walking – Texans Travel Life

November 19, 2018January 9, 2019

Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site/Barrington Living History Farm

Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site is as unique to visit as the Lone Star State is itself! Located along the mighty Brazos River, Washington-on-the-Brazos is a historical complex that serves its visitors a heaping helping of the serene beauty of the South Texas countryside alongside a smorgasbord of opportunities that nourish both the mind and the body.

The Manling and I devoured every moment of our half-day exploration of WotBSHS in August 2018. We got our bearings at the Visitor Services Complex where Park Staffer Mary (with the most beautiful eyes!) gave us the lowdown on all of the must-see-and-do activities during our visit.

With an hour before our first tour, we heeded Mary’s advice and headed toward the Old Washington Town Site Loop Trail (say that three times fast!) and meandered down a beautifully wide path toward the Brazos River…

…catching no glimpses of it until…

…we reached the Scenic Overlook, which was kind of on the wild side. There, we read a lot of signage (see below) that gave us a pretty good overview of the importance of the site. I won’t go into detail because I hate spoilers, but suffice it to say, WotB brought it’s A-game in educational pursuits.

We left the blissful shade of the trail and the Overlook to head up this trail – once an ancient roadway – reading the signage along the way that taught us even more Texas history. There was even a tree that witnessed the events of Texas history covered at the park. Yeah, it’s that old!

We made our way back to the Visitor Services Complex just in time for a quick pit stop before we headed out on a walking tour with Adam Arnold, who has obviously found his calling as a Park Ranger at WotB, with family lines that traced all the way back to…well, someone of significance, but I cannot remember who exactly. But I remember one of our fellow visitors on the tour being duly impressed, so I followed along.

Our tour guide Adam passed out what he termed period-appropriate air conditioners like the one he was holding since it was a hundred degrees during our tour in August. Thanks for doing us a solid, man!

When our outstanding guided tour ended (TRULY a Must-Do with Adam!), we headed back to the nearby Visitor Services Complex to try our hand at the Scavenger Hunt.

For time and financial reasons, we decided to skip the Star of the Republic Museum on this visit. Instead, we headed next to the Barrington Living History Farm. The BLHF was originally located about six miles from its current site where the last President of the Republic of Texas lived in it. The delightful lady that checked us in at the HQ there told us as we headed toward this –

“…When you walk over that bridge, you’ll be in the 1850’s.”

Never ones to miss an opportunity to time travel (and current über fans of NBC’s Timeless), we hastily crossed said bridge, safely navigating whatever time vortex there that made the trip possible.

And then we saw this cow. This 1850’s cow. Which looked a lot like cows in the 2018’s.

Ahead on the path, we saw a house to the left…

…and some out buildings to the right. We went right because, honestly, I’m a sucker for country living and pioneer America is my love language, so off we went to explore the barn, the animals, and what ended up being the slaves’ quarters.

Lastly, we visited the main house where we encountered a lady from the 1850’s whose speech was somewhat awkward to our ears as we weaved in and out of the downstairs rooms of the dog trot style house. We were encouraged – okay, the kids in a separate group were encouraged, but we heard it as we were invited to join – in doing some household chores like washing clothes and hanging them to dry; play checkers on the porch; or catch grasshoppers to throw to the chickens. We did the last one and had the kids in that other group enraptured even though the chickens were a bit on the dim-witted side and 100% of the grasshoppers made it out of the chicken yard unscathed.

Once we exhausted our explorations in the wee patch of 1850’s that is Barrington Living History Farm, we headed back over the portal to the 2018’s (a.k.a. the bridge), back to the modern convenience of true air conditioning inside the Tiny Toyota Tardis (because the Yaris is bigger on the inside), and on to our next adventure.

Why We Love Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site

Guided Tours. Anything Adam Arnold does. Seriously. We threw question after question at him and he remained unfazed. That man is a treasure to the park. Sit yourself under his wing for 45 minutes to an hour and soak up some Texas history.
Old Washington Town Site Loop Trail. Read the signage along the way. Listen to the Brazos River. Imagine yourself in the shoes of those who came before you.
Barrington Living History Farm. Travel back to the 1850’s. It’s priceless! Just know it will be hard to come back.

Must Do’s

An Adam Arnold Tour. See #1 above.
Old Washington Town Site Loop Trail. See #2 above.
Barrington Living History Farm. See #3 above.

We’d love to hear about your experiences at Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site! Please share your experiences at this vintage State Park in the comments.

*In all natural areas, you are a guest. Educate yourself on what lives in the areas before your visits, always talk to the Park Rangers upon arrival and take precautions so that your experiences end as positively as ours.

August 27, 2018August 27, 2018

Dinosaur Valley State Park

Dinosaur Valley State Park happens to be The Readers absolute favorite Texas State Park, so our excitement when she said she could join us on our Independence Day visit in 2018 was undeniable. We were going to have a real, live S.M.E. (subject matter expert) with us for the day, enlivening our experience as she shared her stories, favorite trails, and contagious enthusiasm for what clearly is her beloved park. And for good reason! Where else can you meander down a river laden with bona fide dinosaur tracks, scale rocky precipices for a bird’s eye view of the park, pet a baby goat that you thought was a deer, swim in something as creepy sounding at the Blue Hole, geocache in an area that looks plopped out of The Lord of the Rings, and basically have a chill day with the ones you love even though it’s hot as Hades?

Walking to the Ballroom Site of the Paluxy River

We waded down most of the Paluxy River, enjoying the cool water on this hot day.

The Manling took a dip near the Blue Hole.

The sweet little thing even lives inside the people house with her owner.

Not exactly what we’d recommend for rock climbing.

The drier portion of the Paluxy had fewer people, but there were still dinosaur tracks to find.

This is near where we excited the river to walk through the central part of the park back to our car. I loved the shade and the view and the solitude of the moment on a rather hectic holiday.

Cannot get enough of these! It’s something straight out of Jurassic World at DVSP!

Hey, buddy. Is anyone else remembering that scene in Jurassic World? (insert teary-eyed emogee.)

The caches were great finds in absolutely gorgeous areas of canopied trees with shade and beautiful birdsong.

Why We Love Dinosaur Valley State Park

Dinosaurs. This is the unmistakable draw of the place. You can actually touch bona fide dino footprints. You can compare foot sizes. The Ballroom Site has hundreds of footprints going in all directions. There are two resident dinosaurs that are ready to selfie with you when you visit, as well, so make sure to stop by and say hello.
Water. The Paluxy River was important to our Jurassic friends in the past and it remains an important feature to us today. Take a dip. Wade. Meander among the dinosaur tracks. Enjoy the Blue Hole. Float in a tube. Live in the moment.
Trails. With over 20 miles of trails, there’s bound to be one perfect for you to try. We enjoyed the Limestone Ledge Trail and the Overlook Trail on this visit because of the spectacular views of the surrounding area.
Geocaching. The River portion of the park and the interior portion of the park seem like two completely different places. Go geocaching and explore more than just the river. It’s a great way to take in the beauty of this amazing Texas State Park.

Must Do’s

Scenic Overlook. Make sure you have shoes with good, grippy soles because it gets steep in places, then do yourself a favor and enjoy this hike. The payoff at the top is worth it!
Paluxy River. A lot (if not all?) of the tracks are in the river, so go down in there and enjoy!
Geocache. This is simply the best way to explore, in my opinion. You will go places you would not have otherwise explored and leave with a sense of accomplishment, as well. Win-win.
Dinos. Visit the tracks. Visit the residents. Dinos aplenty at Dinosaur Valley State Park. Up the ante and watch Jurassic Park before going. I guarantee it will heighten your experience at the park!

We’d love to hear about your experiences at Dinosaur Valley State Park! Please share your thoughts on this prehistoric piece of paradise in the comments.

*In all natural areas, you are a guest. Educate yourself on what lives in the areas before your visits, always talk to the Park Rangers upon arrival and take precautions so that your experiences end as positively as ours.

July 12, 2018June 23, 2018

Mother Neff State Park

Vanity of vanities…Knowing my selfies are a sorry collection of proof that I am über unphotogenic, I actually put on make up and decided to take my hair out of it’s pony tail every time we took photos. Even though it was a thousand degrees that morning.

The Manling and I visited Mother Neff State Park in early June 2018. Our trusty map app had trouble locating the entrance, but the reason became clear once we did. MNSP is situated on the Leon River, which sometimes floods the plains around it. In 2015, the park relocated the HQ and campsites outside of this flood plain so that the park could remain open, even when the Leon River was disagreeable to the notion. Our map app apparently didn’t get the memo.

The Manling and I were impressed by the newness of this State Park. It was all so immaculate and driving up to the HQ felt akin to arriving at the model home of a new neighborhood! As we approached the building in the early morning, I asked the Park Staffer who was tending to the flower gardens around the HQ if he’d found anything interesting. He replied that he’d already relocated them. “Them,” I asked? The snakes, he replied with a mischievous grin. “For real,” I asked again, to which his smile only widened. The Manling passed him by and kept walking the paved garden path to the doors of the HQ to register our visit.

Per our usual, we chatted with the State Park Staff on-duty and learned that we had underestimated the extent of closures in this particular park due to the recent floods. While several short trails, the Cave, the Tower, and Wash Pond were still accessible, the big attraction for The Manling was and always will be water access for fishing. (Did I mention that fishing is his love language?) And that part of the park was completely & disappointingly inaccessible to park visitors.

Tourist Tip #1

Don’t choose a destination based on proximity and assume everything will be kosher when you show up. Actually visit the website and do your research because the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department is fantastic at keeping you up-to-date on information that will be important to know for your visit – like the inaccessibility of the water feature due to flood damage. Lesson learned.

Park Map in hand, we went back to the car to drive to the trail head of the Cave, our first stop. After circling half of the roundabout, we saw a somewhat towering gate extremely reminiscent of Jurassic Park, toward which we pointed the Tiny Toyota Tardis (because the Yaris is bigger on the inside). I would be remiss to not point out here that we both began humming Welcome to Jurassic Park (and continued to do so until we parked at the Cave’s trail head!).

Tourist Tip #2

Download Welcome to Jurassic Park to your phone, buy the soundtrack for your car, or download it on Spotify in case you don’t have service (We didn’t.) because this is the perfect score for that gate and the tree-canopied drive through the park. It will elevate the ride to epic instantly.

To abbreviate our short, uneventful trip for you, dear reader, we visited The Cave (which was kind of neat), The Tower (which was our longest hike at the park, but super short compared to our hikes at other parks), and Wash Pond (which was super low on the day we visited). To be honest, The Manling wasn’t feeling MNSP because of the closure of the river end of park and our brief hikes consisted of a lot of quiet punctuated by me either stomp-walking or making noise with my water bottle (you know, to scare the snakes) with the occasional “Are you okay? You seem upset with me” thrown in because, well, The Manling seemed upset with me and all brooding teenager, which is unlike him. So, after our third mini-hike (to the Tower), I asked if he just wanted to head home and plan to come back when more of the park was open (ie the river for fishing). In his funk, he managed to deliver a heart-warming reply in a half-hearted tone – “I’ll do whatever you want to do, Mom. This is your trip, too.” Bless him. We hit the restrooms and then pointed the Tiny Toyota Tardis for home, vowing to revisit Mother Neff when she was recovered from the flood.

The Cave. The Manling offered to explore, but since it didn’t seem trail-like enough at either end of the Cave, I politely declined his offer.

Note the rocks (good camo for rattlesnakes) and the tall grass ahead (good hiding spots for rattlesnakes), both of which may have made me annoying to The Manling because I walked behind him in a “heard” manner, like the Park Staff suggested.

Taken atop the Rock Tower, which was pretty cool and the only time I wasn’t attempting to “make us heard” by any snakes in the vicinity, which The Manling appreciated because my noise may have fanned the flames of his disappointment with the park’s river closure.

Why We Love Mother Neff State Park

It’s new. I confess that I was digging the new digs at MNSP. The HQ was awesome, cold (important in 100 degree temps!) and homey with ginormous windows overlooking the brand new porch with an assortment of chairs welcoming you to sit a spell.
It’s historical. I love experiencing the places of yesteryear. I enjoy reading about it and imagining what it would have been like so many years ago. MNSP is steeped in history!
It’s road. We are a sucker for a beautiful drive and the main road through the park offers a delightful canopy of trees over the small road, punctuated on one end by the fabulous Jurassic Park-esque gate and by the Leon River on the other (though at the time of this publication, that part of the park was closed due to flooding).
It’s possibilities. The Manling loves state parking for the fishing. The Man loves state parking for the hiking. I love state parking for the history. This little park offers a little of each of these.

Must Do’s

The Cave. This was a short little hike from the main road and it was pretty cool to contemplate people actually living there. Read the information posted at the entrance to the cave.
The Tower. It literally is a tower in the middle of trees that you can climb to get a 360 degree view of the park. Neat trail that includes a bird blind if you use the trail head across from the restrooms in the new camping loop.
The Pond. You’ve got to see the pics on-site and read the info about Wash Pond in order to appreciate it when the water levels are low (like they were when we visited).
Fishing. Once the river portion of the park reopens, we plan to return and take our own advice on the Leon River.
Camping. The new campsites look fantastic and there were quite a few campers enjoying them during our visit, even though it was in the 100’s. There are two playgrounds nearby, as well as the Live Oak Trail, which leads to a shaded bird blind and The Tower.
Sitting. Spend some time just sitting and enjoying the flower gardens and the view from the HQ’s porch on those lovely new chairs.

We’d love to hear about your experiences at Mother Neff State Park! Please share your thoughts on one of Texas’ oldest State Parks in the comments.

*In all natural areas, you are a guest. Educate yourself on what lives in the areas before your visits, always talk to the Park Rangers upon arrival and take precautions so that your experiences end as positively as ours.