Gorman Falls // Trail of Lights
The Gorman Falls trail in Colorado Bend State Park has been on our Hill Country Bucket List for a while; back in December we finally decided to tackle it.
Gorman Falls
While it seems like it would be a no-brainer, and a big surprise that it’s taken this long for us to check it off, theres a legitimate reason - it’s nearly two hours from our lake house.
Despite this fact, after visiting once we will definitely be back. While it was still beautiful in the Winter, I’m definitely wanting to return this Summer when things are more lush.
The kids were in great spirits and knocked this over 2.5 mile hike out of the park.
All the hiking was worth it for the waterfall payoff at the halfway point. The path slowly became steeper and rockier until we were smack dab in front of Gorman Falls.
Bend General Store
With such a far drive we made sure to build in a stop at a local spot for a drink and some snacks. We found the Bend General Store on our favorite Texas travel show, The Daytripper with Chet Garner. If you live in Texas or are a fan of Texas and you’re not following his blog or watching his show, you are missing out! Click here to see his trip to Colorado Bend State Park and the Bend General Store.
It was a great way to spend our morning with great weather. We left the General Store for home where we would drop Dolly off before heading downtown.
We were all pretty hungry after our hike and headed to dinner before the Trail of Lights was set to begin. I have been following this place on instagram for a while, and it looked awesome. The deal sealer was when they collaborated with La Barbecue for a couple dishes. Of course I couldn’t pass up the Spicy Pickle Pizza.
For all of you currently doubting me, I challenge you to try this first. It was magical! Jordan got the La Barbecue pulled beef calzone which was equally amazing.
Unfortunately, time was catching up with our sweet Holden, and he was not having any of it. Truthfully, I was concerned that he wouldn’t make it to Trail of Lights, but as we’ve learned over the years, you’ve GOT to push through and at least try. We would skip so many things, or not even sign up in the first place if we were scared of Holden’s reaction, and I think that the fact that we don’t has made him so much more well adjusted and accommodating to things he may not want to do.
LUCKILY, he turned the mood around and loved the Trail of Lights.
I didn’t know what to expect with this - obviously we’ve done other holiday light installments, but this one blew them all out of the water. The warm weather from earlier in the day totally turned with the sunset and really put us all in the holiday spirit. We were even able to enjoy our hot cocoa, in Texas, WITHOUT sweating. Holden opted for ice cream, but ran around enough to warm himself up all on his own. ;)
An homage to Austin’s “Bat Bridge”