You may have started following this blog for the Minnesota State Park content. My boyfriend and I were on a mission to visit every state park in Minnesota and in three years we made it to over half. I think that’s pretty impressive for two people with full-time jobs and considering the ground is covered in 30 inches of snow most winters. Although our mission was cut short when we moved to Texas for Glenn’s new job, we found ourselves at a Texas State Park this weekend. Maybe we should try to visit all 77 parks in Texas? We’ll see!

One thing that Texas has that Minnesota did not…dinosaurs! Dinosaur Valley State Park was just as cool as it sounds and was only an hour and a half drive from Dallas. The park has a campground, hike/walk-in campsites, 20 miles of hiking, biking and horseback riding trails and a picnic area, all along the Paluxy River which is covered in 100-million-year-old dinosaur tracks.

You can read more about how these tracks were formed on their website but essentially there are two main types of tracks in Dinosaur Valley State Park; Sauropod and Theropod. Sauropod tracks are large and elephant-like. Theropod tracks are smaller with three toes. The tracks were preserved by the limestone riverbed.

We hiked with our dog to all of the different track sites. There had been heavy rainfall the day before so not all the tracks were visible in the water but the ones we could see were incredible!

After our hike, we drove into the town of Glen Rose and grabbed food at 3B Beers, Brats & Burgers. It was a completely outdoor “Texas Beer Garden” with yard games, a food truck and an added bonus that they were dog friendly!

We then went back to the park and setup our campsite for the evening. We tent-camped in an electric spot and it was heavily wooded and pretty private compared to some RV campgrounds.

It was a wonderful first Texas State Park experience and I’m sure we will be checking out more. We just can’t stay away from State Parks for very long and it helps that we won’t have to battle though winter!