Spring road trip

Since the husband has five weeks of annual vacation, we decided to blow four days last week to begin looking at retirement lake options. We had some really pretty roadside vistas as we took to the highways and byways. The state of Texas' wildflower seeding efforts really pay off every spring with a profusion of color.

As he always does, my better half completed quite a bit of research in order to narrow our lake search. As a starting point, we didn't want to be any further than a 1.5-2 hour drive from the DFW metroplex. We want a waterfront home that allows a dock in the backyard, so that omitted quite a few corps lakes. Then he looked at how many lake residents were primary versus secondary/weekend home owners since we want a sense of community. Lastly, there were amenities to consider. Things like where's the nearest large grocery store, as well as doctors/hospitals and varied restaurant options.

With all of that information in the mix, we narrowed down our search to Lakes Palestine and Granbury. Since we were completely unfamiliar with Tyler, we kicked off our search there for the first three days. We found a fabulous real estate agent named Dana who grew up in the area and was a fount of information. She drove us around to all sorts of different neighborhoods on the lake, with a very knowledgeable running commentary we soaked up like a sponge. Honestly, Tyler and Lake Palestine checked virtually all of our must-have boxes. Plus there was the added bonus of roses and azaleas in bloom every spring. It's a serious contender, for sure. 

 

 

  

Our next two days were spent in Granbury, which we had visited in the fall. Since we already had a good feel for amenities, we found local realtor Erin to show us waterfront options. Initially doubtful since this realtor has only lived in the area for about a dozen years, she surprised us with her grasp of local real estate. We made the rounds with her to see a plethora of developments. Undoubtedly our biggest concern is that Granbury has fewer amenities than Tyler. Therefore, we decided to zip up the road to nearby Weatherford to check out what's on offer there, and were pleasantly surprised with lots of options. In addition to a lovely historic courthouse, they had one of the few remaining Gibsons in Texas. Since the husband worked at one while he was in high school back in Beaumont, we both took a stroll down memory lane in its aisles.

 

We agreed that this trip gave us a lot of clarity for a couple excellent options to fulfill our retirement dreams. I imagine we'll be keeping in touch with both realtors as the husband moves ever closer to an early retirement. At this point, we're just waiting to see where the girls settle in order to make a final decision to buy. I've got it in my head that I want to be a destination nan for the grandkids we'll eventually have. As in let's all pile in the car and drive to the lake for the weekend to fish, boat and hang out on the dock to watch the world go by with extended family. That's my idea of heaven on earth, y'all!