The Queen’s Chronicles – Texas State Park Weekend

Easter weekend looked a little different for us this year. The boys were both out of state for baseball and Carly Jo had an overnight getaway with a friend planned for weeks. Jordan & I decided to take the long weekend to go explore a couple of Texas State Parks not too far from home in the Texas Hill country while Keith headed to the coast for a little fishing.

Texas is home to 89 state parks and Jordan has been working on crossing a few off her list. Inks Lake State Park is just outside Burnet, Texas which is just a short 2 1/2 hour roadtrip for us. We headed out Friday morning and got to the park just after lunch and before it became too busy with the weekend traffic.

The hiking was not difficult at all on the longest trail in the park. There were some inclines and I can imagine in the summer heat it could be a little miserable as there is not a ton of shade but we had perfect weather. We both invested in some hiking shoes/boots but I definitely think this park is hikable in regular athletic shoes.

We loved seeing the wildflowers and so many beautiful inlays of exposed granite within the red rock. The exterior walls of the Texas State Capital are made from the red or pink granite from Burnet which I didn’t actually know until this weekend. There were two sections of the park and the first hike was the longest, about 5 miles roundtrip. Then we moved our car to be closer to the second loop that took us to Devils Waterhole. We saw several people jumping off the cliff and into the water even on such a cool day. We definitely passed but the water looked beautiful.

After almost 7 miles of hiking we had worked up an appetite! Cafe Twenty-Three Hundred served up a mouthwatering burger and we couldn’t pass on the homemade onion rings! There was an older gentleman singing some old country tunes complete with his own version of Take this Job and Shove it….but replaced job with mask. Small town Texas would definitely not leave you feeling like we have been living in any sort of pandemic that’s for sure.

On day 2 we headed to Longhorn Cavern State Park for a tour of the caverns. While there are some trails at this state park, to head into the caverns you must book a tour. It was an easy walk with only a couple of spots requiring stooping through 10-12 steps. It’s just so cool to me to see how rushing water carved out and created such intricate patterns throughout. The total tour is about 90 minutes long but it was so interesting it didn’t feel like it.

Last stop before leaving and after a quick wardrobe change in the car, the Highway 29 bridge. This bridge was built in 1939 but is now closed to vehicular traffic. There is a swing hanging in the middle which makes or a fun photo op if you are ever passing through. It was cloudy, windy and cold but whatever it takes for the shot right?

We stopped for lunch in Georgetown, Texas at the Sweet Lemon. Georgetown is really a fun little town with lots of great food, antique and thrift shopping and some fun murals. I loved this chicken salad so much that I made my own version for my lunches this week!

Keith and I did head to church Easter morning for the first time in over a year and I didn’t realize how much I had really missed being there in person. Our pastor always finds a way to speak to me but especially at Easter his message is always so full of emotion. Filled my heart right up!

Weekends like this definitely help set up a positive start to the week ahead!