When someone asks me what my favorite holiday is I naturally say Christmas or Thanksgiving. Then Memorial Day rolls around and I am quickly reminded that Memorial Day weekend ranks pretty high on that list, too. It's one of my most favorite weekends and camping trips.
Each year we road trip about 4 hours to the Texas Hill Country for a weekend of camping with some pretty amazing people. We camp at a little park right next to a golf course in Mason, TX. This time we had 12 campers in our group. In September we will have 18 campers with us! It's a weekend mixed with both relaxing and playing. During the day we normally split up into groups and do various things. Some will go shopping in Fredericksburg, some will golf, some will go to museums, some just hang out at the campsites, etc. During the evening we all come together for supper and games. We have a theme for each night and then it's potluck style. It's some really good eating! And we always call the police department to come out and eat, and they do. I think that's so cool and has become one of the neatest traditions.
Mason, however, does more playing than relaxing, though. He plays from sun up until sun down while we are there. The playground is in the middle of where we camp and since we have so many in our group we span the length of the park. So, there are always more than enough eyes on them. He had about 10 kids to play with this time and was in little boy heaven. I love camping here because he can be a total boy and we don't have to worry so much. He may come in each night with dirt in every crevice of his body, but he comes in ready to do it all over again the next day.
We had a pretty smooth and easy road trip there. I always pack Mason a goodie bag for trips that are over 2 hours long. I fill it with snacks, little toys and activities to keep him busy on the way down. He hung out in the backseat and only piped in every so often to request a song.
We arrived in Mason around 2 pm on Friday. Most everyone was gone doing things so we let Mason play at the park while we unloaded our stuff into the camper.
Everyone started coming back to the campers about an hour and a half later so we visited and hung out until supper. Mason played his little heart out at the playground and riding his bike.
After we ate we made a split decision to go check out the bats. We have always wanted to watch the bats emerge from the cave, but have never seemed to make it over. We left pretty late, so we weren't sure what our adventure would hold. But, what an adventure we had. It was such a pretty drive to the cave...out in the middle of nowhere. We saw so much wildlife; cows, horses, turkeys, jackrabbits, deer, a tarantula and a snake. Nate got some pretty cool footage on the GoPro of the tarantula and the snake. I'm including the video at the end of this post.
After hestitantly crossing over this river we made it to the bat cave in time. The bats didn't emerge until after 8:45 pm. And then it was almost too dark to get pictures or take video. Nate did get some footage, though. It was a neat experience, but I am not a fan of bird type things. I may have screamed a few times when they looked like they were flying right at our faces. Eeek!
Saturday a group of us went to Fredericksburg for a little shopping and ice cream before heading over to Johnson City, TX. We wanted to hike Pedernales Falls. We went last year and it was so beautiful. It was a blast, but it sure was hot on those rocks. And the hike back up is torture. But, it was worth it. I took photos and Nate took video on the GoPro.
Sunday was spent hanging out at the campers all day, We had some whiffle ball games as well as our traditional water balloon fight. It was the best way to spend our last full day and evening at Mason, TX.
When we got home on Monday we weren't ready to end the weekend, so we grabbed some stuff to throw on the grill. We played outside, ate some burgers and watched the Rangers.
Such a good one!! I've attached the video below that has all of the pictures and video footage from the weekend. It's pretty long, but has some neat videos!
Memorial Day at Mason, TX from Crystal Hall on Vimeo.
Hope your Memorial Day was pretty spectacular, too!
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Hi!! I am Crystal. Daughter of the One True King, wife to my high-school sweetheart Nathan and Mama to a 13 year old boy named Mason. We're the Halls and we love to travel around Texas {or anywhere, really}. I blog about our daily life, traveling, DIY'ing, and everything in between. Welcome and thank you for stopping by!
