Adventures with Grandkids: Summer Edition

It’s time for “Pop and Nana’s Summer Camp”.

Story and photos by Gerald McLeod, retired TCDRS Communications Manager

 

Here are three Texas adventures perfect for entertaining the grandkids this summer:

Glen Rose

At Dinosaur World outside of Glen Rose, the dinosaurs are strange-looking, but safely behind a fence.

About an hour southwest of Fort Worth, Glen Rose offers plenty of vacation opportunities that appeal to all ages. Lodging along the Paluxy River is abundant. Big Rocks Park and Wheeler Branch Park provide two of the best swimming holes in the area.

Your future paleontologists will enjoy leading the expedition through Dinosaur World, a Jurassic Park filled with life-sized creatures outside of Glen Rose. Then, take them next door to Dinosaur Valley State Park to swim in the river with real dinosaur footprints. 

The Piney Woods

The Space Shuttle Columbia that broke apart over East Texas 20 years ago this year is remembered in the Columbia Museum in Hemphill on the edge of the Sabine National Forest.

East Texas’s Piney Woods is one of the most beautiful areas of Texas. Sabine National Forest abuts Toledo Bend Reservoir, the largest lake in both Texas and Louisiana. The lake’s shoreline harbors several parks, marinas and cabins.

In Hemphill, the county seat of Sabine County near the southern end of the national forest, the Patricia Huffman Smith NASA "Remembering Columbia" Museum provides a look at the Space Shuttle disaster 20 years ago. On Feb. 1, 2003, the Columbia disintegrated over East Texas. The museum celebrates the lives of the crew and tells the story of the incredible recovery effort that followed the tragedy.

Hill Country Caves

Cave Without a Name in Boerne is one of seven show caves around Texas offering a respite from the summer heat and a world of underground figures created by dripping water over hundreds of years.

Go underground in one of Texas’s seven major show caves to escape the summer heat. The majority of the public caves are in a large swath of limestone that forms the Hill Country north of San Antonio.

Cave Without A Name — named as such because “it’s too beautiful for a name” — has the advantage of being on the outskirts of Boerne, a small town with lots lodging, food and fun. A few miles north of San Antonio, Natural Bridge Caverns offers activities above and below ground. You can even see the evening emergence of the largest bat colony in world.

Texas