San Angelo State Park, Texas

This place has a special place in my heart because it is located in my hometown, but there are so many fabulous features to this place! Most Texas State Parks only allow you to stay for a maximum of 14 days, but San Angelo State Park actually has a monthly rate. The only drawback to staying there longterm is there is no sewer hook-ups, so for us, it means a trip to the dump station about every 7 days. That time frame is only if we take what we refer to as “RV showers” and don’t use our washing machine. That said, we really don’t mind it once a week. A few weeks ago, we were moving every 3 or 4 days! We’ve slowed down and have decided to “winter” here, close to family for the holidays. We’ve been here off and on since we began traveling and have seen some really cool things. I can’t believe I lived here in San Angelo for most of my life and never knew this place existed!

San Angelo is rich in history and features many interesting places including Fort Concho National Historic Landmark and historic downtown. During the holidays, you can drive or take a stroll down the riverwalk and see a beautiful display of Christmas lights. You can click here to learn more about the State Park’s history.

It’s so funny because I am pretty sure for a long time my family thought we were roughing it out here. I finally brought my mom out one day to see where we are staying and I could tell she was like, “Oh, this isn’t roughing it at all!” We have an incredible view of the shores of O.C. Fisher Reservoir, which actually has some water in it after many years of being nearly dry. The way the sun hits the water in the evening is my favorite. There is a bunch of brush that has become overgrown surrounding the water, but the sun’s reflection off of it is just breathtaking; the contrast in textures and colors. The sunsets here are always beautiful. The sky fills with oranges, pinks, yellows, and purples. The stars at night are so clear, and we have seen several spectacular meteor showers. The first couple of times we visited the park, they were under a burn ban, but that has now been lifted and we’ve enjoyed sitting around the campfire on quite a few occasions, sipping hot cocoa, and stargazing.

We were so lucky to be here in the fall when the Monarch butterflies were migrating. They use the Northside of the park as a stopover. They completely fill the ancient pecan trees over there. It was one of the most magical experiences I’ve ever had in my life. To share that experience with my husband and children was just incredible! I took tons of pictures and some videos, but nothing can compare to standing beneath tens of thousands of beautiful butterflies flitting overhead. You could actually hear their wings flapping. If you have never experienced such a thing, I highly recommend you check it out sometime.

The San Angelo State Park is also home to these incredible, prehistoric looking bison and the Official Texas State Longhorn Herd. It is such a treat to catch a glimpse of these massive creatures.

This place has been an awesome place for the kids (and us) to learn about so many different things. It’s basically a homeschoolers heaven. As we meet different things along our journey, we research and find out everything we can about that particular thing.

We have also found some fun trails (the park has over 50 miles of multi-use trails), although we mostly stuck to the equestrian trails because a lot of the hiking trails had tall brush, which would make it difficult to see snakes, etc. Made me just a little nervous! Especially after spotting a rattler pretty close up myself! Yikes! They just did a prescribed burn last week though, which I would imagine would help with a lot of that! It looks a little sad at the moment, but I know it will be beautiful in the Spring!