Considering First Trip

[DaveInTN 3,247]

HI Mo, We stopped at the in PA the first night in Carlisle I-81 , Exit# 47. We took the "long" way to avoid Rt 95 south.

And then in SC in Walterboro I-95 , Exit# 53.

Here's little Lou napping on the couch w/ Ken and my girls.

Cindy

Hey...what's in the jar?? Looks like giardiniera.

What? You think you can post a pic of food and I won't notice? :rofl3:

[Dollface...CindyC 18]

Hi Dave! It's Italian flavored pickled veggies.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Wow Dave - you're good!!

[Lou... 3,118]

A slight HI-Jack Cake.

Very sick, hungry, and abandoned in a driveway by mama cat.

To this.

Lucky is right Mo.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Hey...what's in the jar?? Looks like giardiniera.

Love that stuff! Sorry, Dave, it came from Costco.

That looks like one happy cat!

[zpackmama 0]

Very cool Becca! It looks like we do have the same Eagle...I bet we even bought it from the same place....Crestview??? We were down at McKinney Falls the weekend before last...that's a great State Park in your back yard. Have yall been RVing for a while? I love going to the state parks.

That's amazing you booked it already. I wonder if I should get on the stick and book soon too??? For the rest of the group how early should we be booking?

I'll for sure have to check out the Star Wars stuff while we are there.

Good guess! Yep, Crestview! We are headed to McKinney Falls for our 1st visit this weekend. Can't wait and excited to have a cool place so close by. We are brand new to RVing. Did our night at Crestview and visited the Jellystone Park in Burleson a couple weeks back because my oldest had a scout campout at the Ft. Worth Zoo. We've got some good trips lined up for the Spring/Summer- Fredericksburg (Jellystone), Perdanales State Park, Canyon Lake(Jellystone), Port A (Pioneer), & Garner State Park. It should be a lot of fun to unplug for some good family time! I'm obviously a planner, though should probably spend more time on the financial planning side rather than just for fun... Any favorite state parks to recommend? Any camping games or activities your girls especially enjoy? While our kids understand that we won't be spending our time on electronics, I want to be prepared with fun ideas--hiking, wildlife photography, etc.

[CakeHenn 4]

Becca...sounds like we will being going to a lot of the same places. We bought our first RV last year...used a Rockwood Roo. It was small but nice...in the end it was just the wrong floor plan with a bad layout so that's why we upgraded. I'm a big fan of buying used but if you want something very specific it's not like cars or trucks where you can find plenty of used.

We are going to the JellyStone near Canyon Lake at the end of May. Last year we went during spring break and at that point it was a little too chilly to enjoy the swimming so we said if we go back it needs to be during the warm months. I'd be interested in your comments about the other Jellystone parks. We are planning on going to Garner State Park as well...heard lots of great things...heard good things about Perdanales as well.

At this point we have just 3 booked trips set up...the Jellystone one at the end of May I already mentioned but before that we are going to Galveston and staying at Jamaica Beach RV resort during spring break. Then in late July we are going to Port A to stay at the Gulf Waters RV Resort. Sounds like you are already booked at Pioneer and besides Gulf Waters there is not other RV park I would want to stay at down there. THere is the Mustang Island State Park but the RV area is basically an ugly parking lot and unless you just really really want to stay near port A and Pioneer and Gulf Waters are booked then I guess you can try it out. It's really the only state park that has RV camping that I've seen that I would not want to stay at. As far as Pioneer goes we have not stayed there but we did drive through it last year. It's a little larger than Gulf Waters but has a lot more slots due to them being much closer together. Gulf Waters is very difficult to get into...I actually booked that in October 2012 to get a spot for July 2013 and there were like 6 spots open at that point. Gulf Waters is a property where each site is actually owned by individuals...I'd say it's kind of like Port Royal because each of those condos is individually owned but they have a property manager that rents them out. Each spot is a little different. Last year I actually tried to book a couple months out and they were full...so was pioneer but I ended up calling a the Monday before our trip and they had a cancellation. Long story short...I'd suggest calling to see if Gulf Waters has any spots for the time you want to go and if they do book there. It's only a few bucks more a day but IMO it's totally worth it.

McKinney Falls....they have lots of "pull-throughs" but many of them are actually tight semi-circles that we could not see pulling the eagle into. They don't assign you an actual spot until you get there and for us they gave us a pull through spot that was to tight so I drove around and found another spot...they will give you their phone number and you can call in to check to see if you can change to another spot...we did that. Many of the back up sites are nice.

We went to Bastrop SP a couple times last summer. They have a swimming pool there that's nice but it's run by the YMCA or something so you actually have to pay a fee but for use with little girls pool swimming makes more since than swimming in lakes or rivers. Bastrops SP's sites are fairly nice and most are pull throughs with good room. They are also full hook ups. We tend to fill up the grey water tanks pretty fast so it's nice to be able to dump that. We went to Inks lake last summer as well. It's ok...the sites are not super nice and for us again lake swimming is not great but as the girls get older that will change. We actually have stayed at Cedar Ridge Park at Lake Belton (Corp of Engineers property) like 3 or 4 times now...it takes us like 15 minutes from our house so it's a nice quick weekend get away. My dad has a boat so we can combine the camping and boating which is pretty fun. Here is a link: http://www.recreation.gov/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=71077

There are some other spots we've stayed around Lake Belton and Still House but so far Cedar Ridge is our favorite...the camp sites are very well spaced out.

As far as games and activities obviously we do our fair share of hiking and exploring (as much as we can at least...kind of hard with our youngest but that will only get better). We try to really pick our spots based on the time of year...like I said earlier about the Canyon Lake JellyStone...based on swimming. We normally bring some board games quiet times and before bed. At night we often try to build camp fires and do s'mores. Our s'mores are a little different because instead of regular marshmallows we use Peeps! We discovered how awesome this combo is last year after having a stash left over from Easter. Now a days they have peeps for most holidays so my wife will always wait until the day after and buy up a bunch of them.

We always try to take lots of pictures. We also don't won't much of any TV while camping...after the girls go to sleep and we get ready for bed the wife and I will sometimes watch a little tv or a movie but I love just sitting outside and looking up at the stars. Oh which reminds me...download some free space apps that can help you star gaze a bit.

I could go on and on...let me know if you have any specific questions about any of the places we've been. Oh another one to look up is http://www.krausesprings.net/ . We went there once last year and it's a close by spot for you guys.

[CakeHenn 4]

Wow...I hope you already have Garner SP booked...I just tried like 3 different sets of dates for the summer and they were all booked already :banghead:

[PrincessNana 15]

Wow...I hope you already have Garner SP booked...I just tried like 3 different sets of dates for the summer and they were all booked already :banghead:

You have to book Garner at least a year in advance.. If you can't get in, you could try Seven Bluffs campground, Neal's campground or Magers campground. There's actually quite a few places to camp on the Frio if Garner is full, but all the campgrounds are usually booked solid from Memorial Day to Labor Day. It's a great family destination. Hope you find a spot.

TGIF (Thank God It's Frio)

[CakeHenn 4]

Over the next week we are probably going to be booking 2 or 3 trips...obviously the Garner one is out. Wife and I agreed that we would just try again next year. 2014 shaping right up haha.

[zpackmama 0]

You might get lucky with Garner if you keep checking back. I booked last week, though just half way....it was a tip I learned from another camper on the web. At first I was just checking July dates for a 4 night stay. When I shortened it to checking one night at a time, I was able to find 2 nights in a row on the same loop for the week I want. I hear that they have lots of cancellations as they get closer to Summer. My plan is to keep checking back for the other 2 nights I want. My source on the web even mentioned waking up in the morning and extending your stay based on cancellations, though I don't think it will come to that if I check back regularly. It's a gamble, but I think it will work out. I will definitely be planning that one earlier for a 2014 Summer trip! We tent camped at Garner Memorial weekend about 10 years ago and it was awesome!

[zpackmama 0]

CakeHenn,thanks for all of your great tips! I will check into Gulf Waters for our June trip...it's funny because I was torn between the two when booking. I thought that the Burleson Jellystone was great fun, though we have nothing to compare with yet. None of the activities or water park was open, though I'm sure that's terrific in season. There was still lots to do and explore for us. We look forward to experiencing the State Parks to compare as the Burleson Jellystone was a little "Chuck E Cheesish" , if that makes sense. I'm looking forward to the Jellystone in Fredericksburg because we love Enchanted Rock and our twins have never been. Thanks again for sharing your experiences!

[CakeHenn 4]

Well we found some midweek slots for August at Garner but I decided to pass. We actually end up just calling vs using the website to see what was open and when. I did book 3 nights at Perdanales Falls for July.

[zpackmama 0]

Thanks for the Krause Springs! I didn't know it was there. We went zip lining near there (for adults) and ate at Opie's BBQ after- that place is awesome!!!

[LONE-STAR 370]

Just saw this thread. I haven't been on the board much because I hurt my eye at work and couldn't see my I pad. But it is a little better now. I have grown up making the trip from the Houston area to the Fort. As a kid I stayed with my parents in there popup. I got married in 2000 and took my wife to Disney for her first trip in 2002 we stayed in a tent behind my parents trailer on there site. It was a rare week where Florida was in the low 30's at night. My wife froze. She said we had to get our own camper. So after 8 months of shopping we bought our first camper and we were back at the Fort in 03 in our camper.We have been back at least once every year since. We always drove it straight through untill a few years ago. We have a 3 1/2 year old girl now and she loves Disney her first trip was at 3 months and has been 5 times now. She is the reason we started spending the night on the way down. We hit the road about 6 a.m. and run about 550 miles to Milton Florid to the KOA there it takes 10 to 12 hours. We get up the next morning and get on the road between 9 and 10 and with the time change we arrive at the Fort between 5 and 6. Buy the next exit book try to hit travel centers. Nice thing about driving a diesel is you can always get in a truck stop but most of them will not let you pay at the pump. If you have any questions about the drive ask away I can't think of anything right now.

[CakeHenn 4]

Good stuff Lone-Star!

[Judy in Texas 150]

For those who might want to camp in the DFW area, try Lloyd Park on Joe Pool Lake. It is owned by the city of Grand Prairie. Just off 360 south of I-20. A number of sites on the water; but, I like the 100 loop which is quieter. Nice enough restrooms. Bike-able. Feels like you are out of the way but with restaurants within 10 minutes. Cowboys stadium, Rangers Ballpark, Six Flag all within 30 minutes. No pool but a nice beach. Kayaks and canoes for rent.

[nutters4wdw......Amy 5]

More Texans!

We are spending 3 nights at the Jellystone in Fredericksburg for our spring break outing. This will be our second time there, the owners/staff are great, super nice and the place is beautiful! We were there the weekend before Halloween the first time with friends and all our kids had a great time. We are really looking forward to the spring break trip. We did our maiden voyage in our trailer at the Canyon Lake Jellystone, had a great time there as well. We have a 7 yr old boy so the pedal cars and the pool were all he really needed, although the pool was really cold at the time.

We will be making the drive to the Fort this June, our first time with the trailer, I'll let you know how it goes. We plan on leaving Thursday afternoon (from San Antonio), as soon as school lets out for the last day and pull into the Fort on Saturday. Anyone know a good place to overnight on the other side of Houston?

[LONE-STAR 370]

We like the Jellystone in Waller. We just talked to them yesterday at the RV show in Houston and they said the new water slides have been finished. They paved all the gravel roads in the park(so no more dust) and they are putting in a new putt putt golf course. They already took out the old one. The new one should be finished by spring break.

[zpackmama 0]

I didn't know of the Jellystone in Waller. It sounds nice! Hoping that the pool at the Canyon Lake Jellystone won't be too cold this March, though at least our kiddos can try the pedal cars and any activities they have planned.

[LONE-STAR 370]

The one in Waller is alot of fun for the kids on a weekend getaway. Golf cart rental, several water slides, 2 pools, kids play house, wagon rides, putt putt golf, a movie at night (but I never like what's playing) karaoke ,and a craft shop. There is also a ice cream social.

[LONE-STAR 370]

Oh and a pond for fishing.

[CakeHenn 4]

I didn't know of the Jellystone in Waller. It sounds nice! Hoping that the pool at the Canyon Lake Jellystone won't be too cold this March, though at least our kiddos can try the pedal cars and any activities they have planned.

Cross your fingers for some warmth. I think I mentioned it above but we went there last spring break and my oldest did try swimming one of the days it was really cold. That early in the year even on a warm day the water will be cold. There are other things to do though so yall should still have fun.