Postcard Cabins
Last weekend I took the family to spend three days in a tiny cabin about a bit more than one hour from Houston, near Navasota, TX. These days we rarely do short weekend trips like this, mostly because we keep our girls busy over the weekends. They have all kinds of activities and classes all weekend. This is done on purpose, because we feel if we don't keep the kids busy, they will end up doing something that we may not be able to influence in time. Yet, what that does, is that makes weekend trip nearly impossible.
I decided that it is good to break the pattern and skip all regular activities for a school semester weekend, and head out of town. I always wanted to try RVing, but never done it. Now that my kids are bigger, it is harder and harder to do it compared to when they were younger. If nothing else, keeping all four of us in a small place for a number of days is challenging. But I have suddenly discovered a middle ground. Postcard Cabins.
They are brand recently acquired by Marriott group of hotels, which we use frequently for business and personal travels and are long term members. So, I thought, why don't I try them out. They have 32 total properties as of now, 3 of them in Texas. One near Houston, Dallas, and Austin respectively; strategically placed near the three big population center and yet completely out of town in the woods.
The one we went to is about one hour to the NW out of Houston in the middle of the woods, called Postcard Cabins Brazos Valley. You can check out the set up both from my pictures and from the link that I provided to the official page.
Set up
As the cabins go, it is nothing but a box! It is also a pulled-in trailer home. I was brought in to the private campground area by trucks I am sure. It is on wheels as conventional large pull-in RVs go in the US. Outside, there are picnic tables and a traditional campground fire pit with Adirondack chairs around it. Most of the morning and evening I hung out by the firepit. I can still smell the smoke from one of my jackets hung in the closet! It was a very nice smell.
Inside, there are two tiers of bunk beds. They are comfortable, and I had great night of sleep, which I typically can't get these days if I am tent camping! So yay!
Kids enjoyed the space. Mine are artsy types. They love spending time working on sketches from inside, while feels outside due to these panoramic windows.
I can tell you, lots of art work was done over the weekend. Another point of note, that there is no TV or internet. Even the cell phone signal was virtually non-existent. Considering 1-hr away from Houston, and 20-min away from a major highway (290), I am not sure how they actually achieved this miracle, but that is exactly what I was expecting and was promised. I wanted to the take the kids away and detach from technology for a weekend. I say mission accomplished.
There were walking and running trails within the properties, and my wife put in 7-mile runs each day, and I am told that that running trail condition were excellent. Another score!
For me, it was nice and cold outside, and spend most of my time reading and tending a raging fire outside. Nothing that beat that! Cheers!
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I think it's nice to force ourselves on a digital detox every now and then, we're too addicted to our mobiles - I'm guilty of that
I am guilty of that big time, especially now that I am trying very hard to learn Japanese, I am glued to my phone every min of free time I get.
I agree, nothing beats that. My wife and I have a 26 foot travel trailer that we spend most of our weekends in during the summer. It's been a great past time for us. We used to camp when we were kids, so it was only natural we would start up again as adults.
Yeah, I have never done RVing myself, living inside the inner loop have a lot of advantage, but comes with some disadvantages too. Many of my friends here are avid RV-ers, and enjoy large lots with Texas size spaces, but not me. So I never managed to get it. I even booked rentals a few times but ended up canceling one reason or another. I am glad this trip was fun therefore.
It sounds like a great alternative for your family that offers the best of both worlds!
Sounds like a gimmick, "Postcard Cabins", but it seems like a dream vacation.
Wonderful pictures, especially the one of your daughter intent on her drawing.
Beautiful surroundings, and a smokey jacket the best souvenir.
Yes, it was a no-frill weekend trip away from technology. Especially when you consider it was no close to town and can achieve that, makes it special.
Looks like a fun trip, so nice to get away into the woods. I think it's really important to get kids to reconnect with nature. A good fire when you actually need it to keep warm is amazing too.
Yeah, it was a nice low key trip close to town. We don't do too much of those and we should do more.
Sounds like a nice vacation, we do that now with our little house on the bluff on Whidbey Island :)
Yeah, I see that from your posts.
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Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2826.
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