Our Big Trip to Texas

Roosevelt State Park, in Mississippi
After our first big day of towing we were thankful for a state park near the interstate.  (I was especially thankful to get a break from the road construction in Mississippi.)  Before heading out in the morning we stopped at the deer pens. How cool!

Tyler State Park, Texas
Wireless access in the whole park!  Fantastic!  The kids' favorite part about this park was the thriving racoon population.  They loved staying up past their bedtime and watching the racoons by the dumpsters.  (Conveniently located across from our campsite.)

Grandma's House
It's always fun at Grandma's house.  She filled our bellies and invited lots of relatives over to visit.  We had a great round of Christmas in October.

We took in the Texas State Fair.  It's the largest state fair in the country.  You just wouldn't believe this place.  There's a full blown auto show, bird show, buildings and buildings full of exhibitors, midway rides,
Big Tex (a 52' cowboy) and 21 story Ferris wheel.

Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas.
I remember visiting this place as a kid.  I was really excited about sharing this place with my children.  When I went as a child, we waded in the water and we could (kind-of) see fossilized dinosaur tracks in the riverbed.  Now, Texas is having a huge drought.  (Everything is bigger in Texas, right?)  We picked a really great time to go to Glen Rose.  There were dinosaur tracks visible that hadn't been seen for 30 years.  It was A-Mazing!!!

These dinosaurs were at the Sinclair exhibit at the 1964/1965 Wold's Fair in New York.

We also visited the Fort Worth Stockyards.  It was such a treat to see the longhorn cattle drive right through the streets of Ft. Worth!

After a  fantastic week in Fort Worth (ending with some much needed rain) it was time for us to head back home.  For a little change in scenery, we decided to take the Little Rock/Memphis route home.  It's only about 50 miles farther.  We slept at Village Creek State Park in Arkansas our first night. We were the only ones in the horse camping area.  The girls were delighted that some campers with horses pulled in before we left in the morning.

We planned to drive the rest of the way home from Village Creek State Park in Arkansas. 

< insert deep anticipation-filled-movie-announcer voice >  Tune in next time to hear about our unexpected stop.  What kept the Sanders from getting home?  Find out in next week's episode of "Adventures with the Sanders."