scenery and paddling experience as we fought the wind to pass the mouth of the Neches River to then riding the swirling current, passing our campsite, then re-entering the slough and working our way through the cypress trees like a maze. Around half way through, we beached near the boat ramp for a snack and the boys switched vessels. Archer did an awesome job manning a kayak on his own for the first time! We also really enjoyed the canoe and will likely continue renting those over double kayaks.

After dinner that evening, we drove across the highway to check out the other unit of the state park. It featured a completely different view of the lake and it’s shoreline was set up more on a bluff. Only primitive camping was permitted in this area, all of the rv sites were tucked back into the woods. We hung around the fishing pier for a bit and then called it a night.

We woke up on Good Friday ready to load up and drive the 5 hours home to enjoy the holiday. And perfect timing! Starting the evening before and over night, the campground filled up and it was complete chaos at daybreak! I don’t see myself ever needing to spend a holiday weekend at a state park, haha. I definitely understand people’s tendency to crowd in there when they can, though. Martin Dies Jr. is a whole package type park that offers a quintessential camping experience.

-Lindsay

We had arrived and set up camp the night before at Martin Dies Jr. State Park and were excited to explore the paddling trails there, but the forecast for day one was cold and overcast. So, we decided to hop back in the car and daytrip Village Creek State Park an hour away. The park is quite small with only 25 campsites and a handful of trails that loop into one another. This and the location being at the back of a neighborhood makes the place feel more like an elaborate city park.

When we arrived at 12:30, the headquarters were closed and no one was registering visitors, but the gate was open, so we continued on. Thankfully, our park pass waives day use fees for us, but this was a first time seeing one of these headquarters unmanned! We didn’t get very far in the park before discovering the bridge to the day use area was closed due to construction. At least its a small park! We parked the car near the campsites bathhouse and were able to walk a narrow path beside the bridge.

Then we were able to access trails that led back to the creekside picnic area. Along the way, we passed through a large area where the park is undergoing a restoration of longleaf pines. Every flagged spot marked a native variety that had been planted for the project and there were ALOT.

Once we were at the creek, we ate our lunch and checked out the amenities. The park offers a large fleet of canoes and kayaks for rent and the launch area looked pretty decent. The water was murky, but it would make for an easy going paddle. There is a large sandbar area around the bend that is popular for splashing around, but access to it by foot is a 2 mile one way hike. We weren’t in the mood for that haha.

We chose a different trail for our short trek back to the car and were highly entertained by the workout stations that were placed along the way.

On the way back to Martin Dies Jr., we spotted a Casa Ole in Silsbee and decided chips and dips would pair well with our campfire that night and it was perfect! 🙂

-Lindsay

Carrying on farther east from Huntsville State Park, we arrived at Livingston by 4 pm. I felt like we were running about 2 hours behind since we still needed to finish our day out setting up camp at Martin Dies Jr. State Park. Fortunately, Livingston is quite small and we managed to hit all the highlights in under an hour!

There’s only 6 trails in the park with the longest being 2 miles roundtrip. We chose a 1 mile loop called the “Pineywoods Boardwalk Trail.” The entire trail is, in fact, an elevated boardwalk and we got to check out a couple of nature viewing areas.

The majority of the property is waterfront centered with a massive boatramp that also boasts a retail shop, docks, piers and a CCC built observation tower. Most of the campsites have beautiful views of the large lake. It was odd to see residential homes immediately beginning on either side of the parks waterfront boundaries, though.

Like Huntsville, we had the park to ourselves on a Tuesday afternoon and we enjoyed the peace and quiet. It seems like it can get just as packed during peak times as well. We also found it had more luxury type amenities; but agreed that if we had to pick one to go back to, we would choose Huntsville. It’s trail availability and remoteness have more appeal to us.

-Lindsay