Getting to know Goose Creek State Park

This article was written by our sponsor, Washington Tourism Development Authority.

About 20 minutes east of Washington, North Carolina, and a million miles from ordinary, you'll find Goose Creek State Park. This is our chosen destination for a quick weekend getaway.

Coming from Raleigh with my husband and two boys, it's a quick hour-and-a-half by car. Far enough to feel like you are in a different place, but quick enough to make it through the barrage of "Are we there yet?"

Open fields and wildflowers fill the views outside our car windows. One last right turn and we see a well-kept wooden fence zig-zagging toward a driveway, and the tell-tale brown sign of a state park.

Are we there yet? Why, yes we are!

Goose Creek State Park's entrance gives way to a tidy, tree-lined road. A giant picnic shelter and ranger station to our right, a large visitor center to our left.

We pull into the parking lot and find the poster-sized park map outside the visitor center to get our bearings. Pulling a paper copy from the shelf below, I scout out the lay of the land:

• Three campgrounds: R/V, camping cabins, primitive sites (tent camping:, that's us).
• Six picnic areas, two with shelters and grills
• Nine well-marked hiking paths with names like Huckleberry Trail (0.3 mile) and Tar-Kiln Trail (1.8 miles), all described as easy, and most featuring a boardwalk and a water view.
• Dinah's Landing boat launch.
• A swim beach on the Pamlico River.

This is where I want to be for the weekend – shady, full of nature, lots of activities. It's the perfect spot for a weekend camping trip with my family.

We pop inside the Education Center, the first of its kind in a North Carolina State Park, and head over to the information desk to check in for our primitive campsite (fancy language for tent camping).

The boys immediately take off to start exploring.

Inside there are interactive exhibits that teach visitors about the park's natural resources and wildlife. Taxidermy hawks stalk you from the rafters, stuffed black bears and bobcats peer around the corners.

The boys take turns with the "smell the marsh" exhibit, giggling as they dare each other to take a big whiff.

Goose Creek State Park welcomes more than 275,000 visitors per year. Spanning more than 1,670 acres and nearly surrounded by water, there's a lot to do here – fishing, kayaking, biking, lounging on beaches, swimming, and checking out all the critters (well, maybe not ALL of them).

This is exactly the break we needed.

Once we're all checked in, we hop back in the car for a short drive down the tunnel of pines, live oaks and wax myrtles to the primitive campsite we'll call home the next two days. We pop up our enormous orange tent on one of the 14 sites closest to Goose Creek.

I remember why I love tent camping – the woods are serene. The children are running around like happy, feral dogs, and my husband and I set up camp, consult our trusty park map and make a plan.

Day one

Today we explore on foot.

After breakfast around the campfire, my husband and 8-year-old make a plan to fish on Goose Creek, just a short walk from our camp. The 6-year-old wants to hike, so we agree to divide and conquer for the morning, and meet up at the beach for lunch.

The map tells me all of the trails will be easy and flat, so I convince my youngest to hike to the visitor center. I fill my daypack with all the snacks (because bless we can't make it 10 minutes without a snack) and water.

I put the 6-year-old in charge of holding the trail map. We set off down the 1.8-mile Ivey Gut Trail that leaves from the campground. It takes us by Goose Creek, winds us through the woods and back to the marshes, before eventually hooking us up with the Palmetto Boardwalk that leads to the Education Center.

Here's what we see on our 30-to 40-minute hike: turtles sunbathing on logs in the creek, a heron wading in the sawgrass, shiny purple and green dragonflies that chase each other around my youngest's head for a few seconds, the tell-tale tree scratch marks, about eye level for me, made by a black bear.

After a mile or so of walking on the soft sand and forest paths, it's nice to hear our footsteps banging on the Palmetto Boardwalk. It takes us over a tributary of the creek, where we see more turtles swimming toward the bridge expectantly and fish I can't name right under the surface. We spend some time here tossing rocks and twigs into the water before continuing on the path to the Education Center.

Inside, my youngest reminds me we need a stamp for our North Carolina State Parks Passport book (they're free. Pick one up at any N.C. state park and collect stamps as you visit!). We pick up some coloring sheets and take a break from the heat in the Discovery Room next to the line of snake statues. The ranger on duty reminds us to keep an eye out for cottonmouths since we're camping so close to the creek.

The other half of our party eventually walks in from the parking lot, regaling us with tales of catch-and-release fishing. They suggest we picnic at the swim beach so we can all cool off after a morning on land, and I'm grateful for the lift down to the end of the park.

On the beach, the kids swim and play. We eat the lunch my husband packed back at camp, and I swear peanut butter and jelly tastes better when someone else makes it. The breeze comes up and the waves get choppier as the afternoon rolls along.

Brightly colored kayaks and their paddlers are bobbing close in; further out we see day trippers on motorboats and some anchored casting out fishing lines. My husband and I take it all in from under the shade of a live oak and watch the Spanish moss dance in the wind.

Eventually the kids tire out and we lazily head to the car and drive back to camp. My husband strings up the hammock between two trees and the kids have fun flipping each other out of it while we hang towels to dry and I start prepping dinner.

Over the fire, our trusty 17-inch cast iron skillet can fit it all: burgers, a few veggies, we even get fancy and pan fry the buns. The boys briefly fight over who gets to flip the burgers (spoiler: my husband won). We play a round of "what was your favorite part of the day" after dinner and answers include: catching a croaker, splashing Dad in the face, lunch, being together as a family.

Day two

Today we take on the Pamlico River. We inflate our stand-up paddleboard and drag the tandem kayak off the roof. We've brought our own, but there are several outfitters in Washington that rent kayaks and boards, including River Vibes and Inner Banks Outfitters.

There's water access not far from our tent at the end of Campground Road. For those with a larger boat and trailer, the park also has a full boat launch across Goose Creek at Dinah's Landing.

At the 8-year-old's insistence, he and his dad take the kayak, fishing poles and cooler (which includes a carton of bait next to our lunch). I give them a hearty shove into water before wading in with the paddle board. I sit with my legs astride, dangling in the water while my 6-year-old stands and paddles, doing all the work.

"So this is why I had kids," I think to myself.

There really is nothing like being on the water. We keep relatively close to the shore line, and explore Goose Creek a bit. We see cypress trees, which we learned at the Education Center only grow taller for 100 years. After that they only grow out, so we can tell the wider trees are ancient.

After a while, Goose Creek widens and heads into the Pamlico River. The water gets a little rougher, but we are all grateful for the breeze.

We paddle to the swim beach, bringing our boats and cooler picnic ashore. The youngest gets his turn with the fishing pole. Coming up from a trail to the right of the beach are a mother and her two daughters. One carries a fishing net full of minnows.

"No crabs today!" she cheerfully offers, as they walk past to the picnic tables.

The paddle board morphs into a raft-diving board/jungle gym that we all climb, tip over and push one another off.

My husband and I catch a moment alone on the beach while the kids explore one of the trails, and we congratulate ourselves. This is why we came here. The kids are outside, unplugged, active and happy. And hey, we identified a few trees and birds for them, so go us.

We switch boats for the way back, "because fair is fair, Mom," and my husband and I do most of the paddling now that the wind is up.

That night we grill hot dogs over our fire. The kids stay awake long enough to make one s'more before falling into the tent exhausted and almost instantly asleep.

My husband and I sit out at the fire and listen to the hum of the woods – crickets, frogs, wind, peace. Thank you for a great summer weekend, Goose Creek State Park. We'll be back.

This article was written by our sponsor, Washington Tourism Development Authority.