This summer I took my two kids on a short three-day road trip out to East Texas. We started in the DFW area and made our way to Caddo Lake State Park down to Caddo Mounds and then back up to Tyler State Park before returning home. Since it was July and hot, we were sure to stop at a place to go swimming every day. (If it is cooler and you are mainly going hiking, then you can take a much shorter route.) Take a look at where we went!
Day 1
On the first day of our road trip, my goal was to drive as far as we could, making a stop every hour or so to stretch our legs.
We started south of Dallas, and our first stop was at Buc-ee’s, of course, in Terrell. We filled up on gas and then headed to our first destination, The Salt Palace in Grand Saline, Texas. This was so much more fun than we expected!
The Salt Palace
We thought we were just going to see a giant salt block from the Morton Salt mine there, but we also were able to go into a little museum. The building itself is the only building in the world made entirely out of salt blocks–and you can lick it!
The museum was nice and cool, and my kids enjoyed chatting with the friendly receptionist who gave them free samples from a salt block she received from the mine. You can’t do mine tours anymore, but the photos of the mine are incredible!
There is a fun little penny press machine and a free video to watch, as well. I was thrilled to find a free Texas road map to keep in the car, along with lots of other fun brochures for the area.
Martin Creek Lake State Park
We loaded all of our finds back into our car, then headed down to Martin Creek Lake State Park. I reserved and printed all of our day passes to the state parks ahead of time, so that saved time checking in. We quickly changed into our swimsuits and jumped in the lake. The pine trees were beautiful and smelled amazing, but the water was quite warm. While it was shallow, and there were nice shaded picnic tables nearby, swimming at the lake wasn’t quite refreshing when it is three digits out.
The bathrooms were in walking distance from the swimming area, which was nice. So we ate lunch, changed, then headed to the park headquarters to get our Texas State Park Passport stamped. My daughter turned in her Junior Ranger Activity booklet here, but they only give out the generic Junior Ranger button pins.
It was still quite too warm to head to our final destination, so we decided to make a side stop to see something I really wanted to see!
International Boundary Marker
We drove through Tatum and Carthage down to the Louisiana border to see the last remaining International Boundary Marker between the Republic of Texas and the United States. This historical marker and granite monument were located off the left of the road in a little sandy-shaded parking area (no bathrooms nearby). I recommend stopping in Carthage for gas and restroom breaks, as there wasn’t much past that point.
The Texas Historical Commission website says, “The west side of the marker marked “R. T.” for Republic of Texas, the east side is marked ‘U.S.’ and the south side is inscribed ‘Meridn Boundary, Established A.D. 1840’. The shaft was prepared in 1840 but was not erected until the spring of 1841.”
This was a really cool piece of Texas and American history! One, I think, of only two international boundary markers that you can find within the United States today.
We did drive a few minutes into Louisiana before returning back to Texas.
Caddo Lake State Park
Google Maps took us on some backroads to Caddo Lake State Park. There were not any places to stop, and some parts of the road had a lot of potholes. But we finally made our way to the state park entrance.
The visitor’s center at Caddo Lake State Park is so much fun. My kids enjoyed walking through their exhibit, which was so well done. You could see the animals that lived within the cypress swamp, as well as learn about the native Americans that lived there.
We borrowed a fishing kit, and learned that you can rent a canoe for $10/hour from the from office. While their Junior Ranger program is also only the generic button pins, they do have enamel state park pins and badges available from their gift shop.
We didn’t have a chance to stop, but not from the state park is the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge where you can pick up a Junior Wildlife Ranger Booklet from the visitor center (if it is open) and get a junior ranger badge.
Since it was so hot, we opted to stay at one of their screened shelters, and I tried to choose one from the website that had partial to full shade. While the campsite was great, it was a little buggy, so I was glad we brought our broom to sweep out the shelter.
We stayed in walking distance to the the fishing pier at Saw Mill Pond which was breath-taking. The cypress trees and moss were so beautiful! The canoe rentals are also from here. My daughter enjoyed riding her bike around the roads — there were very few people.
There is a lovely day area next to the boat ramp located just a short drive away. The water opens up into the bayou here, and we could see alligator gar jumping out of the water (we went right before dusk). We also thought we could hear alligators bellowing in the distance.
While Caddo Lake was so beautiful, it was also so hot in late July. We brought two box fans to use at night — and during the day while sitting outside our shelter. Due to the heat, we decided to leave early the next morning to drive around before going to our next camp site.
Day 2
We had originally planned to only drive from Caddo Lake State Park to Tyler State Park, but we had time to kill.
From Caddo Lake State Park, we drove down through Henderson, Rusk, and Alto to go check out the state parks down there. On this path is the Birthplace of Lady Bird Johnson in Karnack and the Starr Family Home State Historic Site in Marshall. There were also a lot of historical markers in Alto, including a World War II Prisoner of War camp, Lacy’s Forts, and sites of former Neches and Delaware Indian villages.
While we drove, we were so surprised to see it rolling hills and beautiful forests!
Caddo Mounds State Historic Site
Caddo Mounds State Historic Site was our first stop, and we could easily see it from the road while pulling in. Their visitor’s center was damaged by a tornado a few years ago, so they are set up in a temporary building. Even so, we enjoyed watching a short educational film, viewing the exhibits, and my kids loved the gift shop. No junior ranger program here, but they do have enamel pins and badges.
The guide shared about the burial mounds and how to walk on El Camino Real de los Tejas, which is a National Historical Trail. I didn’t think we would be able to walk out and see anything in the heat, but they have golf carts that visitors can use to take out on the trail. So that was fantastic news.
The kids enjoyed walking inside the grass mound the most!
I told the park worker that we wanted to visit the Davey Crockett National Forest but weren’t sure where to go, and she shared about an amazing vista spot not far from Caddo Mounds.
Neches Bluff Overlook
Located within the Davy Crockett National Forest is the Neches Bluff Overlook. You take a gravel access road (FS 20511A) off the main road (Hwy 21) up through a free primitive campsite where a wooden boardwalk shows you amazing views of the Davy Crockett National Forest and the Neches River bottomlands.
Mission Tejas State Park
We decided to drive a few minutes further to visit Mission Tejas State Park. While we were able to walk through their visitor’s center, the roads down to the Mission Tejas and campsites were all closed due to construction. That was sad to hear, but we were glad we didn’t make a trip down just for that.
From Mission Tejas State Park, we drove an hour and a half up to Tyler State Park.
Tyler State Park
Swimming at Tyler State Park was probably the highlight of our trip! We did not particularly enjoy driving through Tyler, as it was a bustling little city and killed the mood. But they have lots of shops and places to eat.
Tyler State Park was located out of town, and also in a beautiful piney woods. The rangers were friendly, and the screened shelters are much cleaner and even have a lock and key. We had issues with raccoons coming up while we were eating and washing up dishes. They were brazen, even stealing crackers from our picnic table!
The swimming area was amazing. The water was clear down to our toes, and the spring-fed lake was nice and cool. There is not a shallow swimming area here, so kids coming here would either need to bring a life jacket or know how to swim. My oldest child loved it, and enjoyed snorkeling and swimming out to the dock.
We all saw so many fish — bass and giant catfish! My son spent most of his time swimming after them. This was one of the first lakes I didn’t feel the need to wear water shoes, as the bottom was quite sandy and clean.
After dinner, we enjoyed driving around the lake and even stopping at a lovely birdwatching trail.
Day 3
On the final day of our road trip, we spent several hours swimming at the lake. This is now my kids’ favorite state park to swim at, and they were so sad to go! We opted to swim instead of taking the short hike to a little waterfall. We also stopped by the park headquarters to turn in our Junior Ranger booklets, and received actualy Junior Ranger badge pins (the wooden kind). Love these ones!
The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center
We drove straight from Tyler State Park to The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens as we heard they were closing for renovations until 2025. We love the aquarium exhibits here, and you get half off with a Texas State Parks pass! We’ve taken the tram to tour the hatchery before, but it was too hot to enjoy that this day.
At this point, we were getting tired of PB&J so we stopped by the McDonald’s in Athens for lunch.
Purtis Creek State Park
Our final stop of our three-day road trip to East Texas was at Purtis Creek State Park. This was a smaller park, but it also had a pretty decent swimming area. It was nice because it gradually deepened, so my youngest could touch the bottom, and enjoyed diving down to collect clam shells. My kids enjoyed swimming here for an hour or so before I was ready to start making our way home. The park ranger said they only have the generic button pin Junior Ranger badges, as well.
While we headed through Ennis to go home, there is a Buc-ee’s there, too, if any final pit stop is needed.
And that, my friends, concludes our first family road trip in Texas! We have some others planned for the next few months, so stay tuned!
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Lauren Ducommun 
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