Happy Wednesday, friends! I’m excited to be here today to chat about our quick day-trip this past weekend to Lake Somerville. One of my favorite things about Aaron – is that he is always up for adventure. And because of that, I’ve had the opportunity to be witness to tiny gems in the world that I wouldn’t have thought to seek out otherwise. We’ve hiked Big Bend from top to bottom, and I need to recap that trip too! We’ve run marathons and half marathons in some really neat places – and we try to go adventuring to spots that are both on – and off – the beaten path.
Road Trip
Because we are at the stage in our life where we can still be spontaneous, we went to church on Sunday morning – and on the way home from church, Aaron mentioned he wanted to check out Lake Somerville. Now, this wasn’t completely random. We drive by all the signs for Lake Somerville when we go to visit Aaron’s family in Belton. It’s about an hour-and-a-half outside of Houston, and it’s a very doable day trip.
We’ve been working at exposing the dogs to new sights and sounds, so this was the perfect trip for them to tagalong. The whole fam loaded up in the car, and we made our way to Lake Somerville. They look so sweet and well behaved when they are sleeping! You hop on 290, stay on it for about an hour and a half, and the lake is not too far off 290.
Is any Texas roadtrip complete without a stop at Dairy Queen for a blizzard? Because this was kind of a last minute idea, I didn’t pack any snacks, and we were hoping to come across a Dairy Queen. As luck would have it, there is a DQ right before you enter into the city of Somerville. And, they made a pretty dang good blizzard. It hit the spot during this Texas summer. Now, when we go back, I would 100% pack some snacks and some fishing gear.
Lake Somerville
Now, because Lake Somerville is a state park, you do have to pay an entrance fee of $5/per person. But friends, they’ve got it all. You can camp if it’s your thing (it’s not really my thing), you can ride bikes, you can hike, you can fish, you can boat, you can kayak – or you can hang out in the water. Once we paid at the headquarters, the staff directed us to the best spot to let the dogs get in the water.
Now, I’m not a big fisher necessarily. I grew up watching my dad fish – and he goes deep sea fishing all the time. And, if there were ever a spot to fish, this would be it. I told Aaron that I would like to get my fishing license and some fishing gear the next time we visit. When we pulled up, there were picnic tables spread out all along the shoreline, you just had to find an open one, but there were plenty available. Lots of people were floating the lake in tubes, and there were lots of boats and jet skis out as well.
My dogs never miss an opportunity to get in the water. It wasn’t super deep where we were, and we kept them on their leashes. They loved getting in the water.
I could see us taking the kayaks and a picnic and setting up shop for the day. If you have a boat, this would be a great spot to take the boat out because it wasn’t super crowded!
Trails at Lake Somerville
There are about 40 miles of trails for hiking, biking – or even horseback riding. Those could be fun to explore when it isn’t the middle of summer in Texas. Like – maybe the fall. But, when we were on our way out of the park, we saw a family of deer right alongside the road.
Thanks for coming along on our day trip out to Lake Somerville. If you are coming from Houston, it’s a totally doable day trip. And, if you’ve been reading here for any amount of time, you can read some of my other “explore your own backyard” posts here. I hope this has inspired you to explore some hidden – and some not so hidden gems within your own cities!
