Periodically, we call a new city home. For two weeks we stopped to smell the roses in Tyler, Texas. There are no major highways that flow through it nor is there a major downtown area like Orlando, but what it has is a lot of charm and the locals were kind and welcoming. This city has a homey feel that we have fallen in love with and we would settle down here if we did not enjoy traveling so much.
The main reason why we chose to pass through Tyler is because it shares the name of our oldest son. Along with that we came here is because it is on the way to California and was 250 miles from our last stop in Shreveport, LA. Other than knowing that it was the rose capital of the US, we did not know much about the city prior to arriving. Once we got here, Tyler cast it's spell and now we are looking forward to returning one day.
We called Tyler Oaks RV Park our home for 2 weeks. We loved the location of the RV Park. It was close to I-40 but not to close to hear the road noise. We had a variety of spots to chose from and we chose one close to the office and laundry room. This RV park offers hot showers and clean restrooms. They have a dog park and a duck pond. When the weather got bad, the restrooms also act a storm shelter. The owners live on the property and Tyler Oaks is a gated for added security. Only downside was that when the snow melted, it seemed as though our site was the lowest point in the park and the water collected at our site; so we walked on ice a few days until the sun melted it all away. We would stay at this park again when we are in the area.
In each city we visit there are plenty of things to see and do. After we finish setting up, we usually journey out in the afternoon to get the lay of the land and find a local restaurant to eat at. We find the grocery store, Wal-Mart and sometimes the local mall. Russ works during the week and Amber is in school during the week, we only have weekends and night to enjoy the cities we are visiting. We have field trip Fridays and all-day Saturday to see the sites. Below, are the places we visited in Tyler. If you are ever in the area, all these places are fun and educational for all ages.
- Parrott Park/Old Mill Pond Museum (Lindale, TX) – Free Admission – Antique Museum dating 1850-1950 and the history of Lindale, TX. Side note – Lindale, TX is where Miranda Lambert is from.
- Tyler Historic Aviation Memorial Museum – Admission $6 for Adults, $3 for Teens. This is a must see while in Tyler. There is a flight deck that you can visit with an escort to see planes and helicopters used during the wars.
- Caldwell Zoo – Admission $12.95 per person. Best Zoo we have visit so far. We hand fed the Giraffes! That was the best part!
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We love to eat the local fare. Here are a few places we recommend you visit while you are in Tyler, Texas.
- Rudy's Texas Bar-B-Q – We stumbled on this place thinking it was a convenience store and we were pleasantly surprised. This place is awesome. Russ and Amber loved the wet brisket and I liked the pulled-pork. We would all agree that this is on par with 4Rivers BBQ in Orlando. Get a plastic cup and get $0.75 refills at any location.
- Any Donut shop – There are a lot of donut shops in Tyler. We visited 2 different ones and we found they were equally as good and we loved them both!
Even though we are not at our home church, we still feel that setting aside time to worship is important. With a bit of research, we visited Friendly Baptist Church. We met wonderful people there. There was even a church member that was following us on our Instagram that wanted to personally meet us, as they wanted to hear our story. It was a wonderful place to worship and we found ourselves back there the following week.
Overall, our time spent in Tyler was a wonderful experience and can’t wait to come back. We experienced our first snow fall and then our first tornado warning all within 48 hours of each other. We booked Amber’s first flight home and we also had a good laugh when we all fell on the ice. We felt at home here in Tyler and will definitely be back!
