San Antonio area (2-26-11)

    Today is our daughter's 21st birthday. Unfortunately we couldn't be with her, but a bunch of her friends came down from Michigan to Indiana for the weekend, to help her celebrate.  And of course, her fiance is there, so I am sure she is having a great time. I just wish I could be there.   This picture was taken last year in Las Vegas.  We flew her in for spring break and while at Margaritaville she had the brilliant idea of having this balloon hat made to try and get into a club.  When she got "carded", she was very disgruntled at wasting $5 on a hat.  I thought it was quite funny, since it's not like she hadn't already had a Margarita that day.  She said it was more about being able to enjoy the atmosphere of the club.
     I remember when  my son turned 21.  He was living with us at the time, so the 4 of us went out to dinner to celebrate and let him order his first "legal" drink.  The thing about my kids is that they are like Mutt and Jeff.  She is just over 5', and looks young, and he is 6'1" and has looked 21 since he was 16.  So on his birthday we were going to take him to his favorite restaurant, but he said he wanted to go to a steak house instead.  We thought that was strange, but thought he was just being nice, haha.  On the way home he admitted that the restaurant/bar that he likes so much has been serving him alcohol for months, so he didn't want to go there and make a big deal about it being his 21st birthday.  Argh, kids.
     So, anyway, San Antonio.  We're staying in a different park this time (Traveler's World RV Resort).  This one is in the city, and the bus stops right outside the park, so we don't have to drive into the city if we don't want.  We haven't been in yet, but I'm sure we will.  Yesterday we walked to one of the 4 missions in the area- Mission San Jose.  These missions were built in the 1700s by the Spanish Franciscan missionaries, who were sent to this area to convert the locals to Catholicism, and teach them skills that would financially benefit the Spanish monarchy.
So, why would the locals "fall in" with this plan?  Before the Spaniards arrived, they were hunter/gatherers, with no permanent home, living off the land, and they were quite happy that way.  However, just  around that time, the local population began suffering attacks from the Apache, who had made their way here from the north, and, contact with Europeans coming up from the south had exposed the locals to several diseases that began killing them off.  The Franciscans offered them shelter, safety, and cures for the diseases.  All they had to do is give up their way of life, their religion, and even their names (they were given Spanish names).  Everything worked out well, except they couldn't eradicate the diseases and eventually they contributed to the downfall of the missions.
  Two of our 3 packages have already arrived, so we are just waiting for the parts to fix the landing gear.
   

Del Rio, TX (2-22-11)

    I guess we're going to have to come back to Del Rio, TX some other time in the future.  We're here now, but I'm kind of burnt out from going  nonstop, so we're not doing what we planned to do while we're here. Paul wasn't too happy when we got here because the landing gear on the trailer broke.  That means that when he lowered the front legs that hold up trailer, only one of them would bear weight.  Luckily he had a jack that he could use in place of the leg, but then he spent hours diagnosing the problem and ordering new parts.  All that, and it was his birthday, poor guy.  We did go out to dinner, but the food was just mediocre, so we pretty much chalked the day up to bad Karma or something. We changed our plans for where we are going to stay in San Antonio because it's difficult to get things shipped to us if we stay at a state park, so we are staying at an RV resort instead.  Aw, what a sacrifice.  We'll also have our mail sent, and a few other things we've wanted to order.
So today, instead of exploring,  we washed the  truck and the trailer, and in general just took care of some paperwork.


rock art at Seminole Canyon

    On the way to Del Rio, we did stop to explore however.  We pulled in to Seminole Canyon State Park at about 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday,  figuring we'd relax for the afternoon and then do a hike in the morning.  When we went to the ranger station, they asked us if we were here for the tour.  We said we weren't, but we thought we'd take it the following day.  Well, they only do it twice a week, as it turns out, and the tour was leaving immediately, so Paul paid for us while I ran back and threw the cat in the trailer so he wouldn't fry in the sun.  I didn't even take time to get my camera, so the picture I have is from my cell phone. 


Rio Grande River



      The tour was really good, which means something, coming from me, because I do feel like I've seen enough ancient rock art.  The ranger did a great job imparting information, and discussing different theories about rock art.  She talked the fact that some people think it was their form of graffiti, or that it was done out of boredom etc.  but she dispelled that idea with some basic information.  The people who did this art 3500 years ago, were "hunter/gatherers" and there wasn't much food to be had in the desert, so they were protein deficient. The "glue" that keeps the art on the stone is made from animal fat, and the "paint thinner" was water, both scarce commodities but essential for their survival.  So really, there is no way they would waste those resources on something that wasn't important to them.  I came away with a new understanding and appreciation for the ancient cultures that inhabited the desert.



      Once the tour was over, we booked our campsite, but in the hour and a half that we were gone, all of the sites with electricity and water were taken, so we went the night with no hookup.  Not  a big deal, but we had to put water in our tank before we settled into our spot.





fossils on the trail



     The following day we went for a 6 mile hike down to the Rio Grande and back.  I was hoping we'd get close to the water, but it was running through a deep canyon.  On the return trip to the campground, we passed through an area that was like an ancient beach, because  the ground was littered with fossilized sea shells of some kind.

    So, tomorrow we leave Del Rio for San Antonio, having done no exploring whatsoever. Oh well!

Big Bend National Park, TX (2-19-11)

February 19, 2011
      I wrote this blog on February 19th, but I don’t know when I will be able to post it, and the pictures that go with it. The RV park we are in has horrible Wi-Fi- essentially non-existent, and AT&T just sent me an email and a text to tell me that I am not on their network and have not been on their network for quite some time, so I need to stop using the internet on my phone until I am. Ugh.

       One day, three adventures. That’s the best way to describe yesterday. We drove across the park to start our first adventure- a hike to Ernst Tinaja. A tinaja is a basin that contains water, I guess, since that’s what we found once we hiked into the canyon. Its not something you’d want to fall into accidently either. It’s really deep, with steep walls of stone, so it would be just about impossible to get out by yourself. The rock formations were really cool in that area and were fun to climb.



 



Ernst Tinaja

       The drive to get there was a little bit hairy. Old Ore Rd. is an old dirt road that is not well maintained. In fact, it’s the worst road our truck has ever been on. Some of the ruts were 3 feet deep and there were boulders sticking up out of the road. Add to that the fact that the scrubby, thorny plant life encroaches on the road, and driving was a very slow process. After walking too many miles the day before though, we were trying to get as close to our destination as possible. Several times Paul got out of the truck and walked the road to see if he thought it would be passable. Eventually, the answer came back “no”, and we had to park the truck and walk the rest of the way. It wasn’t too bad though, we only ended up walking a couple of miles.

       Once we hiked back to the truck, was only a 3 mile ride to get to the hot springs. Unfortunately, by this time, it was about 89 degrees outside, but we decided that since we were that close, we had to go. This hot spring is located right next to the Rio Grande River, and we’ve been there before. I actually ended up splashing cold river water on me more than sitting in the hot spring, but we got to chat with some interesting people.







 After leaving there, we drove down Croton Spring Road. Most people who drive down that road are looking for the spring, but we were looking for something else. Paul had heard that there is a petro glyph on the underside of a boulder and he was on a mission to find it. Me, I was just tagging along, wishing that my GPS battery hadn’t died, so I could at least play with it as we walked another 2 miles.

       We did find the “Red Buffalo”, but I honestly thought the rock formations in that area were more fascinating. There were some that looked like prehistoric bowling balls. Another busy day in Big Bend.
     Although yesterday was supposed to be our “easy” day, it is a 60 mile drive just to get to the other side of the park, so while we were there, we wanted to make sure we did every thing we wanted to do on that side, so we wouldn’t have to go back.


        Today was the long day. We were on the road by 7:30 am, and on the trail by 8:45. Our goal was to hike the Southern rim of the Chisos Mountains. It’s a 12.5 mile hike, with 2000 ft of elevation gain, and it tops out at 7400 ft above sea level. This is the longest hike I have ever done, so I went through the packs and made sure that we really wanted to bring everything that was in them, because with the temperatures predicted to be in the high 80s, we needed to bring extra water (which is way too heavy). Even though the temperatures were still in the 50s when we started out, I left my sweatshirt behind, because I didn’t want to have to carry it after the first 30 minutes. It was a bit chilly at first, but after climbing for a while, suddenly it warmed up.

        We met, passed, and were passed by, several groups of people all day on the trail. We would pass them, and then when we took a break, they would pass us, etc. Sometimes we took a break at the same time and chatted with them for a few minutes. We followed closely behind a mountain lion for a little while, so I had my camera out, just in case we caught sight of him or her. We didn’t, but we saw the fresh prints on the trail and other evidence as well (apparently wild cats cough up fur balls and grass just like domestic cats).


cat tracks along the trail



       Once we made it to the rim, we relaxed and had lunch. There was a haze today that negatively impacted the visibility, but the views were still incredibly impressive. After about 7 hours, we arrived back in the parking lot, where we treated ourselves to an ice cream before heading home.





 

view from the South Rim trail



   We had a great visit to Big Bend, just like we did last time we were here. This time around we actually went out "on the town" in Terlingua. There’s a bar called La Kiva (the cave) that is partially underground, and has an area that IS a cave where you can sit and have a drink (we sat outside instead though). We went there for happy hour before heading to the Starlight Theatre for dinner. It’s called the Starlight Theatre because years ago, when the building was in ruins, and without a roof, they still began to have performances there, under the star light. Nowadays there is a roof, but the original walls are still there. Very interesting place. Dinner was good, although expensive. 



 



Study Butte-Terlingua, TX (2-18-11)





Dog Canyon

 Big Bend National Park is one of those huge parks that takes hours to drive through.  No matter where you stay, you're going to have to drive quite a distance to get wherever you want to be in the park.  We decided to stay in Study Butte, on the western side of the park, just like we did last time, since it's closer to the hiking we want to do.
    Our first day here we hiked a trail that Paul had wanted to hike last time we were here, but we ran out of time.  So we hiked Dog Canyon and Devil's Den, about 8 miles, in 90 degree temperatures.  I was pretty tired when when we were done, but it felt great to get moving again.  We met  and chatted with several people along the trail, including a group on horseback.




 



entrance to Cattail Canyon



  We spent some time putting together a gameplan for while we're here because we definately have things we want to do and some of them are all day adventures.  Paul had heard about a trail that isn't on any of the maps and isn't in the trail guides, so we spoke to one of the rangers to find out more about it.  Its called Cattail Falls trail. Its not on the maps because it has a very fragile ecosystem, with plants growing there that don't grow anywhere else in the world.  We decided to hike it yesterday because its a relatively short trail and we wanted a relatively easy day.  Unfortunately, the road to the trailhead wasn't wide enough for our dually truck, so we had to walk an extra 2 miles just to get to the trailhead.  That made the total hike about 7 miles long.   Not bad, but not an "easy" day either.  The waterfall was worth it though!!   After hiking in the sun for a few miles, we arrived in an alcove that was shaded by trees and the mountain.  Inside there was a small springfed waterfall. There wasn't much water flow, but here in the desert its amazing to see any water!  We sat in the coolness and enjoyed our lunch before starting the trek back.





snorkeling in Balmorhea (2-14-11)

    Balmorhea State Park contains a pool that is almost 2 acres in size and is about 25 feet deep.  It is supplied by a constant influx of 72-76 degree water from the San Solomon Spring.  The bottom of the pool resembles the bottom of the ocean more than a pool,  and its full of fish and turtles, so people come from miles away to scuba dive. We checked it out with our snorkel gear.  What was the most amazing though, was that the weather was actually warm enough to do that!  It finally warmed up into the mid 70s!  We only stayed in the water for about 30 minutes, but at least we were able to go in. 
We left Balmorhea this morning after checking our maps and making decisions on where we want to head next.  We have decided to head to Big Bend National Park again for a few days, since we're only 100 miles or so from there.  I love the hiking in that park so much, I am really looking forward to going there again. 
     Before we get there though, we have stopped in Alpine to check out the Marfa Lights.  Marfa is a small town that has an unusual claim to fame.  There are unexplainable glowing lights along the horizon.  They don't show up every night, but they are globes that sometimes move up and down, they can be yellow, red, green etc., and they can disappear and reappear.  They can't be explained by road traffic, since they were first documented over 150 years ago.  Scientists have been studying them for years, and there are several theories, but none that can be proven.  There is some traffic in the area where the lights can be seen, but the locals say that when you see the Marfa Lights, you'll know it.  Did we see them?  We're not sure.  When it first got dark, we saw something that I do think was them.  Later we saw more lights, but they seemed like they could have been vehicle traffic.


Marfa Lights?

 I'd like to stick around and check it out for a few more nights, but  Big Bend is calling my name.

Hiking with the new GPS and Fort Davis, TX (2-13-2011)



working with the GPS

     Our new GPS arrived while we were in El Paso, and we spent a day or so trying to become familiar with it.  Its going to take a lot longer to become proficient though.  It's not exactly user friendly, but we're hoping that by spending some time with it, it will  become easier to use.  We took it out to Franklin Mountain State Park and found our first geocache with it!  It was very exciting, although we did make a few rookie mistakes.  I also discovered that I can walk and I can look at the GPS, but it's much better for me if I don't do them both at the same time. 


Fort Davis



      After a great visit with Paul's mom, we left El Paso a couple of days ago, and have settled in Balmorhea, TX.  Yesterday was a full day of adventure for us.  We started with Fort Davis (National Monument), which was built and used from the mid to late 1800s as one of the forts along the road from San Antonio to El Paso, to protect travelers from Indian attacks.   The fort is slowly being restored and there were several very knowledgable volunteers there who knew the history well.  At certain intervals all day long, we would hear a bugle call, just as the soldiers would have heard it so many years ago.  We were given a cheat sheet listing all the calls and what they meant, and it was fun to listen and get a sense of the rhythm of their daily life in the fort.  I always like the personal stories- the ones about the Colonel's 4 kids and their lives in the fort.  Education was always an issue when someone was stationed at a remote outpost.  Many families sent their children back east to be educated, and didn't see them for years at a time.  No thanks.  They couldn't bring a governess, because after the cost of transporting someone out here, it usually took about a month for her to be married to someone, and no longer interested in being a governess. 

    Once we toured the fort, we went hiking for a couple of hours.  I had downloaded the location of several caches, but it turned out they were too far away from our location, and the gates are locked at 5 pm,  so we couldn't risk not being back in time.  I had fun using the GPS to hike anyway.  Since we still had time, we headed over to nearby Davis Mountain State Park, and drove the scenic drive.  This state park was built by the CCC back in the 1930s.  Throughout our travels we have marveled at the incredible work done by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) all over the country. It was a government program during the depression, that gave young men jobs creating infrastructure and protecting the natural resources in our nation's parks.
In this park they built a lodge from adobe that is still in use today.
    We ate dinner at the restaurant in the lodge, since there aren't too many options this far out in the country. It was just ok.  You would think that would be enough for one day, but we decided brave the predicted temperature of 22 degrees, and headed over to the McDonald Conservatory for the Star Party.  Luckily it only got to about 40 degrees out, because even that felt pretty cold.  At 7:30 one of the staff started pointing out the constellations in the sky, showing us some of the things that we would be able to see through their telescopes.  It was a clear night, although it was a half moon, so it wasn't as dark as it could have been.
    One of the things he pointed out to us was Polaris, the North Star.  We had always thought that it was the brightest star in the sky, but it's not even close.  It is always in the north though, because it's location is straight off the earth's rotational axis, so it doesn't appear to move much at all.

    There were 6 telescopes set up to view different objects, including the moon.. There was an awesome Nebula, but the only thing I got a picture of was the moon.  If I had had more time to play with the camera, without other people waiting in line, I might have been able to get the right setting, but I couldn't even play around with it because it would have been too much light polution to have in my face, so I just picked settings and did the best I could.

Chiricahua Mountains (2-6-2011)

   Paul and I spent our anniversary hiking in the Chiricahua Mountains, which was home to the Chiricahua Apaches many years ago.  The last time we were here, we hiked a short trail, in 5 inches of new snow.  This time we were luckier- there was no fresh snow on the ground, although about 30% of the trail was snow covered.  It was a test of our "layering" abilities, for sure.  Everyone knows if the temperatures are cold and may vary, you need to layer.  Deciding what to wear for those layers required some thought though.  In the end I wore a short sleeved hiking shirt, a sweatshirt, a hooded sweatshirt, and my Gor-tex windbreaker.  I also had two hats with me (baseball cap and a warm one), and swapped back and forth between them all day.  For the first hour I was really glad I had all those layers on, since the temperatures had barely approached the 40 degree mark.  We both shed and added layers all day long as we moved from sun to shade, snow to bare ground, and wind to calm and every combination of those factors imaginable.

 




Big Balanced rock- 25ft in diameter, weighs 1000 tons

                                                                                                                                                                We took a longer trail this time, hiking the Ed Rigg trail to the Mushroom Trail to get to the Heart of Rocks Trail that has some interesting rock formations.  Once we finished the Heart of Rocks trail, which is a small loop, we had to make a decision about our route back.  We could continue forward, taking the opportunity to see new formations, but that would add 2 miles and some elevation gain to the day; or we could turn back and return the way we came, keeping the day's hike at about 7.5 miles. 

   We decided it was too late in the day to comfortably hike the extra mileage, so we  turned around.  However, we did think it was worth adding a short 1 mile spur to get to see "Inspiration Point".  By that time we were getting tired, so we were hoping it would be worth it.  It was.  The skies were clear enough to see for long distances and the views were awesome.  Total mileage for the day was 8.5 miles.                                         



view from Inspiration Point



              Once we finished the hike, we went home to get ready to go out to dinner.  Willcox doesn't have too many restaurants, but they do have a decent Mexican one.   It was a great day and felt great to get out and get moving again.  Today we head to El Paso for a few days before heading down to the Gulf coast of Texas.

Celebrating 11 years

Paul and I are celebrating our 11th anniversary today.  I am not a "mushy" type of person, but the last 11 years have been the happiest of my life.  Having someone as a partner who is supportive, intelligent and fun, and always puts me first has made my life more amazing than I thought possible. 
    We're spending the day hiking in the Chiricahua Mountains.  We've basically been hibernating for the last few days as Arizona suffers record low temperatures.  Last night it got as low as 14 degrees here in Willcox.  We haven't had the snow that other parts of the country have had, but around here, no one is prepared for such low temperatures and they are struggling to cope.  We were planning on being in El Paso today, but the snow and the cold have caused us to delay moving again.
    Today it's supposed to finally warm up- 58 degrees in the mountains, 64 down in the town, but we are slow to get moving because its still only 28 out right now.  Hopefully we will get to hike and I can post some pictures.


February 5, 2000



Hunkering down in Tucson, AZ (01-31-2011)

     After saying goodbye to everyone in Quartzsite yesterday, we arrived in Tucson with the idea of staying for two days and then heading for El Paso, to see Paul's mom before meandering across Texas.  That was before we saw the weather forecast though.  I'm sure everyone is aware that most of the country is getting blasted with yet another nasty winter storm.  Our daughter in Indiana reports that ice has been falling for hours now, and Boston is expecting another 20 inches of snow.  I am  glad we have been able to stay as far south as we have, although we sure haven't avoided all the snow and cold weather.  El Paso is expected to get about 2-4 inches of snow on Wednesday, and the low temperature is supposed to be 9 degrees on Thursday, so we're going to wait it out here and see if Friday's weather looks better.  Its not going to be cozy warm in Tucson either, but it won't be that cold!

   There is a gem show going on here right now, so the town is busy, and we'll have to leave this park and find somewhere else to stay tomorrow.  They had no room for us after tonight, so we scouted out a couple of places and hopefully it won't be a problem.  We found two places, but one doesn't take reservations (state park) and the other is $50 a night.  Talk about sticker shock!

    There is so much to do in Tucson, we could spend a month here, but today we chose to go to the Sonoran Desert Museum.  I'm glad we did- its one of the best museums we've been to.

All of the exhibits are first class, and the  shows were interesting and informative.  In the morning the show starred about a dozen live animals, most of whom walked across the stage, from one side to the other.  The birds that were featured flew over the heads of the audience, or walked down the aisles.

     The museum is mostly outdoors and the displays of wildlife and habitat  of the sonoran desert were very well done.  By using glass windows above and under the surface of the display, you are able to see the animals in a more natural setting.  We saw a fox sleeping in his den, and the snakes look like they are touchable, but live behind glass built into artificial rocks.




 

a hawk and one of the handlers

In the afternoon there was a raptor show that involved 4 handlers and 5 hawks. The hawks are actually a family of hawks, since this breed hunts together as a family.  Everyone was asked to keep their hands low, and not put them above their heads, and the hawks flew so low you could feel the breeze from their wings. We watched them for about a half hour and learned a lot about their habits in the wild. We never heard the handlers talk (a ranger was addressing the audience) but they all had headsets to talk to each other.  The only time the handlers stood is when they wanted a hawk to land on their arm.  The rest of the time they would stay in a crouched position.

  We were frozen by the end of the day but we had a great time.