HAMILTON POOL

On this day trip, we headed out west to HAMILTON POOL. This is located near the Hill Country outside of Austin. The best way to get there was coming from Houston is on 1-10. Take it west for about 2 hours until you exit to HWY 71 towards La grange, Bastrop, and other small towns. Along that road you will enjoy nice scnenery and a couple small shops that you can stop at. I tried a couple KOLACHE shops and found out they mean a different dessert than what we are used to in Houston. For the most part, while you are drving down this road the best thing that I can recommend is to stop along as many SCENIC VIEWS and HISTORICAL MARKES as you can. Not only does it give you a litte leg stretch, but you get some good knowledge and delight from the road you are treading. Take HWY 71 until you pass through Austin and come upon the signs that take you on HWY 290 towards Dripping Springs. When you arrive at Dripping Springs, take Ranch Road 12 to the right and then Ranch Road 3238 to the left. Be on the look out for the small sign to the HAMILTON POOL PRESERVE PARK on the right. If you get to a hilly creek and awkard road, you passed it up and have to return carefully without falling off the cliff.
Once there you will have to pay $10 per car to park at the park and explore it by foot. You can walk down to the river and explore the river towards the left, or the Hamilton pool towards the right. You can camp out or make your way back home when you are done. Follow all the rules of the Natural Preserve Park. Take care of this beautiful place and enjoy it as much as you can looking around for all the natural wildlife. You will be amazed!
When you exit the Hamilton Pool you can make your way back to Houston or you can feel free to explore Austin, San Antionio, or New Braunfels and the surrounding rivers. We went on a weekday in April and only encountered about three other families there, too. This is a great part to take wonderful pictures. On this day they starting forecasting some thunderstorms so we headed home and made it by 8pm.

Total drive time from Houston: 3.5 hours, entry fees: $10.00, Rating 10/10!

Scenery on HWY 71

When you see a sign pointing to a HISTORICAL MARKER pull over!

When you see a sign that points to a SCENIC POINT pull over!

At HAMILTON POOL NATURAL PRESERVE

Enjoy wildlife in the rivers and creeks

The spring water is ice cold but you have to try to bear it!

Hamilton Pool, get in and enjoy this one of a kind experience :)

Tune in next time for more excursions near and around Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.

Bryan+Quintana+Surfside Beaches in Freeport TX

On this Easter Sunday 2012, we made our way out to Freeport Texas to explore some beach options. We came upon BRYAN, QUINTANA, and SURFSIDE BEACHES. I remember growing up in Houston we would visit the typical Galveston Beaches but as the years passed I have grown dissapointed with my trips out there. I was very pleasantly surprised with my trip to the other coasts today and would like to share my findings. It was almost like a little flash back in time to my best childhood memories... (and FREE!)...

First, if you're coming from Houston Downtown, it will take you a little over 1 hour to get there. Take 288 South until it hits the water! Sound's too easy but it's true. The only tricky part is when it takes you a dead end at NOLAN RYAN EXPY or HWY 36.. make sure to take it UNDERNEATH the underpass and then take the road to the left towards Bryan Beach.

Once there, we had wonderful observations: Bryan Beach was very flexible. You can park on both the dunes side and the beach side. There was a good row of seaweed and some small branches that water has brought to shore. The beach sand was very clean and yellow. The ocean floor was free of crabs, trash, and shells.Then environment at Bryan Beach was family environment with LOTS of kids and little else going on except families bbqing, and listening to fairly loud music. There is a guy that sells some fresh, cool fruit that comes in handy, and the ice cream truck passed by a few times. When you exit the beach, you can take the first street to the right to get to Quintana Beach.

At Quintana Beach the water and sand was very similar. One difference is that they have a Bird Watching Reserve there where you can really appreciate the birds and the nature. Also they are at a location where they meet with the Brazos River so they give you small parks and areas where you can do some good fishing. Finally, they have a very good pier for fishing as well. When you exit the beach you will need to go back the brigde that got you to Bryan Beach and take that bridge until you see the signs that lead you to Surfside Beach or back to Lake Jackson if you would like to go back to Houston.

Surfside Beach turned out great for a Vacation location, where you can rent a  weekend house or camp out and have a lot of ammenities close by. There the public beach is much STRICTER, with similar water but filled with more seaweed. It is heavily patrolled, only allowing you to park on the dunes side, with more young people, and recreational activities. The beaches are deemed "one way" and they will not allow you to go in the opposite direction.

From there, if you would like, you can take the scenic Bluewater Highway to Galveston. Tune in next time for more adventures in Texas.

Bryan Beach Deep in the Waves

Bryan Beach Family Filled anc Clean

Expect this Sand and Seaweed at Bryan