Davis Mountains State Park- Our trip to Fort Davis, TX (Part I)

In early October we stayed in Fort Davis, TX. Never heard of it? We hadn't either until we made plans to go to the McDonald Observatory(working on our post about it). While we were there we felt like we found a hidden gem, the Davis Mountains State Park.

When we first arrived at the park we went to the Visitor Center to pay the small $6 fee and get a trail map. We were planning on doing a trail right by the visitor center but this big tarantula and some of his friends were coming from there...yeah no thanks. So, we ended up doing the scenic drive.

Once we started on Skyline Drive we quickly realized the park is filled with tarantulas.  They were all over the street. We actually had to swerve to avoid hitting them during our drive. I had never seen anything like it.

Really couldn't believe these mountain views were in Texas

I mean from two people living in Texas most of our lives we were pretty surprised we had never heard anything about the Davis Mountains. They were stunning.

We could actually see our  RV Park from the overlook (its in the middle o the pic)

There were a lot of roadrunners there. I felt like Wile E Coyote trying to get a picture of one of them. They really are fast. I finally got a somewhat close picture after following this guy around. Luckily I didn't fall off a cliff or anything. Nice try roadrunner!

We actually left for a while and had dinner and then decided to come back to watch the sunset. We were greeted by some majestic deer.

Then we made our way to one of the overlooks to watch the sunset. Not too bad.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and would love to go back and hike some of the trails.

Have you been? If so what did you think? Let us know in the comments below.

RV Park Review- Endless Caverns -New Market, VA

You can't miss the sign

Check-in Date: 07/01/16 

Check-out Date: 07/15/16

Type of Accommodation: Full hook up back-in 

Price: $526 with Passport America (can only use PA for 1 night)

Our back-in spot for two weeks

Picnic table at our site

Amenities: Zero entry swimming pool, catch/release pond, recreation area with large TV and game room, horseshoes, volleyball, hiking trails, showers and restrooms. They also have a cave on the property that you can tour for a special camper price of $15 each. See our prior post of our Cavern Tour.

Endless Caverns

Special note: They have a designated dog area but it was a long trek down and uphill to get there. There wasn't much grass. It was a lot of weeds and who knows what else. Our dog ended up getting poison oak and we aren't sure if it was in the designated area or on the walk back to the RV. We didn't take him on any of the trails. It was also quite a hike to the dumpsters.

The catch and release pond

Meadow across from catch and release pond

Wifi/Cell reception: Our cell phone reception was great but the wifi connection was bad. It wasn't really usable most of the time. We mainly used our AT&T hotspot.

Customer Service: The staff in the office were great and very friendly. When we first arrived they escorted us to our site. We ordered a lot of packages from Amazon while we were there and they actually delivered them to our door. 

Our favorite things to do in the area: Visiting wineries on the Shenandoah Wine Trail and Shenandoah National Park. We previously posted reviews of the wine trail and national park.

Wolf Gap Vineyard

Shenandoah National Park

Favorite places to eat: Jackson's Corner Cafe. It is a little coffee shop with amazing coffee. We bought a bag of Crazy Fox Coffee- Hoot Owl Blend. It is so good. Wish I would have bought two bags. They also serve breakfast, lunch and have fresh scones daily. They had great chicken salad. We tried a couple other places in town like Kathy's Cafe and Southern Kitchen. Their food was about average but nothing special. 

The essentials coffee, tea & dark chocolate ;)

Chicken salad on wheat & chicken salad croissant

Grocery stores:  There is a small grocery store in downtown New Market. We wouldn't recommend it. It is more like a gas station selection of food. We drove to Harrisonburg which was about a 20 minute drive to go to Kroger.

The Cupcake Company in Harrisonburg has the most delicious cupcakes. These are strawberry cheesecake, grasshopper, oreo cookie and red velvet. 

Recommended: Definitely. One of our favorite places to stay so far. It was beautiful and peaceful. 

There are beautiful deer and chipmunks roaming around and at night you will be surrounded by fireflies.

Our Visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Yesterday, Chris and I visited our second National Park since hitting the road, The Great Smoky Mountains. It is the #1 most visited National Park in the U.S.  They estimated there were 10.7 million visitors in 2015. Just to compare the Grand Canyon which is the second most popular National Park only had 5.5 million visitors last year. 

We are currently staying in Pidgeon Forge, Tennessee which is less than a 30 minute drive to the park. We got up bright and early to avoid the crowds.

We came in through the Gatlinburg entrance and when we first arrived we stopped at the Sugarlands Visitor Center to load up on some maps. The maps were all .50 to a $1 but there was no charge to get into the park which is pretty cool.

Our first stop to admire the river on the way to Cades Cove

We decided to head to Cades Cove which is a valley surrounded by the beautiful mountains and it is the most popular destination in the park. It is about a 30 minute drive from the visitor center. It is an 11 mile one-way loop. You can normally see a variety of wildlife including black bears, deer, coyotes, etc. 

They have riding stables at Cades Cove and you can stop and visit the horses. 

Blue tailed skink 

Out of all the cool wildlife we saw....a turkey

Along the road there are many places to pull over and admire the mountainous views. There are also a lot of old log cabin houses and churches to get out and walk around. We enjoyed the John P. Gable Mill which was built in the 1800's and is still a working mill. They even sell the corn meal in the gift shop. 

Lovely view of the mountains

John Oliver House

Mountains and lots of wildflowers

John P. Gable Grist Mill

Our drive around the cove probably took about two hours. There wasn't much traffic when we first got to the park but it did continue to get more crowded through out the day.

After our visit to Cades Cove we headed over to the Elkmont area so we could hike the Little River Trail. 

Why did the deer cross the road? I've got nothing.

Elkmont is a ghost town and has 74 historic structures which you can walk around but you are not permitted to enter. Of course, once we got there it started raining but it didn't rain too long. Chris got a nice little nap in before we got out and hiked.

Haha Sorry Chris had to do it

Spence Cabin part of "Millionaire Row" in Elkmont- you can actually rent out the cabin

Beautiful view of the  river from the Spence Cabin patio

One of the run down old houses on the trail

We enjoyed our hike. It is an easy and peaceful hike down a paved trail with the river on the side. There were some people fishing and playing in the water. 

Little River trail- nice wide paved trail 

We had a lot more things we were planning to do but by this time we had to get back home to the dogs. It was a long day of driving and walking around and we were tired. 

We would definitely recommend visiting the park. We already picked out what we will do if we are able to come back this week. Plus, it is free to visit which is always nice.