Memorial Day weekend! This park has been on our bucket list for a while and it did not disappoint! The cherry on top was that my cousin Jamie, Jennifer and their kids (Cole and Delaney) were meeting us there!! It’s a pretty far haul (5 hr 45 minutes & add a couple of hours for the way we travel), so we made sure we had 4 nights there to make the drive worth while.
Check in was different than we’re used to. When you pull up, you go into the office and take a number (like at the meat counter in a deli) and wait for it to be called. It can sometimes take several hours, but we were lucky enough to only have 14 people ahead of us (Jamie had 40 ahead of them).
Waiting for our number to be called
We made our reservation 4 or 5 months in advance and even then, put ourselves on a wait list to get a better spot than the ONE that was available when we reserved it. We switched to site 428 (managed to get on the same loop as the Brosts) and it turns out to be one of our favorites after cruising the park. There were gorgeous views of mountains (who knew TX has those?) and beautiful wild flowers. Spacious and super private.
Garner State Park is one of the favorite parks among fellow campers and we agreed! It is HUGE and the scenery everywhere is breath taking. It’s right on the Frio River, has a huge park store, nightly dances and tons of wildlife. We could have stayed for a week!
The first night we ate dinner at Neale’s on the Frio. Great atmosphere and views. Sat by the fireplace decorated for Memorial Day. Good ole Southern comfort food.
On the drive up I called Concan Pies (a MUST TRY according to trip advisor) to find out when they’d be open over the holiday weekend. Turns out you had to place an order the day before and pick up first thing the next morning. They sell out each day just after opening and close shop after that. My cell phone had terrible reception and I kept getting disconnected. I ended up texting them and they promised to make my pies even though we couldn’t keep connected long enough to give my credit card info to reserve the pies- this was probably the most stressful part of the trip!! They stood by their word and had them ready to go for us (Chocolate and some other kind I can’t remember – ended up being just OK, but at least we got to try them.) Right next door was an outdoor yard art place that had such cool decor to buy. Took us an hour to pick out just what I wanted – an iron cactus for our backyard. Love it! Lunch was at Mama Chole’s, a local recommendation.
The Brosts arrived, and after their 2 hr check-in, set up in the same loop just down the road. Hopefully next time we’ll get sites next to each other (428 & 430 – their favorite spot that they’ve camped at for several years in a row). Nolan and Cole slept in a tent at their site (real camping) and the girls slept in our camper (glamping).
Hanging out at the Brost campsite
The Frio River is CRYSTAL CLEAR – much different than the Guadalupe that we’ve done twice over Memorial Day. The kids did the rope swings, the adults, hung out in the tubes. and Chewy went swimming – great times for all!
As far as wildlife goes, we saw turkeys (or were they turkey voltures . . . we called them Vurkeys), jack rabbits, a bobcat (heard it by our campsite and it ran to the neighbors who saw what it was).
Jack rabbit
Even at camp we had no cell reception. So there was no way to communicate with each other, other than good ole fashion walking to each other’s site or driving around until we saw each other. In order to send or receive texts, we had to fire up Kevin’s truck to get his Wifi – really roughing it!
One night we ate tacos and watched Dumb and Dumber on the screen outside. Broke into both pies and served it up with a $12 half gallon of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla (last one in town) b/c who can have pie with out Blue Bell? Like I said, the pie was just OK.
Another night we grilled burgers and attended the “Dance” which is a nightly tradition there where people come from all over (some dressed up and some were in shorts & t-shirts) to sit and listen to music and dance the night away. I sat and watched, the men stayed back at camp until we forced them to come later, the boys wandered around, and Jennifer and Delaney taught Cameron to two step.
Jennifer teaching Cameron to Two Step
Cameron and Delaney
We set up our canopy at the day area and tied up the double tubes along with some drinks for the adults and watched the kiddos swing from the ropes and cliff dive while some other kids climbed to a platform to jump off that had to be 100 ft in the air – talk about crazy!!
The Brosts brought their dogs (this was their first time to come) and they ended up doing pretty well – although Jennifer did have to go Walmart (45 minutes away) to get them bottled water because they wouldn’t drink the water out of the tap. They even went swimming with us one day. Millie was not a fan! But we did manage to get some great pictures. Chewy loves every minute he can be in the water (but don’t try to get him in the pool at home – he DOES NOT even want to consider that).
We didn’t do any hikes this time, but Kevin and Jamie did get to fish one morning. There’s a hike that goes straight up and is pretty rocky called Old Baldy, maybe next year?
There were so many great picture opportunities with all of the views!
It was time to get home. We packed everything up and were heading for the dump station when we turned the wrong way. Turning back around was a pretty tight cut . . . . POP!!!! went the back window!! The front of the trailer busted the back window, thankfully it did not fall out, but it was shattered. Turns out the slider hitch (that is specifically made to keep this from happening) was not in the correct position due to a piece of firewood that got jammed in the way. Cameron about died when this happened. Kevin taped up the window for the drive home, while we got to listen the whistling whine of the wind the whole way back. Good times!! That’s a mistake we won’t make again. Ugh!
This will definitely be a trip we try to do as a yearly Memorial Day weekend tradition. Next time I’d love to see the Flight of the Bats and the Pecan Orchards. The new reservation system only allows you to book 5 months out. We have our calendars set to log in at 8 am to get our sites – wish us luck!!
To Have And To Haas 