Cookie Soup

Cedar Hill State Park
Well, I am really glad we took a visit here before deciding where to camp with all the kids for the 1st time.

A few facts:

~ 355 - Campsites with electric and water hook ups: $20 per night
~ $5 per person per day (over the age of 13)

~ 2 cars are allowed at each campsite, so there is a $2 charge a day for extra cars.

~ Helmets must be worn on trails at the state park.

~ Check out time is at 2pm...camp must be torn down.

~ Camp number 7 had a nice scene of the highway.

~ The perch pond was out of commission

~ FREE fishing at the state parks...bring your poles.

~ Wouldn't allow my kids on the playground equipment. (ewww, I was so ewwwed out that I forgot to get pics of it.)

A few opinions:

~ Pretty run down.

~ Needs a face lift...quickly!

~ They had pretty big campsites for camping with a few other people.

~ The trails left much to be desired

~ Not enough to do here with kids (that's you'd feel comfortable with anyways).

A few Pros:

~ Right in our own backyard!

~ You can get to a Walmart and Target or another grocery store within minutes.

~ large campsites

A few Cons:

~ Right in our backyard!

~ So ran down!

I suppose before we decide whether to camp here or at Isle De Buis, I need to find out what every ones expectations are.

Bathrooms/showers & dumpsters

Bathrooms were pretty clean.

All the camps had some form of a fire pit. Some looked fairly new.

Most of the sites even had a cover over the table

I thought this was such a pretty beetle.

Here are a few of the best (in our opinion) campsite that we came across. They were located in the South side of the park. The had the Duck Trail that lead to another trail and the scenic overlook. They were very close to the overflow parking and showers/bathrooms (right across the street) and the could hold about 4 tents....or more really small ones.

These were in the Coyote Crossing Camping Area.

John and the girls packed a mother's day picnic for me. I love my little family!

We had lunchables. They picked me the nachos....they ate half of my chips.

We were driving and I caught a picture of a bird in flight...wow. I think it's a cardinal.

Then I caught the same little fellow sitting on a branch. Pretty neat stuff!

Cedar Hill State Park beach...not sure how comfortable I am with the kids being on this beach. Lake Ray Robert's beach was actually a a lot nicer. And I didn't even get a picture of the playground equipment out here. NO WAY will the lay a hand on that stuff! It was so run down and gross. They may get splinters or rust stains or cuts or something from that stuff! Lake ray Roberts equipment looked newer and much cleaner.

We stopped off at the Marina for a snack. The girls had their 1st push up.

View from the Marina.

It may be hard to see, but right about the level of John's wrist and to the left is a wasp or some other flying bug carrying a string or something.

Push up face!

Another push up face!

Beginning of the Duck Trail. Starts out pretty darn nice if you ask me.

Notice it doesn't say anything about bikes being allowed on here, well, as we were entering, there were cyclists coming out. Could be dangerous with the skinny trails your about to see.

Trail is nice and wide...for now.

Beginning of quite a few bridges.

The trail quickly goes VERY skinny! NO way we are all fitting on here with 6 kiddos and a dog!

the trail goes wide again!

Pretty Cacti

I have never ever seen cactus flower before. I though this was really pretty. So bright and yellow!

This is suppose to be the Duck Pond! No duck in sight! And this doesn't look like any duck pond I have ever seen. You can't enjoy it & it was a huge let down for the kids to walk so far for this......
I would have been super mad if I hike in bags of bread for this!

Big flying bugs everywhere! I don't like flying bugs. They scare me.

another view of the duck pond....mud hole.

another of the many bridges that we had to cross over.

The trail goes skinny! What's gives???? Bunny tails and single file please!

And wide again....

and yet, another bridge. The bridges were actually nice, just the scenery was...ummm...well, all you saw was brush.

Presley A.K.A Captain Scout leading us on our hike!

This is suppose to hold a map of the trail so we don't get lost....good thing we had John. Not good people! Where's the map????

After we left the Duck trail, we headed back over to the campsites we liked and took a walk down the trail starting there.

The beginning of the trail from some campsites. Starts out nice and wide. We could handle 6 kids, 3 moms, and a Maggie.

This is what those things are suppose to look like.

Scenic Overlook....

View from the Scenic Overlook ( I think I was a bit disappointed that the area was a bit run down and you only have a tiny view of the lake and skyline)

The girls taking in the scenery at their height. I have seen some gorgeous scenery overlooks. One comes to mind and that's Perdenales Falls State Park. Again I was a bit disappointed... But the kids had fun working their way their.