"We're Goin Up Around the Bend"

Warning: this update will be long.

Brittany and I just got home from our trip to Big Bend/West Texas on Sunday, celebrating our Thanksgiving away from home for the first time. Our journey to the Southwest began Wednesday night, driving three hours or so to Abilene to get a head start. Thanksgiving morning we headed to Marfa, TX, home of three movies...Giant, There Will Be Blood, and No Country for Old Men.

The theme along the way was definitely energy. In every direction there were constant oil dereks and wind turbines.




They were even filming a sequel to There Will Be Blood, as this oil gusher was burning up in the distance



Then the scenery started to get real good looking.



Then we made it...Hello from Marfa



We stayed at a historic landmark hotel, call Hotel Paisano. It was the filming location of Giant, starring James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor.



I "fell asleep" in the courtyard.



The next day, on the way to the park, we tried to find a place to pee in Presidio, TX and wound up almost accidentally going into Mexico! It was quite a thrill.



We drove around a little bit, and snapped this random shot of a typical Presidio car.



From there it was about 2 hours to the park along the Rio Grande. It provided spectacular views of the river and Mexico on the other side.



We finally made it and even the sign provided the perfect backdrop.



It was 7.7 miles and 40 minutes down a gravel, dirt road to get to our campsite in the back country.



But the Suby was up for it, as it basically felt like we were starring in a commercial the whole time while driving in it.



A quick background of the geological history of Big Bend:

The highlight of the park is called the Basin. It is a huge caldera, or a collapsed volcanic crater. All the water in the caldera drains out a small notch called the Window. Over the years, the water carved down the rock to create an opening into the distance. Volcanic rocks are everywhere, layered with intermittent bedding of sedimentary rocks. The elevation at the basin was a mile high. The wildlife consisted of about 30 bears, mountain lions, eagles, javelinas, etc.

Our first evening gave us probably our best picture of the weekend. This is the "window" at sunset. On a clear day, the view beyond stretches 242 miles, limited only to the curvature of the earth.



Sunrise at our campsite was a welcoming, as I couldn't sleep for more than about 20 minutes at a time. It had nothing to do with the cold temperature, but everything to do with hip bones and rocks.



These are the rolling hills as seen from our tent that same morning.



We started off with a 2.2 mile hike to the balancing rock. Basically, it was Stone Henge but natural.



Then we decided to be brave and attempt the 5.6 mile hike to the window, as mentioned above. It was an 800 foot descent, meaning 800 foot ascent the way back. Whoa baby. Here are a few pics from along the way.

A species of tree that occasionally popped up



A lizard! It was about 10 inches long and the most exciting wild life that we saw.



Our destination was plenty worth it. You can't really tell here, but the view was unbelievable.



After suffering back up the trail, we took it easy for a while. However, we were attacked by many grasshoppers that day similar to this guy. He was about three inches long, and he had meat on him too.



One more hike to Tuff Canyon. The total for the day was 9 miles, as made obvious by Brittany and her classic pose.



I had to take advantage of the weirdo holes in the walls of the canyon. I have a hard time sitting indian style.



A look at the Basin late in the day.



Couldn't pass up the cactus/mountain combo.



These were some snow white rocks formed from volcanic ash. Incredible!



And lastly, a silhouette of the desert vegetation.



Unfortunately we had to go home. It was a 9 hour drive, which took forever after we left the good looking parts of the country. However, it felt really good to get home and to realize that Dallas feels like home to us now. We walked in the door, saw our Christmas lights we had up, and I went straight for the shower. Man that felt good.

Overall our trip was extremely satisfying, and we are very proud of ourselves for making it through a full fledged camping trip. We have plenty of pictures for everyone to see during Christmas time. Hopefully this whetted everyone's appetite.

This will be the longest week of work ever!