Big Bend National Park

Gayle and I were blessed with parents that believed that traveling was important.  We took a family vacation every summer.  We usually camped and hit every National Park that was anywhere close to us.  But we had never experienced Big Bend National Park.  It isn't on the road to anywhere.  You really have to want to come here.  It is 1252 square miles, larger than the state of Rhode Island.  It goes as far south as Mexico and the Rio Grande River.  We have only one day to experience it.  Since the time changed last night and we got an extra hour of sleep, we were up and on the road by 8 a.m.  

We stopped in Marathon to get gas and eat breakfast.  Then we turned south and drove for an hour to the Panther Junction Visitor Center.  We got the requisite maps (there is little to no cell service here) and headed towards the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.  We stopped at every lookout.

We were astounded by the number of sotol plants...

and ocotillos.

We drove all the way down to the Santa Elena Canyon.  The lookout didn't give us enough of a view so we decided we could walk down to the Rio Grande.  At this point it cuts through this canyon.  The stone wall on the right is in the USA and the stone wall on the left is in Mexico.

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The mighty Rio Grande looks a bit like a bubbling brook.

We headed back the way we came and then turned right to go to the Chisos Basin to stay in the National Park Lodge.  It is a curvy road that steadily climbs.  The color turns more green and the air cools.  We arrived around 3:15 p.m. and told our room would not be ready until 4 p.m.  We sat on the porch outside and played a quick game of Scrabble.  Gayle whupped my ass!

We checked into our room and headed to dinner in the restaurant.  We had no lunch and we were hungry.  There were several things on the menu that they were not offering tonight.  I am guessing it is hard to get all the products they need in this remote place.  After dinner Gayle went back to the room and I sat on the porch to work on this blog.  You can only get wifi in the restaurant and the visitor center.  I watched the sunset right in front of me.  

I joined other excited park visitors as a black bear made two appearances not too far from where we watched.  I checked out to see if there would be any stars tonight.  No such luck.  The cloud cover had not magically disappeared.  I am heading to our room for the night and keeping my fingers crossed that the black bears have all gone to bed for the night.