Balmorhea State Park

I am scared, truly scared, of one thing. Fish. Not cute ones. The ones who jump up around you when you're in waist deep at the beach. Can't handle it. In the past I've been fine in nice clear water with small fish (i.e. Mexico, swimming holes in earlier posts). This place has BEAUTIFUL spring water, a fabulous set up, and the largest concentration of fish EVER! Even big black catfish. My kids loved it. Robert loved it. I was horrified. I did jump in once only to prove I wasn't a chicken. I was a chicken. I would have screamed, even under water, had I not been afraid to swallow one of the 200 fish that stood, well, swam, between me and the step ladder to get out.

Fort Davis Historic Site

Nothing makes my history loving heart happier than a bunch of little history buffs who actually enjoy going to old ruins. Ty and Bailey even did the scavenger hunt through all of the restored and unrestored buildings and earned a patch for their efforts.
On the way out of the area we stopped by a snake house that was lined with venomous snakes, scorpions, and spiders in the least secure enclosures available (I keep legos in more durable containers). It did add to the excitement, especially when Jack bumped into a big white storage bucket and it started rattling. Apparently that snake had just gotten pregnant and was about to be moved to the back cages. Trey enjoyed a conversation with the owner (who under any other circumstance we would have avoided for fear of our lives-lesson learned, don't judge a book by it's tattoos and personal hygiene). They had a good deal to discuss about all of the early model Suzukis in various stages of functionality that lined the entrance to the snake house.

Dinosaur Valley State Park

The first stop of our recent road trip was here, southwest of Fort Worth. It had a number of nice swimming spots and great ledges to jump from. We stopped to watch a couple of paleontologists who were making molds of some recently unearthed dinosaur tracks. Jack, after crossing several swift moving parts of the river by balancing nimbly on slick rocks, declared "I'm good at this!"