Today was the final day of our road-trip out to the Big Bend area of Texas. At the semi-last-minute, we decided to visit the Caverns of Sonora, which were on the way home. But first, it was a 3-hour drive to get there… 🚗 Grey clouds and no sky, but no traffic!
We read some really good reviews at Trip Advisor so we were confident that it would be worth our while, and I’m happy to report that it was a really cool activity! We took the regular tour, which lasted a good hour and 45 minutes, and learned a lot about the history of the cave and the cavers who explored the caverns. Those explorers were very brave, and also very crazy!
The caverns and the rock and mineral formations were incredible, and we saw some types that we didn’t see at Carlsbad Caverns, or perhaps they simply weren’t pointed out to us there. What I thought was most amazing were the super-long soda-straw stalactites. I don’t remember seeing anything like that before at the caves we visited previously. (sorry, no pic of these)
After visiting the caverns, we ate an early dinner before hitting the road again for the final 3-hour drive back home. We arrived safely, not too late (8:30 PM), and now it’s time to relax and catch up with the cats. 🐱
It was another memorable Thanksgiving road-trip, and I’m already looking forward to our next one… but where will we go? 😜
We spent today traveling the triangle of Fort Davis, Alpine, and Marfa. After a nice breakfast at the B&B, we made the 30-minute drive to Alpine to get two new tires for the Prius, then headed to Marfa to see the town. One of the highlights was grabbing coffee ☕ at Do Your Thing. It’s a really cool little coffee and toast place, with a nice atmosphere and yummy drinks. Worth stopping by!
Unfortunately, our time in Marfa didn’t extend into the evening, so we weren’t able to see the famed Marfa Lights. We did stop at the viewing station since it was on the main highway. Maybe some day (night) we’ll be back to experience it.
After Marfa, it was back to Alpine to visit the Big Bend Brewing Company for a flight of beer 🍺. The people there are cool and friendly and it was nice to drop in for a little while.
Lunch in Alpine today meant a visit to Cow Dog, which is a food truck with maybe 15 different kinds of hot dogs. Delicious and messy! 🌭 Gourmet hot dogs. Recommended!
The last planned activity of our vacation was a visit to the McDonald Observatory. Unfortunately the weather was cloudy and rainy 🌧, so we weren’t able to look through the telescopes at the Star Party. 💫 But there were alternate programs offered which were really interesting and fun. I actually thought these were a good complement to the traditional Star Parties, so I think we lucked out on the weather!
We did a lot today, but it was relaxed and relatively stress-free… just the way a vacation should be. Even though we ran into snags with the weather and flat tire, everything worked out in the end. 😄
Today was our last day at Big Bend National Park and we decided to check out the east part of the park. On the way there we stopped at the Panther Junction Visitor Center and bought a new National Park Passport book. In it, you can collect stamps from all the parks you visit. In the photo below, you can see Bay and Mariko stamping our books. It’s a fun activity, and we hope to add many more stamps in the future!
Next we headed to the Boquillas Canyon Overlook, where you can look across the Rio Grande into Mexico. At the parking lot there were a bunch of handcrafts for sale, and you can leave money in a container for whatever you might pick out. However, it’s not legal to buy these since they are technically considered contraband. But it was interesting to see how the border in Big Bend is just a small river, which can be easily crossed.
Our next stop was the hot springs ♨, which is just a short 1.5 mile drive on a gravel road to the trailhead, then a 15 minute hike to the springs. Along the way, there are “ruins” from when the area was a bit of a resort back in the 40s. Also you can view some petroglyphs and pictographs along the wall next to the trail.
Before long we found ourselves at the actual hot springs. I had changed into some shorts so that I could try the waters. I mean, why not, right? The springs were not too hot, but pleasant and I could have soaked in them for a while, but since I was the only one in our group who wanted to get wet, I only sat in the springs for a few moments.
Finally it was time to leave Big Bend National Park, but not without a little excitement. On the road out of the park, we got a flat tire. Luckily, putting on the spare went without a hitch (and Bay helped me!) and we were back on the road in no time. Toyota recommends a maximum speed of 50 MPH on the spare, so it was slow going to our next stop, Fort Davis.
We arrived at our Bed and Breakfast at around 5 PM, got settled in our room and then headed for the one restaurant in town that was open on Thanksgiving – Blue Mountain Bistro. Mariko and the boys enjoyed nice turkey dinners with all the trimmings, and I opted for the Beef Bourguignon. It was all delicious and we left satisfied. Plus there was live acoustic guitar music which gave it a wonderful atmosphere. 🎸🎶
Thanksgiving 2016 was a memorable one for us, and I have to say that I am thankful for the chance to visit our country’s amazing National Parks 🌵🌲 and make good memories with my family. 😊
Today was our full day at Big Bend National Park. Our family style for this vacation is to take it easy and not “maximize” our time here. What that means is basically:
Wake up at a reasonable hour, about 7:30 AM
Enjoy nice meals(eat well with good company)
Choose a few activities, but don’t stress out about completing them all. It’s not a quest!
Rest when we are tired
I honestly don’t know if this is the norm, or if we are more relaxed about it than most people, but for some reason I am used to trying to squeeze the most out of my vacation time by waking early, sticking to a schedule, seeing every sight possible, etc.
That being said, I like the relaxed itinerary! Rushing sucks. I like being able to drive at or below the speed limit and not worry about being late. In fact, if we don’t have a set schedule, there is nothing to be late for.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/85 sec, ISO3200 “Breakfast with a View” Big Bend, 2016
Anyways, today we woke up at 7-ish and then got ready for the day, then enjoyed a nice breakfast at the Chisos Mountains Lodge Restaurant. I had the Huevos Rancheros (sunny side up), both kids had breakfast burritos, and Mariko had the “Wagon Wheels”, which were two massively fluffy pancakes. All in all, we are pretty happy with the Chisos Lodge Restaurant, which offers pretty good food at reasonable prices, considering the next nearest restaurant is an hour away.
Our first stop was the Balanced Rock. You get to the Grapevine Hills Trail trailhead by traveling about 6 miles down Grapevine Road, which is a gravel-covered dirt road, with a little bit of washboard to rattle your bones, but not too hairy. Our Prius handled the road fine, as long as we kept our speed to about 14 MPH. While driving on the gravel, I kept imagining how great it would be to ride that road on my GS, or even my old Toyota 4×4… Perhaps some day!
From the trailhead, it was about an hour round-trip to the Balanced Rock which is very cool, but a little smaller than we imagined. There were a few other families on the trail, so when we made it to the Balanced Rock, there were many people to trade family photographer duties with.
The hike is pretty easy, with a slight uphill most of the way in, and then some moderately easy climbing for the last part. Not difficult at all! Balanced Rock was a fun hike and should be on your list of Big Bend activities.
Next, we headed to the west end of the park, to hike the Santa Elena Canyon Trail. This trail is also fairly easy, winding next to majestic canyon walls and a gently flowing Rio Grande river. The views are spectacular (make sure to look up!) and there are plenty of nice photo opportunities, the best of which are near the end of the trail. Stand on the rock outcroppings just before the end of the trail for the best shots.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/7.1, 1/140 sec, ISO400 “Santa Elena Canyon” Big Bend, 2016
It takes about an hour to drive from Santa Elena Canyon back to the Chisos Mountains Lodge, so we arrived around sunset, and headed straight for the restaurant. One good thing about the restaurant is that they serve Big Bend Brewery beers on tap, so we got to enjoy delicious ice-cold beer to finish our day.
Our hiking day was pretty dang fun, even though we hiked two of the easiest trails in the park. They may have been cakewalks, but the views were amazing. We are definitely happy!
I can imagine hiking some longer and more strenuous trails in the future once the boys are a little bigger. We’ll see if they have interest in it, because if they do, I’m all for more hiking.
Today was an exciting day because we finally made it to Big Bend National Park. And by “finally”, I mean that it was a very long drive to get here, and also it took us 17 years of living in Texas to finally visit the state’s sole national park.
We didn’t rush to get here, but instead took a short driving tour of the city of Alpine and then drove to Terlingua to check out the famously quirky town and grab a bite to eat and a coffee. From there, it was a 40 minute drive to reach the Chisos Mountain Lodge where we are staying for the next 2 days.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/105 sec, ISO400 “Waiting for Sunset” Big Bend, 2016
The Chisos Basin is an amazing place, with the massive Casa Grande looming on one side, and the beautiful Window on the other side. At sunset, we walked the short Window View trail and took a bunch of photos, then had a nice dinner at the restaurant before heading to our room for some relaxation and star viewing.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/15 sec, ISO200 “Sunset at Window View” Big Bend, 2016
Big Bend has a spectacular sky so I did a little bit of astro-photography using Mariko’s X-T10 and kit lens. I think the photos turned out pretty good. I even saw a beautiful shooting star!
