Being a train enthusiast I was a bit excited to go on the "Noth Pole Flyer" out of Bertrum TX on…read moreDecember 13, 2025 with my two grandkids and thier parents, six people in total. So this is a grandparents perspective. Upon arrival to the depot area, there is no indication of event parking as the lighting was very poor at 6:15 at night. The web site mentioned free parking but had no maps of the area. What I saw coming from the east, was a long row of cars parked in a Hodge podge fashion along the tracks. We ended up parking by the library across the highway. (Short walk with a light to cross with). I'll mention this again later. I came across a small sign in the middle of a crowd that says "no alcohol, no weapons licensed or otherwise." Would be nice to know before this Texan shows up armed. So had to run back to the car to secure my weapon. Ehh, minor inconvenience. BTW, the rules are on the web site. We pick up our tickets at will call and wait. The train comes up and parks. The engine was a short haul/swicher unit, no steam, with very beautiful vintage passenger cars. My family's car just happened to stop right in front of us, #41. We boarded and it was like going back in time. We found our seats easy enough. However, keeping in mind, either people were a lot taller and thinnier back then, or they have tall tables and do like airlines and add extra tables. It was tight. Little wiggle room for an adult. If you are in the window seat, you get to look forward and to the side. You cannot turn around to see what is behind you. If you adjust your seat, you are bumping the person behind you. And trust me, every car is packed. Being a night trip, there is nothing to see outside. So bring stuff for the kiddos to do and snacks and drinks. The two hour trip is loud. Kids are loud, and you have adults talking over the kids. My train enthusiast self went on an exploring expedition through a lot of the other cars. Some like mine had 4 person tables, others 4 person commuter recling seats with no tables. Some had one bathroom available others had two. I stood between two cars and just watched the scenery go by. It was a refreshing change to the snot-monsters noise in my car. The endless coco was good. Very hot. Eventually a minstrel came out and started some interactive Christmas carols. Pretty good. Simultaneously, a balloon guy came out making hats and the sorts for the kids. Then out came the forgetable part, a story teller. Hard to hear, not well versed in the story and choppy in her reading. Alas, Mrs Clause with some very different tasting, highly addictive cookie for everyone, saved the day. The highlight of the adventure was Santa. The staff had his appearance very organized and orderly. Each table had a chance to take photos with the big guy. The most unimaginable gift was given. A wooden train whistle to about 15-20 kids, my own grandkids included. Imagine if you will, about 30 minutes left in the trip with the incessant "tweet-tweet-tweet" penetrating that one nerve that goes from your ears to your feet and makes your spine want jump out of the window. Now, after a engine switch from one end to the other delay, we headed into the depot. We didn't exit the way we got on. We got on the depot side (city side), and exited on the parking lot side. Well that's fine and great. But if you park on the city side, you are blocked by the train with only two ways to get to your vehicle. Oh yes, I said a bunch of nasty, nasty cuss words. You either wait for a full train to disembark and hope they let you walk through, or, you walk around the shortest part of the train and back to the crossing light I mentioned earlier. So that's the trip review. But now to the staff. Man those cats get 5-stars. Friendly, informative and in character. I can't imagin doing that trip 5-6 times a day. They made an otherwise blah trip much, much nicer. This is a one time experience with kids. Maybe, someday, my wife and I will try a romantic trip through hill country or something like that.

The staff is incredibly friendly, and the check-in process couldn't be easier. The train cars are…read moreimpressively clean and well-kept, and we really enjoyed learning about the history behind the ride. It's a unique and nostalgic experience that takes you back in time. While I do wish the views along the route were a bit more scenic, the overall experience was still absolutely worth it and I would gladly do it again. If you're looking for something different to do around Austin, please support this train. It's a special kind of adventure you don't find every day.

A very cool but also very overlooked historical marker, on Hwy 183 between an Appliance Repair shop…read moreand a Chiropractor's Practice. Back in 1982, archeologists uncovered the skeleton of a pre-historic human female by nearby Brushy Creek. Because of the proximity of the grave site to the town of Leander, the skeleton became known as the Leanderthal Lady. Carbon testing indicates the woman lived ~13,000 years ago, which is amazing - that's six times further back then when Christ was born in the Holy Land! One can't help but wonder what Yelp review she'd have given to the place back then. Something like: "Three stars. Leander nice place to live, plenty of buffalo to hunt. Wish they had a Whataburger outlet." Seriously, check this marker out, it's pretty cool.

Nice park, especially if you've got kids in a stroller and want to go for a short hike. The trail…read morethat runs over the dam is all paved (not sure how far it continues being paved since we turned around). Lots of pedestrians, bikers, dog walkers. You can also walk on the unpaved trail along the water (it's very smooth and stroller-friendly). There is a playground. It's split into two areas for different ages. It's great in theory but I found it a bit lacking. There's a rudimentary playground that's labeled as 2-5. And a crunk playground (3-tiered, with gnarly slides) labeled as 5-12. Don't get me wrong -- this big playground is awesome for older kids. But it's a bit too advanced/scary for a 3-year-old. Meanwhile, the little playground was too simple/easy for her. So there's a middle age that isn't really catered to. But, great for 2-year-olds and 5+. There are also multiple parks with playgrounds within a short driving distance (Champion, Olson Meadows) so you can easily park hop.

They've completely renovated the playground and the splash pad at Brushy Creek Lake Park! The new…read moreequipment is of such high quality, with separate playgrounds for older and younger kids. The splash pad has a dedicated fenced in area for the water fun, and a nice grassy area with tables and seating. Perfect for a picnic! I love taking walks with my daughters along the lake, admiring the views and enjoying the wildlife. If you're adventurous you can rent a canoe or kayak from the boathouse and take it out onto the lake as well. This park is a beautiful place to spend time on a weekend!

Easy peasy parking and access. Not sure why folks post the MetroRail is under utilized the parking…read moreis always full. They did switch Apps for purchasing tickets and viewing schedules and to keep this review PG it sux lemons. You need to order/pay for your tickets individually. In the past one person in your group to purchase the tickets for all. Trains are always clean, on-time, and everyone is friendly. Sure beats driving downtown!

This is the dumbest business design. I think Austin has ever came up with. They have one train that…read moreholds about four people every trip and stops about 1k cars passing through 10 or more major intersections. It literally causes traffic way worse

The tour was very nice and our tour guide Tanner was very epic and cool and made the experience so…read moremuch cooler-er. I enjoyed the puns especially the rock puns and will miss them and rocky and the chicken nugget we saw on the path. Highly recommend !!!!! :-) p.s. sneak peak of rocky

This isn't the best caverns I've visited within a Texas State Park, but it is pretty darn cool. The…read morebest caverns tour is at Kickapoo Caverns. I did a wild cave tour without the extra charges that Longhorn collects. At Longhorn, our guide, Johnson did an amazing job with our small group of six people for the 10:45 AM tour. My brother and I initially registered for the 11:00 AM tour and am glad that we were suggested another time. We passed by the 11:00 AM tour and they had 40+ people in their group. Johnson showed us cool geological formations. We saw dolomite, calcium bicarbonate, chert, limestone, geodes, stalagmites, stalactites, and quartz crystals. Johnson is somewhat funny; he had a bit of quirky and dry humor. I enjoyed the history of the caverns, but some of it I thought was interesting. It was really delightful to learn that in the 1800's, before the CCC got involved, the locals would dance and play music turning the cave into an auditorium of entertainment. Johnson said that if certain geological formations glows, it is growing. Very catchy phase for memory. I got to see a few bats hanging out. They were tricolor bats which are smallest bats. The cave is cool, but thankfully not slippery. I was wearing no grip support shoes, but I didn't fall or have the urge to fall. There are mats on the floor of the cave to prevent falls. Johnson gave us more time to look around and admire the geology. My brother and I weren't required to bring our own flashlights. Johnson had a flashlight, but forgot to grab the blacklights. What I find is strange is that this is a state park that you cannot renew your state park pass at. This park headquarters is very different than the rest considering that there's a third party company handing the cave tours, they sell ice-cees, popcorn, and the gift shop is very big and vast. The others don't have this. It is questionable to me. I was told that I needed to go to Inks Lake to renew my pass. The cave tours are very pricey. Kickapoo Caverns tour was very affordable at $10. You can use the park pass. You can't get your state park passport stamped at Longhorn Caverns either. It seems like Longhorn Caverns is more for profit and the history about the cavern could be overly exaggerated to attract customers. My opinion. It was hard to believe half of the things what Johnson was telling us. There's one portion of geological formation in the cave that is "dead" because in year 1919, the locals went exploring by touching the formation it "killed" it. I preferred Kickapoo Caverns and the Caverns of Sonora a lot more. Even Inner Space Caverns and Natural Bridge were very exciting to see. Longhorn is cool, but didn't give me that WOW-factor, but I still had a ton of fun on a Sunday morning.

It's open! Maybe it's been open for awhile. New fence. Clean but not much else has changed that I…read morecan see.

My name is Charlie Blu. I'm an Australian Shepherd and give 4 paws up plus a stub for a tail…read more That's 5 if you are counting in human years. My dad and mum take me here when we are in town and this is my favorite place to run around. Even though I'm just a pup, the grownup doggies teach me new things like how to play chase, sniff and aimlessly run around. I haven't totally braved the water park just yet, but watching the retrievers jump in and fetch has started to build my interest. I did get in the pool up to my chest and got dirty enough to need a bath, but not fully committed to jump in yet. I think if I play it wisely, I'll milk it for all it's worth and probably will get a few more trips in before I take the plunge. Luckily, the park has multiple wash stations on the way in/out, so my humans can clean me up nicely before our ride home. Not my favorite thing to do, but since it's a doggie dog world, I have to live by their rules. Now that I'm 7 months old and weigh 30 pounds, I can play in the large dog area which is much more fun for me. When I was under 30 pounds, I used the small dog area which is overall a bit smaller in size, and the grass is a bit "ruff", so not as much fun. Also too many yapping pups there for my taste. So if you have the zoomies and are in the area, come by and say hi, or come play with me as I'm looking for new friends all the time. I'll be the black /white pup with the one blue eye, the Australian accent and hanging out next to the pool.

One helluva Fourth of July Picnic! And, whatever it is that these guys do in the privacy of their…read moremeeting room, no one can doubt that brotherly love & community service are paramount. They have a small library of Freemasonry & a nice collection of interesting memorabilia, and they serve dinner or breakfast before certain of their meetings. Meals are actually open to the public once or twice a month - you can go check them out & ask questions! Doesn't mean you'll get the answers you want...

Loved our tour of Lake Austin with a drop off at Ski Shores for Happy Hour then a pick up an hour…read moreand a half later. Will definitely add this for our out of town visitors! Nice boats, fun and informative captains!

We had such an amazing time on Lake Travis thanks to Willo and Float On. Everything about the…read moreexperience was extremely streamlined from booking to filling out waivers to navigating to the marina. Willo gave superb instructions on operating and piloting the boat including an overview of relevant customs and laws while out on the water. Our group had six adults and one 2-year old and they had plenty of water safety devices for all ages. On a side note, it was wonderful to see how genuinely excited Willo was about Lake Travis once again having a healthy water level after several dry years. In terms of our experience on the lake, we got excellent advice on where to travel based on our team's interests and after following his directions it felt like we had arrived on our own private lake. We probably only saw a handful of other boats during our 3-hour excursion and that was only in passing. The boat came with a Garmin GPS that made it really easy to retrace our steps. For those wondering, there was excellent cell phone service out on the lake and we were able to use our phone GPS, make calls, and stream music. The boat had some nice integrated speakers with Bluetooth connectivity and we were able to jam out to our own tunes. There was also a cool flotation device attached to the back of the boat called the Aqua Lily Pad which we unrolled after anchoring, we had multiple adults laying on it without sinking into the lake. Overall, we could not have asked for a better experience and we would highly recommend booking with Float On.