Pitching A Tent For Mother's Day: And Never You Mind About Those Snakes

One hour's drive north of Houston, Lake Conroe awaits this weekend -- or more precisely, the Kampgrounds of America there offering a special deal for Mother's Day weekend. Pay for Friday night and you get your Saturday night stay for free.

The obvious question -- why would a mother want to spend Mother's Day in a tent, cooking breakfast over a campfire? -- is easily dispensed with by KOA's events manager at the site, Jody Piggott: "It focuses more on family time. That's what camping is all about."

Besides, you don't have to stay in a tent. You can bring an RV, popup or stay in one of their cottages.


Piggot says in today's economy, there's been a mini-boom in camping locally. Instead of families flying all the way to Colorado to indulge in the out-of-doors, they can get to it quicker locally.

The special deal this weekend is part of the annual national effort started by KOA in 1984 to raise money to send children with cancer to camp themselves sometime this summer, Piggott says. There will be a raffle Saturday night to raise money and the proceeds for the weekend all go to the "Come Camp and Care program."

Can't make it on short notice this year? Piggott says they'll do it again next year. In the meantime, she invites anyone up to her campground whose spots run between $30 to $38/night. The campground has 239 sites, a six-acre lake and an indoor swimming pool if things head south outside.

But what about snakes? Piggot says they are a fact of life around water in Texas, but should be of little concern.

"Let me tell you about snakes. I'm an old Girl Scout. Snakes do not like a lot of activity. So when you have activity and you have children and RVs pulling in, the snakes head to the woods. They want nothing to do with you."