Lounging by Lake and Sea: Vacation Days at Sam Rayburn Reservoir and Galveston

After our build in Beaumont, we had a full 7 days before we were due at our next build in La Grange, a town located a couple hundred miles to the west. Normally we’d seek out some hikes but southeast Texas isn’t exactly known for it’s trails so we began looking at other options. More importantly, we agreed that we needed some time off actually relaxing. Since we’ve been living on the road full time without returning to a house every 3-4 months we’ve both found that we need to build in “down time” into our schedule, days where we actually do very little other than walk Abby and maybe catch up on cleaning. Because even on those days, we’re walking at least 5 miles. But when we’re on a build and then travel to another build and then travel again to a destination where there’s an activity to do we tend to get a bit fatigued. We’ve also spent more time continuously building houses over the past year and a break for our bodies was needed to help heal some nagging injuries.

It was Tom who suggested we spend the first 4 nights up on Sam Rayburn Reservoir; one look at the pictures of tall pines and blue water on the website and I eagerly agreed. And so we arrived at Twin Dikes, a beautiful, spacious campground right on the lake, with absolutely zero plans for the next 4 days. In summary, it was glorious. We had leisurely walks with the dog along the shore, read books, enjoyed our afternoon happy hours, and watched stunning sunrises and sunsets. I also baked a bunch and cooked and wrote a few blog posts. Our second day we took a field trip to Ebenezer Park, located 5 miles to the north, where we set up chairs in the water and read books. While there Abby and I took a walk under the cliffs where I marveled at the colorful mudstone. But that was pretty much it. We vacationed hard.

The following 3 days were spent at Galveston Beach, chosen because a) we had a wonderful day trip there the prior week, and b) we both craved more downtime. Tom splurged and booked us a spot at an RV Park right on the water – complete with a pool and a hot tub (!). Luxurious was an understatement; we took advantage of both these on a daily basis during our stay. We also indulged in long beach walks and strolls through the historical neighborhoods on the way to and from the downtown area where we hydrated with some of Texas’ finest craft beer. When we weren’t walking, lounging in the hot tub, or sitting in biergartens I took advantage of our free time to putter around the kitchen, doing more baking and cooking. It was uber-relaxing.

The pictures that may make you hungry: