roadtripper953246

This Cracker Barrel is located right off of the freeway, so very convenient. As expected there is a little bit of freeway noise, but not too bad. It felt very safe - our kids even road scooters around in the parking lot before we left the following morning. And of course it was convenient to pick up a hot breakfast and coffee before hitting the road again! Would definitely stop here again.

We chose to stay here because of internet. The campgrounds inside the parks have zero coverage, and here you will "technically" have internet. However, with our booster, we had three bars extended coverage. It's better than nothing, but certainly not awesome.

Even though you're right at the entrance to the park, it's still about a 30-40 minute drive to the visitor center headquarters (Big Bend is huge). So it's not close. If we didn't need internet for work, we definitely would have tried for one of the campgrounds in the park - they are much closer to the attractions.

That being said, this is a good spot. Full hook-ups. Nothing fancy in terms of the extra amenities, they do have a little store and a gas station. It was a good spot while we explored the park and squeezed in a little work.

We enjoyed our stay here - even made some new friends with our neighbors! Speaking of neighbors, they are pretty close, but there's grass and trees everywhere, so it's not like a parking lot. My kids loved the close river access and (albeit sad) playground. The indoor pool is a plus and they have a bath-warm kiddy pool, which my kids loved. The laundry room had brand new machines, and lots of them.

My only hesitation here is with the staff. We weren't aware they didn't allowed dogs to be outside the trailer unaccompanied, and the worker in the golf cart informed me of this is a slightly peculiar -almost creepy - way. I wouldn't have thought much of my encounter until I got a weird vibe from another very grumpy worker in the laundry room and pool area. I also heard a pretty bad story about the staff cussing out a guest whom they were kicking out because he had a home-built trailer (but I didn't personally witness this).

But, again, my quasi-negative experiences weren't enough to ruin our stay or ultimately thwart us from staying here again. AND I should note that the owner had seen my Instagram photos and recognized me while playing at the park with my kids. He came over and thanked me for the images and made sure we were having a stay, so that was nice.

Anyway, great spot for kids, great proximity to anything you could need in town, and right on the river. Good times.

This campground was such a pleasant surprise! We came to the area to visit White Sands (like everyone else) and we were a little unsure of the campground as we headed up the road to the base of the mountains. But as we got closer, we realized it was, in fact, a legitimate campground with AMAZING 360 degree views.

There seem to be great trails that lead up into the mountains, directly from the campground's visitor center (sadly we weren't able to attempt them with our kiddos.) This campground is very quiet, clean and the sites are nicely spread out. I would highly recommend this spot! Beautiful and cheap for both water and electric hook-ups.

I can't say anything BAD about Brantley Lake State Park, except it was a little out of the way and it's a looooong road into the park. It has a great playground for the kids and each site has a covered table and bbq. We only stayed two nights, to visit the caverns, so we didn't really spend much time at the campground. However, the mosquitos! I'm assuming the proximately to the lake brings them out, but they were pretty intense after dusk! I should also note that the lake is not hugely impressive. I think I got my hopes up that a lake would mean a tree... but no such luck.

I can't believe how great this campground is - and so close to Austin! You feel like you're so far away from it all, and yet still very conveniently located to all the sites. Such a beautiful, green, tree-filled campground, with lots of room between neighbors. Great pathways and trails (some even stroller-friendly!) with river and waterfall access. The waterfalls were so pretty. My kids were in heaven. I wish we could have stayed longer, but it's a popular campground (for good reason!)

In my opinion, this campground is a must when visiting this area. Sites have picnic tables and a fire pit, and the RV sites have water and electric, with a dump station available. Two thumbs up!

The only reason we made reservations here was because it was so close to Seattle. However, we pulled into the campground (aka trashy parking lot) and literally pulled right back out! It is the only campground we have ever not been able to tolerate. It was very dirty and packed so tight - I don't even know if we'd be able to get our slide outs out. We have three kids and its' definitely not the kind of place I would want them in (and there's nowhere for them to go.) It looks at a freeway and is next to a strip mall. We have a 30 foot trailer and it would have been a huge headache trying to squeeze it in. We don't mind staying in "parking lots" that are clean and safe when the benefit is you're close to the things you want to see, but this was NOT worth it.

RECOMMENDATION: So without a place to stay, we drove half an hour out to Told MacDonald Park and Campground, to see if they had any availability. (You can make reservations more than a week in advance, otherwise it's first come first serve.) It is a serious gem. So BEAUTIFUL! Wonderful for kids - so much space, so serene and a quick walk to the cute little town. We loved it and would highly recommend it! We also stayed at Evergreen Fairgrounds for another few days - this one is a parking lot, but clean, safe, with full hook-ups, and a very sweet camp host.

This is a very quiet and clean KOA. The laundry facility, pool, playground and dog park are all awesome. My kids loved picking lemons from the trees between campsites. There's not much here in the way of nature or "real" camping, but we were visiting family for a week and it was an easy place to stay.

We were on our way to camp at a nearby casino, but drove past the fairgrounds and noticed RV camping. Turns out they have full-hook ups with a dump station and plenty of spaces available. It's connected to the fairgrounds, so my kids and I explored the empty grounds on our bikes and watched the dirt bikes on the motocross track. I would say that would be the big negative for most people - dirt bikes practice on most afternoons on the track right next to the campground, and every Saturday night they have a car race. It's quite loud. However, my three boys thought it was AMAZING. And it really was entertaining to see! The rest of the time was VERY quiet and actually quite peaceful. The kids were able to run around, and of course it's not even 45 minutes from Seattle, so very convenient. The camp host was very sweet as well. I would recommend it if you're in need of a last minute place to stay or want to be near town (but out of the bustling city) for a few days.

Barely 45 minutes from Seattle, Told MacDonald Park and Campground is a real gem! You can make reservations for more than a week in advance, otherwise it's first come first serve. It's so BEAUTIFUL. Few sites, but because of that, it's spacious and quiet. It's a dream for kids - great playground, right on the river, with hiking trails and paved trails. It's a quick walk to the cute little town of Carnation. We stumbled upon the farmer's market with music and kid's activities. We would highly recommend it - except for the internet. Internet's not awesome.