Big Bend!!!

Still numb from the dental crown, we left Blanco for the 500-ish mile trip to Big Bend National Park.  It took 2 days after our late start, but we made it!  Maverick RV Park, located in Lajitas, just about on the TX/Mexico border!

Smoke was annoyed after 2 steady days of driving and was happy to be settled again.

With 4 exploring days here, we decided to start by going east in the Big Bend Ranch State Park.  BBR State Park is just as stunning as the federal park; we were awed by the rugged terrain.

This view of the Rio Grande River from a highway overlook shows the relatively narrow river and Mexico on the right, the USA on the left.

The Closed Canyon Trail, a ¾ mile easy hike, takes us halfway into the narrow slot canyon. After 1 ½ miles the canyon ends at the Rio Grande. Here is Luke, that tiny spec in the blue shirt, standing at the bottom entrance to the canyon.  These canyon walls are 1500 feet high! 

You feel the depth of the canyon while you are hiking through it.

The curves in the canyon walls are the result of eons of water rushing through the canyon during the flash flood season of June – August.

Second stop, the Hoodoos Trail.  “Hoodoo” is of African origin and refers to the strange shapes that are said to embody evil spirits.  The hoodoos are made of a prominent capstone of hardened material with a column of softer, more erodible material as mudstone or tuff (hardened volcanic ash).  This one doesn’t look evil at all, only beautiful in its vast setting.

On the road back to the campground we found this great rest area with concrete tepees!  And the Big Bend Bluebonnets!  They have opened along the roadsides in mass and they are beautiful!

Day 2 in the national park, we headed for the Santa Elena Canyon, with jaw dropping scenery all the way.  

This canyon has the Rio Grande running through it, so no narrow slot canyon trail here.

A close-up of the canyon and the river.  Again, Mexico on the left cliff and the US on the right.

A couple of days of sun have brought out the flowering of the desert.  The cacti are greening.

Small flowers are blooming and insects are finding them!

Here is Mule Ears monument.

Folks raved about going across the border at Boquillas to Boquillas Del Carmen for lunch, so we thought we’d do it.  We were a little confused to find a Ranger station at the dead end of the road rather than a border station crossing.

Ah!  No border guards here, but a national park ranger, wearing a bullet proof vest, checking the validity dates of our passports and explaining the crossing system.  First, you walk a few hundred feet down a shady gravel trail to the Rio Grande.  Then you spot the small row boat ready to row you across for $5 each (round trip)

Men on the other side of the river await the tourists.  You can barely see it but there is a stall of burros behind them.

Yes, for another $5 each you ride a docile burro the ¾ mile into town.  Let me tell you, for someone who has never even been on a horse, the burro ride was “ interesting”… It took a little help (think pushing me up from the rear) to get on the little thing, and then I was sure I would slide off one way or the other as he clipped along. I giggled for a while and then enjoyed it.  A local follows behind to secure the burros once you are in town.

En route to town.

This tiny town of maybe 10 homes has had a rough time.  Before 9/11 it was a bustling tourist  destination for Big Bend visitors.  Restaurants, bars, and hand made goods.  The border was closed immediately on 9/11, isolating the town from Big Bend.  It is also isolated from the rest of Mexico by its location.  160 miles each way to groceries or medical care.  Many of the locals moved; a few stayed.  The border reopened in 2014 but the town is struggling.  There are 2 restaurants, both owned by the same family.  All of the homes have hand embroidered kitchen towels or brightly painted walking sticks for sale and all of the children approach you with beaded bracelets they have made.

We had a good Tex-Mex lunch, I had a Mexican beer, and we were entertained by an older gentleman playing the guitar and singing.

From the back porch of the restaurant we watched a man cross the Rio.  He’s the tiny black dot approaching land at the left curve in the Rio Grande.  Somehow, I was uncomfortable posting a close-up of him. 

We did buy a couple of small things and opted to WALK back.  I kinda missed  my little burro then 😊

Back across, we drove to the overlook of the area. The canyon spreads out in front of you.  Beautiful, vast, and isolated.

Interesting – someone had set up a “honor system” of handmade goods from the village at the US overlook.  We didn’t buy anything, but I did look.   If you look carefully behind me, you will spot a group of men on the Mexican side.  They are watching the honor system goods on the US side.  Not sure how this works, but I don’t really mind.

AND A ROADRUNNER!!!!!   We had spotted them along the roadside twice as we drove.  Luke decided to walk further up the overlook trail than I wanted to go and this rascal was waiting for him. They can run in 20 mph bursts! 

Our last day in the park was spent in the Chisos basin.  This is where the dinosaurs used to roam in the swampy period between this area being a vast interior ocean and the volcanic activity that created the mountain ranges.  These were BIG dinosaurs.  This alligator type dinosaur grew to almost 40 feet long!  I don’t like alligators and I am glad these guys are extinct.  OK, I know that is not a correct thing to say, but I am…

T-rex was here.  Luke isn’t really unhappy, but it was cold this morning.  I mean in the 30’s and the wind was blowing.

This enormous toothy fish was here, too.  At lengths of over 30 feet, they took on sharks or anything else they decided was lunch.

Oh, and we saw a large coyote along the road on our way to the fossil exhibit.  From here, we drove into the Chisos Mountain range. The Chisos Mountain range is actually around the inactive caldera of an extinct volcano.  This has the distinction of being the only complete mountain range within a national park. As we climb the narrow winding road we took this picture of the old sea bed below and then more mountains.

You can begin to get the idea of the caldera in this picture.  It was impossible to capture all of it. 

Notice the green?  This climate is different here. With the increased elevation, it is cooler and wetter.  Therefore, more trees.  It was nice to see green trees.

We made it to the end of the road, walked the short trail to the overlook, and saw “the Window”, a slot in the mountains that give you a view of the expanse of canyon below. The rainfall that collects in the caldera gets to the lower levels below through this gap which has been carved over the millennia.

Some spectacular views as we walked up the Lost Mine Trail.

The agave cactus can grow for 100 years, but it blooms only once and then dies.  We didn’t see one in bloom, but there were plenty with the dead flowers/seeds from last season.  These are about 10 feet tall.

Finally, one last thing on Luke’s bucket list for TX – BBQ!  We stopped on the way back to the RV and picked up a pork BBQ sandwich for Luke and a chicken BBQ sandwich for me.  Mmm..mmm

good!

Today is chores.  Luke plans to try to replace our TV antenna among other chores and I have laundry, house cleaning, and other small things to do.  We plan to leave tomorrow to drive to Ft. Davis, TX, home of the McDonald Observatory.  Definitely looking forward to that!

The 4 San Antonio Missions and Fredricksburg

Friday was a rainy (again) morning, but we decided to go ahead and drive to visit the 4 remains of the original 6 missions settled in the early 1700's by Franciscan priests for the Spanish government.

According to the information at each site - 

"The missions of San Antonia were far more than churches, they were communities.  Each was a fortified village with it's own church, farm, and ranch.  Here, Franciscan Friars gathered native peoples, converted them to Catholicism, taught them to live as Spaniards, and helped maintain Spanish control over the Texas frontier".

First on the Mission trail was the Mission Concepcion. 

Here is a drawing of the original layout of the mission.

This is one of the most ornate sanctuaries of the four missions.  Services are still held in these churches on a regular basis

Second on the trail (these missions are only about 2 miles apart) is the Mission San Jose.  The large grounds of this mission are still in tact and surrounded by the original walls.

Here is the church

And her sanctuary

The Mission San Juan is next.

This is a long and narrow church.

In order to preserve the church and avoid smoke damage, the votive "candles" in the church are electric.  Instead of lighting a candle, you simply give your donation as usual and then push the "on" button at the base of your chosen candle.

Last is Mission Espada.  This is the only mission that we saw that still has the bells.

Again, this is a narrow church.

On our way home, I noticed the MOST unusual beasts!  They are Oryx, Most were native to parts of Africa, but are now listed as extinct in the wild.  There is a captive breeding program that is active in Texas and New Mexico in wild game ranches.  LOOK at those fantastic horns!  I can't take credit for this picture, but we did see about 6 of them standing behind fencing along the roadside.

Today we had two adventures - the first was Luckenbach, TX, the "town" made famous in the 1970's by country star Waylon Jennings. Wanna hear the song?  I think this will work...

https://youtu.be/TQfDKclxwJw

Luckenbach used to be a town, but is now actually an incorporated entertainment venue.  The town is the general store (formerly the post office), a couple of bar areas, dance hall, campground, and a hat store.

The crowds range between a few hundred on a weekend to 6000 during a big concert weekend!

Our destination was Fredericksburg.  This old town is famous for it's over 50 wineries.  What makes it even better is that most wineries are represented in the 8 block long town.  Town has countless shops, restaurants, and winery "storefronts" where you can buy sample and buy wine by the glass.  Or beers at other places. And yes,  public alcohol is permitted in the old district, so drinking and shopping are a great combination!  A bit of the wide streets.

The town was settled by Germans so there is a big German influence, especially in the restaurants.  We ate lunch at one - yum! I do have to admit that I had a Shiner Bock beer instead of a German one with my "chicken-schnitzel"...

Luke wanted to visit the Nimitz Museum.  Admiral Charles Nimitz was born here 

He was appointed Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Fredericksburg also has a major museum, the National Museum of the Pacific War. It includes an Admiral Nimitz Museum, the George H. W. Bush Gallery and an endless memorial wall of the ships and men who served in the war.

The museum was very comprehensive, starting with the background to the Japanese expansionist actions back to the 1800s wars with China. It chronologically lead from then through Pearl Harbor, and all the major naval battles and the major island battles as the US fought its way back to within bombing range of the Japanese mainland. For each major battle movement of fleets or land forces was shown and narrated, along with video clips of the action.. It was very well done and very well presented.  The ultimate takeaway: 350,000 US casualties! 

I was not as interested in those museums as Luke, so I took the opportunity to see a few more shops, do a little Wal-Marting, and happily do some knitting on an ignored sweater project.  Tomorrow we plan to do laundry, move the RV to another site at the park, and generally get ready to leave.  We would like to be ready to hit the road as soon as the dentist is finished with my crown.  oh, joy.