Tag: Space Center Houston

9 Fun Ways to Spend Your September

Here are nine ways to celebrate the ninth month of the year when glamping with us this beautiful September! 

Glamping Cottage at Thousand Trails Gateway to Cape Cod
Glamping Cottage at Thousand Trails Gateway to Cape Cod

Celebrate the day the Mayflower set sail for America (September 16, 1620) and visit the ship’s ultimate destination at the Plimoth Patuxet Museums in Massachusetts. Book a glamping cottage at Thousand Trails Gateway to Cape Cod and you’re about 20 miles from the museums that replicate the original 17th settlement of the English colonists that became known as America’s pilgrims.   

September 16 is National Guacamole Day, and we all know there’s no guac with avocados. Learn all about avocadoes with a tour of an avocado farm – Choice Avocados in Fallbrook, California offers a variety of tours that range from a one-hour farm tour ($29) to an extended tour complete with a picnic lunch ($149). If you’re glamping at Thousand Trails Wilderness Lakes, you’re about 40 minutes away. For details visit choiceavocados.com. 

Cottage at Thousand Trails Lake & Shore
Cottage at Thousand Trails Lake & Shore

September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day and there are plenty of ways to learn about pirates while staying with us. If you’re staying at Florida’s Encore Bulow head to St. Augustine and enjoy some pirate fun with Black Raven Adventures which offer several pirate themed cruises including an adults-only sunset cruise on Talk Like a Pirate Day. If your glamping getaway finds you at South Carolina’s Carolina Shores RV Resort in Myrtle Beach, Blackbeard’s Pirate Cruise is fun for everyone (myrtlebeachpiratecruise.com). New Jersey’s Thousand Trails Lake & Shore is a good glamping location if you want to board the Sea Dragon, a pirate adventure cruise in nearby Ocean City.  

Cottages at Thousand Trails Wilmington
Cottage at Thousand Trails Wilmington RV Campground

The International Day of Peace is recognized on September 21 annually and the best way to honor that concept is to visit the International Peace Museum. Rent a glamping cabin or cottage at Ohio’s Thousand Trails Wilmington and make the less than 35-mile drive to the museum located in Dayton. Through its many exhibits, the museum seeks to meet its mission to “foster empathy and empower visitors to take steps toward a more peaceful world.” 

Appreciate one of the largest mammals in the world on National Elephant Appreciation Day, September 22. According to islands.com, some of the best elephant exhibits in the US include Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida which is one of the largest habits in the US and also has baby Corra, born in 2023 (glamp at Encore Tropical Palms) as well as San Diego’s Safari Park (glamp at Thousand Trails Pio Pico).  

Take a cue from the apple man himself and celebrate Johnny Appleseed Day on September 26 and visit some of the apple orchards around the country. Options can include Applecrest Farm Orchards in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire (glamp at the Tuxbury Pond Tiny House Village); Honey Hill Orchard in Waterman, Illinois (glamp at O’Connell’s RV Campground in nearby Amboy) and of course, the many orchards in Julian, California, which is known as the “Apple Capital of Southern California” (glamp at Thousand Trails Oakzanita Springs.) 

National North Carolina Day is September 28 so make it a point to spend the day glamping in the Tar Heel State. Options can include Thousand Trails Forest Lake in Advance or Thousand Trails Green Mountain in Lenoir. Green Mountain sits on the edge of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and has plenty of historic sites to visit including Fort Defiance, the Caldwell Heritage Museum and of course Biltmore, which is about a 60-mile drive but well worth the scenic drive. Forest Lake is a nature lover’s dream set among acres and acres of forest, fields and rolling hills with plenty of trails and opportunities for fishing. Nearby Lexington is known as the “Barbecue Capital of the World” so indulge your BBQ hankerings while enjoying the area’s wineries, shops and “uptown” district considered the retail, cultural and historical center of Lexington.  

Natchez Trace Tiny House Village
Natchez Trace Tiny House Village

September is National Honey Month and just like you can’t make guacamole without avocadoes you can’t make mead, an ancient alcohol drink, without honey. Also known as “honey wine,” mead is made from fermented honey, water and yeast. If you’ve never had a taste, nor visited a meadery, here are a few to visit this month during your travels: Foxes Den Meadery in Yorkville, Illinois (about 60 miles from Thousand Trails Pine Country); Funktastic Meads in Midlothian, Virginia (about 70 miles from Bethpage-Camp Resort); Zymarium Meadery in Orlando, Florida (glamp at Encore Tropical Palms); and Honeytree Meadery in Nashville, Tennessee (book a tiny house stay at the Natchez Trace Tiny House Village).  

Lastly, in September of 1962, President John F. Kennedy spoke at Houston’s Rice University in a speech justifying the $5.4 billion space program with a goal to put a man on the moon. The location of the planned “manned spacecraft center” was on Texas land donated by Rice University. Eventually, the facility became known as the Johnson Space Center named for President Lyndon B. Johnson who championed Kennedy’s space program while serving as JFK’s VP. Today, visitors to Houston can visit Space Center Houston which has all the exhibits that detail the history of America’s amazing space program which landed the first men on the moon in 1969. Book a glamping stay at Thousand Trails Lake Conroe for your visit to the Space Center.  

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5 Things to Do Near Houston & Lake Conroe

If you know anything about Texas you know the summer months can be a bit steamy. Actually, February is considered a good month to visit Houston, the most populous city in the Lone Star State. The mild temps (daytime highs average 67 degrees) allow both indoor and outdoor exploration of this city whose attractions are as diverse as the population. As you plan your stay, book a cabin stay at either Thousand Trails Lake Conroe or Lake Conroe/Houston North KOA Holiday.

Cabins at Thousand Trails Lake Conroe
Cabins at Thousand Trails Lake Conroe

Have you ever visited the birthplace of a state flag? Now’s your change since you’re close to the town of Montgomery, which is, in fact, the birthplace of the Texas state flag. That little fact became history when the president of the Republic of Texas asked a Montgomery resident to create the Texas flag. This charming town has lots of shops, restaurants and Fernland Historical Park which has a museum, an educational center and several examples of pre- and post-Civil war homes.

This one is a bit odd but could be as life-affirming as it is interesting – the National Museum of Funeral History (nmfh.org). The museum, owned by a funeral company, of course, has historic hearses, memorabilia from famous funerals, including Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy, and traces the history of funerals in the US.

Cabins at Lake Conroe/Houston North KOA Holiday
Cabins at Lake Conroe/Houston North KOA Holiday

Ok, you can’t come to the Lake Conroe area without doing something focused on this amazing 22,000-acre lake. Boat, swim, ski, fish, take a cruise on a floating tiki hut, or just enjoy a sunset or two by the water. The lake is known for its population of largemouth bass – in fact, the Big Bass Tour fishing tournament is scheduled for February 28-March 2. Sunsets are best viewed from the water so check into the long list of dinner and sunset cruises available.

Be a Tourist: Check out viator.com for one of the many tours they offer including a Walking Food Tour, an official city tour aboard a double-decker bus, a Private Houston Brewery Tour by Cart, or a Tunnel Tour of Downtown Houston. Of course, the main attractions in the city include the Space Center Houston, beautiful Buffalo Bayou Park and the Houston Zoo. If you’re planning ahead, check out tickets to the biggest event in town come March which is the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo scheduled for March 4 through March 23. This major event will feature not only livestock and the rodeo events but also a wine show, a BBQ contest, live entertainment, and trail rides, to name a few!

Family Trip at Thousand Trails Lake Conroe Campground
Family Trip at Thousand Trails Lake Conroe Campground

Lions and tigers and bats, oh my! Nope, not a typo, we said “bats” referring to the roughly 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats that make their home in the city’s Waugh Drive Bridge. Viewing is free from the bridge, sidewalk and platform and there are special “Bat Chats” and bat boat tours (check out pwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/bats/bat-watching-sites/waugh-drive-bridge.phtml). As for the lions and tigers, head over to the Houston Zoo, which has over 6000 resident animals, and offers several animal encounters to get up close and personal!

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Five Things to Do In……Houston/Lake Conroe, Texas

Glamping views in Lake Conroe • Willis, TX

A winter getaway to Texas will provide much in the way of cultural diversity, rich history, great food and music and, of course, moderate weather (average daytime highs are around 65 degrees in winter). There’s also plenty of great fishing and hiking in the area. We’ve highlighted five great things to do if find yourself Texas-bound!

  1. Space Center Houston: Housing more than 400 space artifacts, Space Center Houston is one of the city’s top attractions, welcoming close to 1 million visitors annually. It has the world’s largest collection of moon rocks and lunar samples, as well as space capsules, lunar modules and robonauts, which are humanoid robots, one of which currently serves aboard the International Space Station.
  2. Cockerell Butterfly Center: With more than 100 species of exotic butterflies and insects making their home here, this is a must-do for nature lovers. Also, the Center houses the Rainforest Conservatory, a three-story glass structure that acts as a simulated rainforest and has plenty of butterflies alighting on the exotic plants here. Don’t miss the 50-foot waterfall!
  3. Lone Star Monument & Historical Flag Park: Displaying 13 flags that flew during the history of the great state of Texas, this beautiful 3.5-acre park is worth the trip. Located in Conroe, visitors can also see The Texian, a 14-foot bronze sculpture by Conroe artist Craig Campobella, that depicts a soldier of the Texas Revolution.
  4. Distilleries, vineyards, and breweries: Starting with distilleries, you can find more than 10 dotting the countryside between Conroe and Houston where can sip spirits including vodka, whiskey, and rum. Check out distillerytrail.com to see locations in the area, as well as all across Texas. Blue Epiphany Vineyards (blue-ephiphany.com) in Conroe has a tasting room as well as a schedule of special events while Wild Stallion Vineyards (wildstallionvineyards.com) in nearby Spring offers a tasting room and an upcoming spring concert series. Beer lovers will appreciate the craft brewers in the area which include B52 Brewing, set on seven wooded acres complete with a tap room and beer garden, and Southern Star Brewing Company, which offers tours and has plenty of events including Trivia and Tacos Thursdays and live music and food trucks on Fridays.
  5. Fernland Historical Park and Museum and Memory Garden: Located in Montgomery, Texas, Fernland has several historic homes that have been relocated to provide a hands-on educational opportunity for visitors. The homes depict life in early Texas and are examples of early Texas architecture. All the homes date to the 1800s and range from rustic cabins to a Greek-revival home build in 1845.

Cozy cabins • Lake Conroe • Willis, TX

While exploring all the Houston and Lake Conroe areas have to offer, make a cozy cabin at Lake Conroe your homebase, where you can also relax by the pool and take in views of the lake from your deck.