Our Mini-Tour of Texas

This week, we started our journey to eventually end up in Ohio.  We had a few places in Texas we wanted to visit before heading out.  We were looking forward to seeing the scenery and a few big things like the Texas State Capitol Building, but we had no idea how full our hearts would be at the end of the week….that will be another blog.  It was a crazy weather week, but we watched the radar closely, made a few adjustments and tried to travel when the weather was at its best.  We had to pull over once and wait out a storm, and we saw a couple of really bad wrecks along the way.  God’s hand of protection was on us all week.

We started in Junction, TX at South Llano River State Park.  Our site was beautiful!  The trees were so beautiful and there were tons of different kinds of birds.  There were a lot of hummingbirds.  I had quite a few buzz over the top of my head when I was sitting outside.  We were on site #51.

I love the wildflowers.  There were several places where the wildflowers were growing among the cactus.  It was just beautiful!

The next morning, we headed to Guadalupe River State Park near New Braunfels, TX.  We were nestled into the huge trees at site #59.  It was so peaceful!

Tipper and I had a nice stroll down to the river the first day we were there.  The water was really high after all the rain.  There was a nice trail along side it which had picnic areas with grills.  It looked like a fun place to spend a day in the summer.

There is also an adorable Discovery Center, but it was closed.  (Only open on the weekends.)

We saw lots of bluebonnets, wildflowers,  and all kinds of beautiful birds. It rained off and on while we were there, which was fine by me.  I love the sound and smell of rain and it gave us a chance to get some school and work in.

Later that day, the boys decided to take a bike ride down to the river.  On their way back, it started pouring!  They were soaked when they got back.  It was pretty funny!

Our next stop was McKinney Falls State Park near Austin, TX.  I think this place is now one of our favorites!  The falls were beautiful after the rain; both the upper and lower falls!  We ended up staying an extra night and foregoing our first night at Cleburne State Park because of the rain.  That’s ok though.  We made some new friends at McKinney Falls that we had a hard leaving.  You can read all about that here!

While close to Austin, TX, we visited the State Capitol Building.  It was so neat to take the kids there.  Emily now wants to be a Senator.  🙂

Our next stop was Cleburne State Park. Our hope was to visit Dinosaur Valley State Park close by and see the dinosaur tracks, but Texas has seen so much rain, the tracks are underwater.  Bummer!  I’m so glad we hadn’t told the kids!  We try not to tell them where we’re going next just incase it doesn’t work out.  Cleburne was so pretty though!  Look at this view!

We had a great site with a path right down to the lake. It was a little uneven though.  We had to push our back jacks up to their max and our front end was almost on the ground.  I went to get a Dr. Pepper out of the outside fridge and it was so high, I was eye level with it!  Ha!

Our last Texas stop is Lake Bob Sandlin State Park.  It is East of Dallas…far East Texas….and it is gorgeous!  I can’t believe how tall the trees are!  So pretty!

It’s really hard to only stay a night at these beautiful parks.  We would love more time to explore!  Next time…

Tomorrow, we leave the great state of Texas…home….

I have very mixed feelings about it, but I know there are bigger adventures ahead!

Jerimiah 29:11  “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”