It's been said that "You don't need therapy; you just need to go camping."
Our recent stay at YMCA Camp Cullen was relaxing and enjoyable, and I don't anticipate needing therapy anytime soon! Located just an hour and 15 minutes from The Woodlands in Trinity, TX, the campground is a haven for kicking back and taking it easy while enjoying the great outdoors.
For the current season, YMCA Camp Cullen has created a weekend camp experience for families entitled Escape to the Woods, meant to allow guests to enjoy isolation and maintain as much social distancing as they prefer.
Our check-in was at 3pm on Friday, and check-out would have normally been scheduled for 11am on Sunday; however, for our stay, there was a slight deviation from the regular schedule, and we were allowed to stay through 4pm Sunday with lunch provided for that day in lieu of the Friday dinner that’s usually provided.
Check in at the main lodge was quick and involved temperature checks, mask-wearing, and a very brief orientation. Then we were off!
Life is good in the woods! The grounds are lovely and serene! There are deer (we saw one within minutes of entering the grounds), bridges, a beautiful lake, and tall, mature trees.
We weren't prepared for how huge our cabin would be. Suitable for larger groups, our cabin suite was equipped with a king-sized bed (which was really two side-by-side twins), plus 6 bunk beds (12 bunks in all), for a grand total of 14 beds. The bathroom inside our cabin was just as large (and clean, too, I might add), with 4 toilets, 4 showers, and 6 sinks (a sink for each of us in my family of 6). The front and back porches of our cabin were equipped with several rocking chairs each. Abundant hand soap, paper towels, and toilet tissue were all provided in the bathrooms. Photos won't do justice; enjoy the video tour of our cabin, posted below. You'll quickly determine that this camping trip was hardly an example of "roughing it". Granite in the bathrooms? Yes! Note: We did bring our own bed linens, pillows, and bath towels.
During our stay, we were thrilled to enjoy the self-serve tire zip line, horseback riding, the jumping pillow, camp fires with smore’s, hiking, a craft (hosted by the camp), star-gazing, and archery. Since Escape to the Woods is meant to be a place to connect with your family while social distancing from others, we were pretty much on our own the entire while, with the exception of the scheduled archery, horseback riding, and the staff-facilitated craft activity. It was a quiet weekend, and we encountered only two other families during our entire stay.
Escape to the Woods was a great solution for this mama who loves camping but doesn’t like packing for camping (because you don't have to remember to bring, like, EVERYTHING). We knew ahead of time that just about everything we’d need would already be there. The camp provides equipment for games, sports, and activities such as badminton, volleyball, fishing rods, and board games. With just a simple e-request, the items we needed were delivered to our cabin door (or set up in the field, as applicable).
We actually didn’t request a lot of extras for this trip. My family was content with spending a good amount of time chillaxing in the cabin, but on Sunday we did request Checkers, hula hoops, and bubbles – mainly just because we wanted to use the services - and all items were quickly delivered to our door!
I should tell you about the meals, because food is such an important part of camping. We were provided five meals (3 meals on Saturday plus breakfast and lunch on Sunday). The meals are included in the cost of the weekend camp. Before arriving to the campsite, we’d pre-selected our meals from an extensive list of options earlier that week. We all pretty much chose different entrees for each meal, so we got a chance to see and taste a lot of the food. We were able to choose from options such as pancakes, omelets, French toast, potatoes, chef salads, fried catfish, meat loaf, and baked potatoes, club sandwiches, pepper steak, etc. There’s even a kid-friendly menu available with options like pizza and fish sticks. And dinner on Friday included dessert.
So… the food is not the star of the show at YMCA Camp Cullen. It thought I would love the idea of these hot meals delivered directly to our door at the designated times, but the execution fell a bit short, and the food was not as delightful as it sounded on the menu. But again, I didn’t have to cook, so who am I to complain?
Overall, our time spent camping was fun, relaxing, and worthy of a repeat.
If you've forgotten how majestic the night sky is when you get far away from the big city, it's time to give yourself a refresher! Visit the Escape to the Woods website and learn about the upcoming camp dates, including specially-themed camps for the holidays.
