We have family in Texas. Through the years we've made several trips to see our kin and take in the sights of the Lone Star State. We're not sure how many miles we've traveled in Texas through the years, but we've certainly always had memorable trips. There's lots to see and do in Texas. This spring, we loaded ourselves into our little camper van and headed to Austin.
Austin is the State Capital of Texas and a city of more than a million people. It is a funky and cool city to visit. Though the traffic is a bit hard on the nerves. One of our relatives lives in the heart of downtown, Austin. He was a little confused when we said we'd pick him up outside of his apartment building. He couldn't imagine how we were going to get our truck and fifth-wheel trailer through downtown and into a somewhat tight entrance area near his apartment. What he forgot is that we now travel in a camper van which is pretty nimble. We pulled up, parallel parked outside the front entrance, loaded him up and went on our way!
About 10 miles east of downtown toward the airport is McKinney Falls State Park. We'd never been there before and even though our relative had lived in Austin for years, he'd never been there either. We reminded him that we had a dog with us and wanted a place to take her to play. He reminded us that Austin is very dog friendly and there are a number of places we could take her downtown. True. Nevertheless, we had visited downtown several times in previous visits (without the dog) and hoped to walk some trails in the state park. Our relative was good with that plan, as he enjoys a good walk as much as we do.
It was the day before Easter and the temperature in Austin was in the 90s, but the cloudy sky helped us from getting too hot. We walked, talked, looked around, and took pictures of the scenery and each other. After getting back to the RV following our trail walk, we briefly kicked on our quiet generator for a little AC. We ate our homemade sandwiches and drank ice-cold water while continuing to yack with one another. It was a great day!
McKinney Falls State Park opened in 1976 and is located at 5808 McKinney Falls Parkway. The park features upper and lower falls along Onion Creek. Texas Parks and Wildlife does limit the number of people who can visit the park each day and there is a small fee to enter. Reservations are recommended. We arrived early with our reservations in hand and stayed until after lunch. The park does have a campground, but we actually stayed at a different RV park that visit. Next time we get back to Austin, we'll likely see if we can reserve a site in the state park. You can find out more about the park by visiting Texas Parks and Wildlife online at tpwd.texas.gov.
A couple of days after saying hello to our relative in Austin, we said our goodbyes and turned for home. A funny thing happened on the way home. We got sidetracked by a road sign that steered us to another state park and a national landmark we hadn't thought about visiting. Turns out we're glad we did stop to have a look around. More on that another time.
In the meantime, we'll be out wandering. Thank you for reading our blog and we'll catch you again soon!