Enjoying Big Bend National Park

We have been at Big Bend Park for a few days now and each day we explore a different section of the park. On Thursday we went to the western end of the park and went into the Santa Elena Canyon on the Rio Grande and saw the Cottonwood campground.
On Friday we went up into the Chisos Mountains in the center of the park and saw the Lodge and took a couple of hikes. One was the Windows trail and the other was the Lost Mine Trail. Both were in the mountains and had breathtaking and spectacular views of the desert and mountains.
Today went over to Boquillas Canyon and hiked to the mouth of the gorge. We also looked over at the village of Boquillas on the Mexican side of the river. This is a very small village out in the middle of nowhere. This is the home of the folks who leave trinkets and walking sticks on the U.S. side of the river for tourists to purchase. We watched a few of the locals walking back and forth from a ranch to the village while on their daily rounds.
The weather has been great with sunny clear blue skies, warm days and cool nights. The moon is full now and we walk at night and marvel at the moon shadows that we see.

Remnants of an old desert ranch from the early 1900's. Homer Wilson raised goats and sheep on the mountainside.

Homer's house in the hills.

One of the chimney rocks on the west side of Big Bend Park

Santa Elena Canyon trailhead

This is what the river does to the mountain, It carved a gorge fifteen hundred feet deep.

The Grand Canyon of Texas

Water pouring out into the desert.

This is a century plant. They grow for thirty to forty years storing up energy to send up their finale. A flower shoot and seeds for a new generation of plants.

This is the shoot from last one of the plants. Nancy is standing next to the base.

The window at the end of the Windows Trail. After a rain the water gushes through this hole in the rock.

This is a part of the Windows Trail. We followed the stream bed down the valley.

A view on Lost Mine Trail.

 

This is a portion of the Lost Mine Trail

Views from the top.

Look at the colors in the side of this mountain!!

A view of the Rio Grande near Boquillas.

Walking sticks and trinkets for sale.

The entrance to Boquillas Canyon.

The moon rising over the Sierra Del Carmen Mountains

 

Deep in the Heart of Texas

We have been in Big Bend National Park for the past few days. We will stay until Sunday, and then move northwest to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We have been enjoying this place with the sunny blue skies and warm temperatures. Yesterday got to ninety degrees for a while and stayed in the high seventies well into the evening.
This park is huge (801,000 acres) and borders Mexico. Yesterday I threw a rock over the Rio Grand and it landed on their side!! The mountains and desert here are just beautiful and we have seen so much wonderful scenery we are starting to take it for granted.

Statue at Seminole Canyon State Park, dedicated to the ancient people that inhabited this area.

Looking out of one of the canyons at Seminole Canyon State Park. There were several of these along the cliffs that showed drawings from about 4,000 years ago!

One of the drawings on the walls of the canyon.

This was entering Big Bend National Park. These are the Chisos Mountains.

A road runner at camp.

Here's a story I couldn't make up. We met Siegfried and Hertrude who shipped their home made Mercedes patrol wagon turned RV from Hamburg, Germany to Halifax, Nova Scotia and are touring North, Central and South America! We visited with them and they told us about living on a catamaran in Austrailia and their exploits with the motor home they renovated. They have a website that chronicles their travels. See it here...http://www.bummelmitpummel.de/page6.php

They were a lot of fun to talk with and were full of interesting stories. Their family thinks they are nuts!!

Javelina at Big Bend.

The Rio Grand River, looking at Mexico

The Mexicans cross at night and leave trinkets on the U.S. side for tourists to buy. They leave a money jar and count on the honor system!

Hikin g the mountains with the river in the background.

Lots of things with spikes in the desert. Most things will bite you here.

Look at the spiokes on these leaves!

Thorns on everything!

Canoeing on the Rio Grande!

A hot spring on the bank of the river. Water temp was 105!

The San Elena Canyon. The walls climb 1500 feet up from the river.

 

That's all for now. Hope everyone is well.

Southern Texas

We are on our second day at Seminole Canyon State Park, west of Del Rio Texas and about three miles north of the Rio Grand River, the border of Mexico! It's a desolate place with a lot of scrub and cactus and prickly bushes everywhere. We took a guided tour through the canyon today and saw quite a few paintings from the early inhabitants who lived here about four thousand years ago! There are caverns under the cliffs and the people lived in them and drew a lot of art on the walls. The state bought this land and is preserving as much of the canyon as they can.
The weather has been beautiful and the temperature got into the eighties today!

Cliff art from the ancient people of the area

Looking out of one of the caverns into Seminole Canyon.

Saturday in San Antonio

We have been at Guadalupe River State Park just north of San Antonio for four days and now are in Travelers World Campground right in town. We have been with Bill and Barb Wright for the past five days and have been enjoying exploring the area with them.
On Thursday we took a drive into downtown and walked through the Alamo, along the river walk, and had lunch at a great Mexican restaurant along the river. The downtown area is geared well to tourists and it is easy to get around and see the attractions. The Alamo gets three million visitors a year!!

On Friday we loaded up our bikes and went just south of downtown and toured the San Antonio Missions along the river. There are some beautiful bike trails connecting four old missions that date back to the early seventeen hundreds. The missions are under some renovation and the bike trails are being updated and landscaped, but our ride was nice and we learned a lot about the Spanish missionaries and early life in this area before it was part of the United States.

Last night we went to the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo and walked the grounds before sitting for the rodeo and then a concert by OneRepublic. What a show! The cowboys were great and the band was really awesome. We particularly enjoyed the bronco busting, the bull riding and the rodeo clowns!

The weather here is wonderfully sunny with clear skies and highs in the upper sixties and low seventies. Perfect for walking and biking!

Pictures to catch us up.......

Goose Island State Park was our first stop in Texas, near Rockport.

This beach was named for the smells that come from decaying seaweed that blows ashore. It was OK while we were here.

The park was home to a Live Oak tree that is over a thousand years old!!

It is truly a monster!

White pelicans

And brown ones too!. This is a huge destination for bird watchers since several hundred species of birds migrate through here each year.

Camping at North Padre Island National Seashore south of Corpus Christie

A visitor on the jetty at Mustang Island State Park

USS Lexington

We toured the ship and were fascinated with the old planes and all of the accommodations aboard!

Count em! Ducks at Padre Island

Down town San Antonio

Remember the Alamo?

The Alamo and grounds were beautiful and well done for touring.

San Antonio river walk

 

 Market Square in San Antonio

A building at the San Juan Mission

 

Moved on to San Antonio!

After five days on Padre Island in the National Seashore we moved to San Antonio yesterday. At Padre we got lots of wind and the skies would be cloudy and foggy a lot. We found that the weather is not reliable as of yet. We got two beach days while there, and also got to tour the USS Lexington aircraft carrier and went to the Texas State Aquqrium. The regulars tell us that the end of February brings steadier warm weather and sunshine. We decided to move on to continue our itinerary. Before we left the Island we visited with Betty Goodfallow's cousin Snooky Lueger. We had a very nice visit but missed Paul as he went to the library earlier and was late coming back. Lueger's have spent the past 15 winters on Padre Island and love it.
Today we came to Guadalupe River State Park just north of San Antonio and met up with Bill and Barb Wright for some more camping together. We plan on touring the city with them for the next few days. The weather here is much drier although a bit cooler as well. 40 degrees this morning warming to 68 this afternoon. And sunny!

Greetings from Padre Island

We've been in Texas since Monday. We have poor Internet connectivity because we haven't been able to get our air card working properly yet. I have been relying on the park's WI FI and tonight am using the WI FI at McDonalds. We are camped on Padre Island near Corpus Christi at Padre Island National Seashore. There are seventy miles of beach on the gulf here that are undeveloped and natural. This is the longest stretch of undeveloped seashore in the U.S.

We have had wonderful weather with temperatures in the high sixties and seventies. We had a big rain storm yesterday but it dumped four inches of rain and moved on. We can;t complain because I figured that would have been about 20 inches of snow up in Michigan.

Traveling has been good with no problems and we are enjoying seeing new country this trip. We saw farm fields in Texas yesterday that stretched as far as the eye could see into the horizon. I have never seen so much cultivated land without anything to break it up in all my life. I guess things are bigger in Texas! Tomorrow will be a beach day with sunny skies predicted. When I get a good Internet signal I will post some pictures. But for now I just want to wish everyone well.

Saturday in Louisianna

We are on our third day at Sam Houston Jones State Park on the western edge of Louisiana. Planning on spending super bowl Sunday here then moving southwest to the Texas shore. The weather has been beautiful with blue skies and temperatures at around 60 in the day and 40 at night. The next few days are bringing warmer weather.
We are camped with the Wrights until we leave on Monday. They are headed northwest to San Antonio and we are headed southwest. We have had a great time with them and plan on exploring the area today. The day will take us to the town of Lake Charles and then down to the coast at Holly Beach. The Creole Nature Trail is a loop that goes through the Louisiana's outback and we don't know what to expect. From my reading I learned that this area has been devastated by Hurricanes Ike and Rita and that it is slowly recovering, but will never be rebuilt totally since the government has put tough restrictions on rebuilding along the coast.

We are also celebrating Nancy's birthday today as she has caught up to me in age. Hope everyone is well wherever they may be!

A pileated woodpecker was eating berries while hanging on the branches of a bush.

The Geico lizard was hanging around in the Laundry Building.

This looked like holly, but the leaves are different. Bright red berries stood out in the woods along the Orange Nature Trail at SHJ State Park.