RV Park Review- Marathon Motel & RV Park- Marathon, TX

Marathon Motel & RV Park- Marathon, TX

Check-in Date: 02/12/17

Check- out Date: 02/19/17
Type of Accommodation: Full hook up pull through

Our rig Lucy surrounded by all the bright stars

Price: $140 for the week.

Amenities: Cable including HBO and Showtime. They had a laundromat, vending machine, and courtyard with a grill and fire pit but we didn't use any of these.

There is also this sweet working outhouse (it amused me)

Wifi/Cell Reception: The wifi and cell reception were great. Perfect for watching Netflix.

Our favorite thing to do in the area:

Big Bend National Park is only an hour away which is a must do!

There really isn't much to do here except enjoy the beautiful skies. Marathon is a VERY small town.  There are supposedly 400 people here but we saw maybe 15 or 20 in a week.  I actually really enjoyed taking pictures around the RV Park. The sunset, sunrises and star gazing were awesome.

Sunrise

The dark skies were amazing

There were lots of birds out during the day including this hawk.

We enjoyed the mountain views from the park.

Favorite places to eat:

There really aren't many places to eat in or around Marathon, TX. We mainly went to the V6 Coffeehouse which had great coffee but the food was expensive.

We drove to Alpine, TX a couple of times. It is only 30 minutes away. We ate at La Casita which was pretty good. * Be warned they only take cash.

We also ate at Guzzi Up which was WAY overpriced. Chris ordered a medium pizza for $18. Crazy.

Tiny $18 pizza

Grocery stores:

This is it folks. There is one grocery store and it is expensive. We loaded up on groceries before we came but had to get a couple items while we were there. I paid $3 for a can of pinto beans. At least they were organic with no BPA haha.

Recommended: Yes. You can't beat the price. The main reason we decided to stay here is because it is only an hour drive from Big Bend National Park.  We really wanted to stay somewhere a little closer to the park but when I was checking RV park reviews it sounded like if you get anywhere closer you might not have wifi or cell coverage. We couldn't risk that for Chris's job.

*The only negative we can think of is for our pups there wasn't much grass and there were stickers everywhere but it's the desert so that is no ones fault.

It is really close to the train tracks but it didn't bother us.

Train going by across the street

If you decide to stay here don't forget to bring your telescope. I really wish I had one!

Have you stayed in Marathon, TX? If so what did you think? Let us know in the comments below.

Full Time RVing with Dogs

First, let me introduce our pups. This is Remus. He is our almost 6 year old Boston Terrier. He loves nothing more than sunbathing and eating. 

He usually has this Grumpy face all the time too

This is Samson. He is our feisty rescue pup who loves nothing more than playing ball. He will chase that thing all day if you let him. He will also try and bite you if you take his ball away. Yeah... we are working on it.

When we decided to hit the road we of course had to stop and think how it would affect our spoiled pups. Part of the reason we chose a motorhome over a fifth wheel was because Remus hates riding in the car. We thought he might adjust to all the time in the car better if he could lay in his bed comfortably. It ended up being the right decision. 

They just sleep in their bed between our seats as we travel.

Samson and Remus tend to go to the vet more than we go to the doctor. When we first got Remus we found out he had a heart problem and a joint problem. He was only a couple weeks old. Then, with Samson we found out after we rescued him that he had heartworms.

This is what it feels like sometimes

We have had to take the dogs to the vet in quite a lot of places as we have traveled. Samson got poison oak while we were in New Market, VA and had a stomach problem in Springfield, MO. Remus has also had his fair share of rashes and stomach infections. We also took them to the vet or to get annual shots in Santa Fe, NM, Kerrville, TX and Houston, TX. We normally just do google searches for vets in the area and look at Yelp.  Every place we have gone so far has been great.

Samson's poison oak

As far as getting their food, treats and etc. while travelling we normally order everything from Amazon (helps when you are moving slow) or find a Petco or Petsmart in the area. We keep their food in a large 25 lb. pet food container and some of their treats in mason jars.

A lot of the places we have stayed in the past year have had dog parks or dog runs. I think our dogs get out more than they did before when we lived in an apartment.

Our first stop when leaving Houston was Kinder, LA and they had an awesome dog park.

Chillaxin outside

Life is rough for an RV pup

We have had some issues with parks not having great designated areas to walk your dog to relieve themselves like the one in New Market, VA where Samson got poison oak. Or some don't have good lighting at night which sucks. But for the most part we haven't had too many issues.

We don't do much boon docking (no hook ups) so that might make it harder and normally when we leave to go on hikes we keep them at home. They are very quiet while we are not there so we haven't had any complaints about them barking. Then, we always get to come home to our adorable welcoming committee.

We haven't had any issues finding RV parks with our pups because they are under 25 lbs and are not restricted breeds but sadly if you have a large dog or certain breeds you may have issues.

Do you travel with animals? If so how has it been? Any questions let us know below.

Thanks for following along on our journey!

Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch- San Antonio, TX

We had some visitors this weekend...my(Rachel's) parents! I wasn't sure how it would be having overnight guests in our 35 foot Fleetwood Bounder and I've got to say, "It wasn't bad at all!" We had a great time.

We did lots of fun things in San Marcos, TX which included a boat ride at The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment and checked out some of the delicious restaurants in the area.

We also drove out to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch in San Antonio, TX. I remember my parents taking me to Natural Bridge Caverns when I was little but we have never been to the ranch. We all love animals and taking pictures so figured it would be a good place to go.

The price to get in is pretty expensive. It's $22 per adult and you get one bag of food total for the car. Would be nice if they did a per vehicle fee.

After we paid that steep fee we headed to the Safari Entrance.

The ranch covers 450 acres of land and is home to over 500 animals. We opted to not pay for one of their "travel guides" which led us to the problem of having no idea what type of animals we were looking at. They did give us a little safari map though.

Our welcoming committee

A lot of the animals didn't approach the vehicle and just watched the cars go by.

This one looks like it is smiling

Some opted to graze on hay and grass instead of the pellets.

We were excited to see the zebras. Then we saw this sign and thought maybe we should just admire them from afar.

Then of course as soon as we get near them one rushes up and sticks his head in the window with his mouth wipe open. We quickly learned he wasn't going to bite he was just wanting someone to throw some food in there ASAP.

He needs to brush them nasty teefers

The zebra ended up being one of our favorites. After Chris rolled up the window it came to my window and opened its mouth waiting for some more food.

Gorgeous animals

Up next were the llamas. I love them they are so cute but they do smell terrible. The llamas just stopped by quickly and then moved on.

I decided to be brave and feed it

A llama visiting my Mom

I saw a couple ostriches and threw food to get them to come over.

One finally showed up and it was pretty crazy. We couldn't feed it fast enough so it decided to try and eat our car.

Chris enjoying the show

We all rolled up our windows and it wasn't too happy.

Look at that face

By the time we got to the emus, we decided we were done feeding the animals and wanted to walk around and check out some of the other attractions.

We headed to Lemur Island but there were no lemurs for some reason. We did get to see a couple monkeys. Then it was on to the Giraffe Barn.

the giraffe had found a stick it was enjoying chewing on

We had a great time visiting the wildlife ranch. I think it would be a great place to go with kids. They also have a petting zoo, sweet shop and restaurant on the property.

Thanks again for coming to visit Mom & Dad. We love you crazy kids!!

Have you been? If so what were some of your favorite animals? Let us know in the comments below.

The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment- San Marcos, TX

While staying in San Marcos, TX Chris and I decided to go to the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment to do their glass-bottom boat tour of Spring Lake.

We first heard about the Meadows Center from my parents who told us that back in the 60's - 80's it was a theme park called Aquarena Springs. They used to have what was called the "World's only submarine theatre" with glass-bottom boats, mermaids, a swimming pig and an underwater clown named Glurpo. It actually sounded really cool...except the underwater clown part. There was a picture of him in the gift shop and it was creepy.

One of the old buildings that was part of Aquarena Springs.   

Our tour guide was one of the students from Texas State University. He did a great job and was very knowledgeable of the area.

While looking through the glass we saw the springs bubbling up and lots of fish including a large spotted gar swimming below.

the springs and some fish

We also saw some scuba divers. The water is very clear and is 72 degrees year round which makes it a great environment for scuba diving.

Scuba divers

Once we finished our boat ride we decided to check out the Wetlands Boardwalk.

Entrance to the Wetlands

It was a self guided trail that had some posts with information on plants and animal life in the area.

I enjoyed doing some bird watching.

Some black vultures fighting over something in the water

a majestic great egret

Cormorant swimming in the clear blue lake

Western Kingbird

Great Blue Heron

There were also a ton of sunbathing turtles. According to their website "Spring Lake has the densest population of turtles in the United States".

I love how they sunbathe with their feet all stretched out

After that we went to check out the free aquarium.  My favorite thing was the Texas blind salamander which is native to San Marcos and actually an endangered species. The salamanders live in dark water filled caves and they adapted as they had no need for their sight.

We actually went back the next day to check out the Spring Lake Natural Area. It  is a 251 acre park with lots of trails for hiking, biking and birding.

Since it is winter we didn't really see any wildlife on the trail but it was still a nice hike.

We got to do all that for under $20. I would say it was well worth it.

Have you been? If so what was your favorite thing?