One of my bucket list items is to visit every National Park (4 remaining!). In between the “big trips” I started visiting Texas State Parks. Vicky is in the home stretch to finish her Masters in Theology – giving me some time to get out of her hair and on the road. Copper Breaks was my final park last week – completing the journey thru our 89 state parks. Below is my wall map that tracked my progress and routes. In the next few notes I will share some thoughts on this journey and my top 5 Texas State Parks!

First a hard truth. Texas wouldn’t win a beauty pageant among the states. Probably wouldn’t even make the finals. You can always tell a Texan that doesn’t get out much if they go on about the beauty of Texas. That said…Texas has plenty of pockets of beauty – many of them in the state parks.

In a state where everything is supposed to be bigger – it’s ironic that Texas has a “mini” version of many kinds of natural beauty. Canyons (Palo Duro), Mountains (Guadelupe and Chicos), Swamps (Lake Caddo), Lakes (Texoma et al), Fall Colors (Hill Country/Caddo), Rivers (Red/Rio Grande), Forests (East Texas), Caves (Carlsbad/Longhorn Cavern). Maybe we would win in Spring Flowers (Central Texas) and vast ranch/oil land (West Texas) categories!

The journey was often as fun as the park destinations. Seeing all the parks forced me on many backroads into the hinterlands of the state – through tons of small towns struggling to survive and others that have developed their own new vibe (Marfa). I met countless colorful and passionate Texans living their dreams and serving up great food and fun. Viva Terlingua!

We Texans have invested many dollars in our great park system. Get out and enjoy your investment! Thank you God for the Texas State Parks.

Toodling and Noodling, Stan