Summer days in Somerville

Ah, summer.  Hot, sticky, wonderful Texas summer. Remind me again why we leave our air conditioned house to go hang out in a travel trailer in the park?

Well, for a lot of reasons, actually:

You can play Greed on the bed in the camper Saturday night after you realize you've left the bike keys at home and will have to spend the better part of Sunday heading back home again to pick them up. 

You can stay at a state park that really needs your support after flooding damaged two of the camping loops back in 2015.  We really enjoyed the way they had the sites set up in the Old Hickory loop where we were - each site was set back into the trees and the park kept the underbrush intact, so that you had nearly complete privacy from the other campers nearby you.  

You *might* be lucky enough to find a local hole in the wall place, because their outdoor decor (Mater!!) catches your eye on the way into the campground.  Freedom Ranch Cafe is on Park Road 57 and is absolutely worth the drive back out to enjoy for dinner.  I wrote up a quick review for them out on Yelp - definitely 5 stars all the way around!

You can hang out with your puppy - who can't seem to get enough of rolling in the grass, chasing and chomping after bees, and basically just being a blur of activity until he's exhausted himself.  

You can ride your Harley over to the Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham, TX.  It was the first time I've been able to make it over to the Creamery during the week while they were actually in production.  They wouldn't let you take photos from the observation deck, but it was soo cool to watch the ice cream being packaged into various cartons.  BTW, you can follow our motorcycle adventures real-time over on Instagram: @twowheelthrills 

You can also enjoy a giant scoop of ice cream, fresh from the Creamery, for just $1.  Rich and I shared one that neither of us had had before: Sea Salt Caramel.  It was the perfect combination of sweet creaminess and salty savoriness.  And the giant flag of ice cream cartons there in the parlor was pretty cool, too.

And finally, you can travel across the southern parts of Texas, from Houston to Somerville, to Kerrville and really enjoy the back road beauty that our state has to offer.  More reasons to come in a bit as I blog about our Fourth of July week at former state-park-turned-city-park: Kerrville-Schreiner Park.  

We stayed in Site #88 at Lake Somerville State Park Birch Creek Unit.  As I mentioned, two of the other loops were closed for maintenance while we were there.  Close walk to the bath house, mostly level sites. The privacy from one site to the next was a BIG hit with us. It was enjoyable and close to the town of Brenham, where there's  fair bit of small country charm to enjoy as well.  I know I've said it a lot, but we could certainly see ourselves coming right back here again.... just this time, we'll make sure we have the keys with us!

For more camping photos, go here.