April 2015 - Big Bend and West Texas Tour

Okay kids - full disclosure.  When John suggested that we go to Big Bend on our next vacation, I was not enthused.  I made a noise that could have been interpreted as "uh-huh" and then let it drop.  I figured it might just go away.  But then, it didn't.  John actually did a bunch a work, looking into hotels, picking dates, etc.  So, when he brought it up again, I reluctantly agreed.  Before you give me grief, let me just say when I think of Big Bend, I think of camping and outdoor activities.  I think of bugs and animals and...dare I say it?  Nature!  I'm more of an indoor girl.  I like plumbing, Internet and nice accommodations.  When I go on vacations, I like to see stuff.

It had been since four months since we'd taken any time off and by the time this Big Bend trip came around, I'd have gone anywhere.  I was ready for some time off.  John had planned the entire four day weekend for us.  So with all of that in mind, let me tell you about our trip to Big Bend... 

And we're off....

We started out about 8-ish on Friday.  The weather in Dallas had been crappy all week with the rain and the tornado warnings, blech!  I was not going to miss that over the weekend!  Traffic was so bad, it took us a little over three hours to get to Abilene.  At that rate, we'd get there just in time to turn around and come home.  Lucky for us, once we got to Abilene, the vacation gods smiled upon us and gave us a break...or maybe God saw that it was my turn to drive...

 Driving out of DFW - it was a mess!

The weather cleared and we were able to make up some time.  To set my expectations, John kept telling me:  there's no cell service down there, it's very remote, it's not the Hilton, it's not even the Hampton Inn...So I was preparing myself mentally.

We stopped in Marathon for gas and when I saw the gas tanks, I thought, "Oh Lord, he wasn't kidding!"

 

 The old-fashioned gas pump.  The man said, "Go ahead.  You can pay when you're done."  What???

  

The gas station in Marathon, TX.

I thought we were almost there but guess what?  We were still just under 100 miles from the park.  Holy hell!

We pressed on.  Then, as we got closer to the park, these huge, beautiful mountains started showing up.  As we got closer and closer to the park, the scenery just got more and more beautiful.

"See?" said my lovable husband.  "It's gorgeous."  And he wasn't kidding.  The mountains were breathtaking, so much so that I couldn't stop taking photos...891 to be exact (don't worry, I won't post them all). 

View on the way to the park.

Cool clouds - on the way to the park.

 The entrance to Big Bend National Park

Finally!

Big Bend National Park!

Once we got to the park entrance, we still had another 45 minutes to get to the hotel.  (Note to self:  Never turn down the opportunity to use the restroom!)

This was a cool turnout on the way to the lodge where we could take some nice photos.

Would it even be a blog without the requisite selfie?

I was feeling sassy, since we were so close to the hotel.

We stayed at the Chisos Mountain Lodge and, while it's no Hilton, it's not bad.  I had prepared myself for the worst but it was nice!

 We had to sleep Ricky and Lucy- style - our room at the Chisos Mountain Lodge

No TV and no Internet but there's a lot to be said for being off the grid, especially when you wake up with this view.

 

 View outside our room at the Chisos Mountain Lodge

Our room (#203) at the Chisos Mountain Lodge

Dinner at the restaurant was interesting.  I had Elk chili.  Yes, I said Elk.  I didn't know you could eat Elk.  It was pretty good.

Elk Chili at the Chisos Mountain Lodge Restaurant

Cocktails with a beautiful view of the Chisos Mountains - Big Bend National Park

So the people that work at the lodge actually live in the park.  Isn't that awesome?   Your backyard is this fantastic mountain range.

We woke up and had our coffee and granola bars sitting outside our room just enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Enjoying coffee outside out room

Our first day, we had the morning to ourselves.  So we drove around the park.  We started at the visitor's center so that John could get a stamp in his "passport".  (He and his cousin, Emily, have National Park passports and when they visit one, they get a stamp.  Very cool!).

John and his passport stamp at the visitor's center

After that, we picked some off-road path to drive down and check things out.  We met a very nice couple that were camping out there.

Off-roading - what a view!

Random photos in the park.

 

 Desert Rose

 

Beautiful!

 This was another beautiful desert flower.

Then it was on to Terlingua where we were catching a jeep tour.  Terlingua, Texas is a one-horse town that is...actually very cool.  I would like to have stayed there and just hung out.  We ate lunch at this place called the Chile Pepper Cafe.  Amazing!  If you know me, you know I'm a Tex-Mex snob.  This place was freakin' awesome.  If you're in a hurry, come back when you're not.  I had pork and red Chile and John had green Chile chicken enchiladas.  Fantastic!

The Chile Pepper Cafe - Terlingua, TX

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas - The Chile Pepper Cafe - Terlingua, TX

 Pork and Red Chile - The Chile Pepper Cafe - Terlingua, TX

John and our guide, Chris - Terlingua, TX.

One of the many beautiful peaks.

Another beautiful view.

Then we met up with our guide, Chris.  We had him to ourselves as he drove us around some private land outside the park telling us about pretty much everything we saw.  He was great!  He was also an interesting character.  He was a "guide" (when he said it, it was like he was talking about a subculture of people, kind of like waiters) and he worked there in spring and fall but went elsewhere to do tours in the summer.  Then he lived in Terlingua in the winter.

I don't recall the name of this flower but when you give the petals a squeeze, it smells like lemon.

Our friend, Phyllis, told us about the Starlight Theater in Terlingua.  We had every intention of having dinner there but we were so full from lunch that we just chose to have drinks there.  We got sandwiches from the Terlingua General Store that we planned to eat when we got to Santa Elena Canyon.  Huge mistake on the food.

 

Terlingua was a mining town that has since gone by the wayside.  It's a very cool tourist town with lots of interesting characters.

I wanted to see the Rio Grande river so our guide told us to drive over to Santa Elena Canyon.  Oh my gosh!  It was beautiful.  I took off my shoes and socks and stuck my feet in the Rio Grande.  There was this wall...well, just check out the photo, which does NOT do it justice.  It was amazing.

 

 Santa Elena Canyon - Big Bend National Park

 

Me with my tootsies in the Rio Grande River

World's worst sandwich - stale bread and frozen on the inside

After that we headed back to the hotel and pretty much crashed.  Oh wait!  The sandwiches...they were awful!  They were just like vending machine sandwiches but the bread was stale and the middle of the sandwich...was frozen!  I commented to John that this was the worst meal I've ever had in the most beautiful setting.  Next time, Phyllis Bice, I'll stuff the food from the Starlight Theater down my gaping maw and enjoy it before I do the sandwich thing again.

Sunset - Big Bend National Park - Beautiful!

The next morning, we were up at the crack of...9-ish.  We stepped outside and saw that we were the only one's left!  I get that it was Sunday and all but dang!

The lone car in the Chisos Mountain Lodge Parking Lot

We had an appointment with the McDonald Observatory in Ft. Davis at 2 so we needed to get a move on.  We drove (and drove and drove...) to Alpine, which was a small sleepy town.  OH!  and we got to go through the border patrol.  I don't know why, but I thought that was kind of exciting.  They had the drug puppy checking out our car and everything.

This photo was taken on the way in.  I was afraid I'd get arrested if I tried to take a photo of the border patrol while actually at the station.

It took longer than we anticipated to get to Alpine so we had to slum it and have Sonic.  Bummer.  Then we drove up, up, up into the mountains to the observatory.  On the way up, some deer jumped out in front of us and, I swear, they looked just like the sign!

At the McDonald Observatory, they study the sun.  We got a lecture on what they look at along with some very cool visuals.  The guide asked some questions and some poor kid who had actually paid attention to his science teacher tried to answer but was wrong.  The guide all but said, "Wrong!".  It was very interesting.  Then we got to go up and actually see the telescope.  Holy moly!  It was huge.  I thought it would be something we could look through but nobody looks through that thing.  It just records what you point it at.

View from the McDonald Observatory

After that, we headed back to Marathon.  For our last vacation night, we were staying at the Gage Hotel.  The hotel was built in 1927 for a rancher Alfred Gage.  For a hotel that is in the middle of nowhere, it's not cheap.  But, the room is very nice and the staff was friendly.  It was a nice way to end a cool vacation.

The Gage Hotel - Marathon, TX

Relaxing out on the patio at the Gage Hotel

Pre-dinner drinks at the 12- gage restaurant

 

We split the rib eye steak dinner - jalapeno cheese grits and asparagus- yum...

Sunrise on the way home

Bear Crossing?  Seriously?  According to the guides, yes - very seriously.

Bambi and friends

 

Roadrunner...if he catches you, you're through...beep beep

Just to recap for those not paying attention...I was reluctant to go and came back very glad that I went.  We had an amazing time.  We didn't do any hikes but only because we ran out of time.  On the way home, John asked if I'd go again.  The answer is yes.  Not next year, mind you but I'd definitely go again...in spite of nature.