Beck Family 2011 Vacation Adventures

On our family vacation this year we took two weeks (and a day) and drove through eleven states! Our two main points of interest were Texas (to explore the state parks) and Missouri (to visit friends). We stopped at some really fun and interesting places in all but two of the states along the way.

Day 1
Ponce de Leon Springs State Park(link)
Ponce de Leon, Florida



We took a very short hike and explored Sandy Creek.

Daddy was showing us how big the fish was that mommy spotted.

Day 2
Lake Charles/Prien Lake Park
Calcasieu Parish, Louisianna.
Lots of running:



Some laughs:

Some moments of introspection:

Jumping waves:


Day 3
Palmetto State Park(link)
Gonzales County, Texas
We had a picnic lunch and then enjoyed the free fishing (no license required).


Swimming


Hiking



Day 4 and Day 5
Guadalupe River State Park(link)
Bulverde, Texas
We had lots of fun exploring the river, watching daddy dive off a tree into the water, and relaxing.




Sunday
We went to church in the morning and relaxed at the hotel pool and jacuzzi in the afternoon.

Day 6
Pedernales Falls State Park(link)
Johnson City , Texas
This park had some great places to explore.




Hiking

Swimming:


Day 07
Inks Lake State Park(link)
Burnet, Texas
We started off at the fishing pier and ended the day watching daddy dive off a cliff!

While mommy fished the area wildlife came out to play:

Then we had fun on the paddle boats paddling around a small area of the lake:

Off to the swimming area:

Off to Devil's Waterhole:

Passing the caution signs:

And finally the cliff dive from daddy (click on photo to for a closer view):


Day 8
Dinosaur Valley State Park(link)

Glen Rose, Texas

We had fun exploring the park and river bed for dinosaur tracks. We explored two different sets of tracks and did some wading/swimming in the river and hiking on the trails and then stopped for a picnic lunch.



We then headed back out to find more dinosaur tracks. The last spot had the most difficult terrain. We had to do some fancy climbing to get to the river where the tracks were. Once at the river there was a lot of slippery rocks and a very deep pool of water close by. It had a nice swimming hole that was too deep for the girls, but daddy was able to do some swimming/diving we explored the tracks in the shallow but slippery rock area.

Day 9
Lake Eufaula State Park(link)
Eufaula, Oklahoma
We had a nice day at the park today. It just so happened to be a free fishing weekend (no license required) in Oklahoma!

The off to the swimming spot to cool off:

We then went back to the hotel and jumped in the pool.

Day 10
Meramec State Park(link)
Sullivan, Missouri
We made one main stop at this park and that was to:

Fisher Cave
We took a naturalist-led hour and a half long tour of the cave. The cave had streamside passages that led to to huge rooms filled with and amazing rock formations (calcite deposits). Inside the rooms and passages were also well-preserved bear claw marks and beds (minus the bears).

We had a great time in the cave!

Days 11 and 12
Florissant, Missouri
We spent the next four fun-filled days with our amazing friends!! The kids all had a great time playing together:




Doing Elizabeth's hair was also a popular activity:



The men cooked a meal for all of us:

Yummy Quiche!

We even got to have a babysitter while daddy, mommy and auntie Elizabeth went off to the most awesomely fun place called City Museum(link). They had a blast!

Day 13
St Louis Zoo(link)




We had a great time with this awesome family:


Mommy and Auntie Elizabeth - friends forever!
A big "Thank You!" to this amazing family for welcoming us into your home and your lives for four days! We look forward to more great times together in the future.

Day 14
Rend Lake State Park
Whittington, Illinois
We stopped for a picnic lunch and enjoyed the lake views:

We did a little exploring too:

Incidentally, this was an incredibly common point of interest on out trip:


Land Between the Lakes(link)
Golden Pond, Kentucky
First stop at this park - swimming!


Then we drove through an Elk & Bison Prairie(link) (700 acre) inside the park.

Bison

Elk (click on picture for a closer view).

And more Bison!

Day 15
Old Stone Fort Park(link)
Manchester, TN
This was an amazing park because of the amazingly beautiful waterfalls.

We took a mile and 1/4 hiking trail along the cliffs:

Super-Daddy in action!!



And enjoyed the spectacular views along the way:





Red Top Mountain State Park(link)
Cartersville, GA
We took a short break at his spot to enjoy the views and relax:




Day 16
Reed State Park
Norman Park, Georgia
This was our last stop on our fantastic vacation tour. the beach sand was seriuosly hot so super-daddy carried the girls to the water burning his feet every step of the way:

We played in the cooler sand near the water:

And went swimming:

We had a great family vacation this year and look forward to all the amazing adventures in the years to come as we make family vacation a tradition and a priority.