My wife, son and I made a trip this past Friday (Apr 6) to visit the Varner-Hogg State Park (in West Columbia) and Brazos Bend State Park (just up the road from West Columbia towards Rosenberg). WOW! GREAT PARKS and well worth the visit.
Lots of alligators at Brazos Bend. We figured we would see one or two in the water and that would be it. Boy, were we wrong. The alligators were all over the place. There are about 8 of them that were sunning themselves along the trail; you had to walk around them in several instances. It was something to see.
Varner-Hogg is just a nice place to visit. Very beautiful grounds, buildings and trees.
If you live in the Houston area and are looking for a quick day trip to get outdoors, those parks are well worth the visit.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/brazos_bend/
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/varner_hogg_plantation/
BBH