This is the story of our Texas Beach Camping Road Trip!
Cash (age 3) had been asking politely to go the beach for months. (He’s a persistent lil guy) But rain was forecasted along our original route the from Pensacola Florida through Gulf Shores of Alabama. Luckily we always have a back up plan, we re-routed for the Texas Gulf So we sat down , budgeted it out and set our dates! We decided to make it an inexpensive yet amazing family adventure and that’s just what we did!
We left home Friday evening with a car packed for a week of beach camping. (Which we had never done before, we had never even camped in a park for more than 3 days let alone camping on a sandy beach) We decided to drive until we were exhausted then sleep in the car at a rest stop. ( A great way to save money) We woke up early Saturday morning and continued our voyage until arriving at Mustang Island State Park where we stayed our first two nights.
A photo posted by Dylan, Kayla and Cash Myers (@familytravelgo) on
Mustang Island State Park was better than we expected! The park rangers were helpful and it only cost $20 a night for primitive camping right on the beach. There where many wash off stations and clean porta pottys and a short drive took you to the visitor center had full showers and real restrooms. The beaches were clean and the water was nice!
We stopped by Padre Island National Seashore hoping to see some sea turtles hatch but we were late in the season. So if you want to see the turtles go between April and June. We still enjoyed ourselves there was a hiking trail through the dunes with a geocache hidden. The beach was very clean and we found many nice shells and small starfish! I wish we would have camped there a night or two but we planned to hang around Port Aransas more.
A photo posted by Dylan, Kayla and Cash Myers (@familytravelgo) on
After our exploration of Mustang Island State Park and Padre Island National Seashore we headed east to Port Aranasas. Many great restaurants, tourist attractions and souvenir shops filled the area. We stopped by the chamber of commerece where an extremely helpful lady mapped out great free family things to do! We camped at an Magee RV site with water and electric in the grassy dune area. (Mommy wanted a break from camping on the sandy beach) . They had nice showers,bathrooms and a quick walk to the beach. The beach was not as nice and it had a few jellyfish wash up (Which was kind of cool/kind of freaky) but the close proximity to many great places made the stay worth it.
A photo posted by Dylan, Kayla and Cash Myers (@familytravelgo) on
We considered staying in a hotel one night, but quickly decided against it after doing the math, if we “toughed it” and camped rather than getting a hotel even for just one night we could afford to go on the Pirate Cruise. We had seen a brochure and read about it online, all great reviews and everyone said it was completely worth it. Our last day we voyaged on the pirate ship and it was worth every penny!
A photo posted by Dylan, Kayla and Cash Myers (@familytravelgo) on
Nearing the end of our trip we continued East along the coast to Rockport TX where we camped out at Goose Island State Park, which was not technically the gulf/beach anymore, but they had a nice lake, scenic views and nearby some amazing old trees.
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Rockport had a very nice and clean beach, it was man made and unlike any we had ever seen. The water stayed shallow and the waves were tiny, we had fun swimming for a bit but missed the bigger waves and deeper waters the gulf beaches had.
One of the areas tourist attractions was the Fulton Mansion, which we decided to check out considering it was free and not far. It over exceeded our expectations. We were able to do so much, learn history, make crafts, play with digital and hands on interactive exhibits and the mansion was not even open (it was under construction). The exhibits were held in a museum next door where friendly employees were glad to answer any questions and help in any way possible.
A photo posted by Dylan, Kayla and Cash Myers (@familytravelgo) on
After out two days at Rockport it was time to head back home to Oklahoma. But the fun wasn’t over just since we were heading back, we had a special stop on our voyage home. Jacobs Well, near Austin Texas in a town called Wimberly. It was a natural spring which had become a sort of hot spot for swimming and jumping into the ice cold water. There is a deep underwater cave system which swimmers jump into after climbing up the rocks. Cash and I both jumped in. (See the Instagram Video below)
It was a perfect quick stop on the way home, we enjoyed a nice hike to the spring where we felt the freezing sensation of the chilly water as we swam. We had done our research beforehand thankfully because you have to sign up in advance if you want to swim due how busy it could get. We spent a few hours there before finishing our voyage home.
A photo posted by Dylan, Kayla and Cash Myers (@familytravelgo) on
Overall this was one of our favorite trips thus far experiencing many things for the first time, waking up on the beach to a beautiful sunrise over the gulf, voyaging the seas with a crew of scurvy pirates, and jumping off a cliff into an underwater cave just to mention a few.
Thanks for reading, If you have any questions, or comments or just want to say hi please leave us a comment and we will get back to you!
Happy Travels!
Dylan K Myers
Family Travel Go
Looks like a great trip! We are pretty adventurous with our kids when we travel, but we haven’t tried camping yet! My kids would love that pirate ship cruise!!
Camping is so much fun! Cash loves it ! There is something specials about sitting around a fire , roasting marshmallows , telling stories and looking at all the stars. The pirate ship was a blast, worth every penny!
Beach camping is something kids will never forget! Or the parents! There is something about crashing waves that make a person sleep better. Would love to see a few of these some day…and you had me at turtles! Thanks for sharing!
We will never forget and I look forward to doing again someday soon! My favorite part was waking up with the sun rising over the waves. Thanks for reading and for the comments! 🙂
What a wonderful adventure. We are huge fans of camping holidays and hope to do a big RV trip in the states next year, I will be bookmarking this post for reference.
Awesome! Let me know if you have any questions about anything, I’d be glad to help make sure your adventure was as great as ours!