For East Texas, this park is great.
no big views, or challenging rock face to scale.
This is all about 2 maybe 3 things, camping, boating and a nature trail hiking path.
the campgrounds are normally clean, I have seen some times when it is lacking, most of those times are after big holidays and peak of summer when there are to many people and not enough clean up crew. the tent campsites are a little close to one another, but not so much that its a big deal. some have power, and there are also like cabanas or huts or whatever-they-are-called structures you can rent. They are probably 30-40 years old and are showing their age. also bring your own BBQ or stove, if you are planning on cooking. as the camp "BBQ" pits are those crap 3 sided open top steal boxes with a cattle guard over the top with 30 years of grease on them.
If you are RVing here let them know if you are a novice driver or that you cant back into a spot and they are usually able to get you a spot that is a little easier to get into. There are a few spots I've seen folks get stuck after going down a road that has a hard turn they are not willing or able to do and then there a row of cars behind them and it becomes a CF for a few minutes until, A) someone stops traffic and lets them back out, or B) a more skilled RV driver comes and rescues them. as a lot of parks many RV spots are dirt, and some have a tree or 6 blocking long slideouts. usually the place is very friendly.
The nature trail is a very entry trail that is suposably somewhat wheelchair accessible. there are more hiking trails that are mellow and show off the lake and forest nicely. with the park being part of the Sam Houston Forest, the nature trails connect to the more challenging trails in the forrest. there are some 30 miles of trails in the forest, and is much more wild than the maintained trails of the park. you can get lost in there very easily. so bring a GPS, also there is no cell coverage so pack a signal incase you are in distress and the trails are lightly used and rarely patrolled if at all.
If you go in the spring or fall the place is very relaxing and the temperatures are perfect!
Good bar with a good turn out for live music on the weekends, and trivia games during the week.
However the pizza is not good, but the beer is great.
Not worth a road trip.
great as a stop along the way.
well its 110 acres alright, 109 sit empty. This would be a great place to film an apocalyptic movie, because its almost always empty, it is dirty, and doesn't look like anyone has done any work on it in years.
Well, This place represents space and NASA in ways the builders probably didnt ever imagine. Like many NASA projects the cost is 2-3 times what it should cost to enter. And there is not a real focus on what is going on or how to get you to where you want to go.
And talk about space! when you walk in there is a giant open hall that has almost nothing in it and very little to do with what is there.
There are some great things to find here, (moon rock, space capsules, space suits) but you need to search for it. But the way it is presented adds almost nothing to the item. the tours are great, but the payoff is not worth the the wait. It is cool to see a little of Johnson Space Center, but with the way NASA is right now, there is not much action.
Ultimately It is a perfect example of our current space program, It started out to be a museum, they have all the kinds of space artifacts to make it great, but then it turned and they wanted it to be a theme park but they didn't end up being that either because there are no rides or adrenalin excitement kinds of stuff. They have the big space when you come in to show off new features and things, but then they got distracted and built a giant mcdonalds playhouse, and with that the hall exhibits are mostly kid stuff whatever they think is cool at the time (Angry Birds(the game), a slime lab, a lego thing) and only 4-10ish kids are interested in it.
This place has become a tourist trap or a place for local people to get a season pass and take their elementary age kids to play in the ball pit.
Good museum: not really
Adventure: not really
Huge spaces made to accommodate mass numbers of people who aren't there: totally
Over-sized McDonald's playhouse: yes
Worth a road-trip: nope
worth a stop along the way: maybe, if you have kids under 10