Somerville Lake

This week our day trip was to Somerville Lake. It's a state park but I was a little iffy about going at first.

I always do my research before I make a decision for an hour or more trip out of town. Nothing like wasting a tank of gas that just ends in disappointment. Well, quite honestly, it doesn't bother me to drive even if the purpose is none other than sight-see but other un-named younger family members tend not to like to just drive around for hours without a promising destination.



So, the reason I was iffy was that in my research I saw there was some park construction going on that may lead to some closures in different parts of the lake. There was also a restriction for dogs in the swimming area.

After careful thought, I finally decided we would take our chances. At least we would know if it would be worth the trip back or if we needed to cross it off our favorites list.



As a family rule, I am the one that plans when and where we take our trips. Toby is elected the navigator so I rely on him to let us know which is the quickest and easiest route to our destination - in turn, he usually relys on our GPS in combination with his IPhone map.

I have recently made note that I really, really, really need to update my GPS. The Austin area has changed rapidly over the past decade so "Miss GPS" as I so lovingly call her, is sometimes not always the best "person" to rely on for directions.



Somehow an hour drive out of town turned out to be a couple of hours. To top it off, Toby and I were both on the wrong page about exactly WHAT PART of the Somerville Lake we were going. Lake Somerville is HUGE and expanses many miles depending on which area of the lake you choose to visit.

We also were having a problem finding a place to grab a bite to eat. The portion of the lake we were going was in the middle of nowhere...or at least anywhere reputable. We did manage to find a Dairy Queen where we watched a sideshow out the window of a redneck fight in the parking lot. Interesting for sure.



After we ate we managed to find a Chamber of Commerce in Somerville and got some information on the best area of the lake to go with a kid and a pet in tow.

We were directed to Welch Park just a couple of miles down the road.



The minute we drove into the entrance of the park I was super impressed...and glad we finally were at our destination.



Best of all, there were no crowds and plenty of beach to walk along. The water was a comfy temp and perfect for swimming.




This lake would be a perfect place to camp. One of these days maybe the burn ban will be lifted and some serious camping can be done.

Overall, it turned out to be a great day at the lake. And even better, we took a different route home so we cut our travel time in half on the way back home.