We pulled into Village Creek around 5:30pm. It is just north of Beaumont and right on Village Creek. This is not a big park and your choices for camping are the water/electric loop, which was over run with shoeless kids on bikes, Christmas lights and smokers full of brisket, and the walk-in river sites, which have 2 porta-potties and are 100-750 yards down a hiking trail from the parking lot. So of course we chose the walk-in sites! And I am so glad we did because the sites were quiet, spacious and private. We brought a cart and managed to get everything to the site in three 1/2 miles trips. We got site #8 with a nice view of the river and a water spigot close by. There are "real" bathrooms by the RV loop with nice showers. We stayed 2 nights at this park. On our first morning the view of the creek was beautiful with the mist rising in the cold. After breakfast we got showered and ready to go to Shangri La Gardens in Orange. It was a 45 minute drive into Orange. The Gardens were amazing! After a tasty lunch as the cafe, we met Maxine the Barred Owl. Patrick was in love. We took an hour boat ride through the swamp area and saw alligators, an osprey, and lots of turtles. We visited the children's garden and the heron nesting area. The azaleas were in full bloom and very impressive. It was a wonderful place to visit and the weather was perfect. We headed back to Village Creek for our last night. The next morning we packed up and went hiking to find the geo cache. This park is most known for canoeing and paddling. The park does not rent canoes, but there are several outfitters that do in the area listed on the state park website. There is a swimming area about 1.5 miles down the trail, but it was a little to chilly for swimming and the river is very brown. If you have your own kayak this is a great park to bring it to.
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