My Sweetie and I decided that we should visit Big Bend National Park. OK. I'm up with that.
Friday, March 25th, we got up early to take her to work so she could leave a bit early. We drove to her office and, just as I pulled into the parking lot, my Sweetie realized she didn't have her badge! So, I drove her back home and then back to the office. Now, she was even later than normal so we couldn't leave until 11:30 at least!
I picked up a fish sandwich and a burger and stopped by her office at 11:00. Figured she would eat her fish sandwich at her desk and be completely ready to go at 11:30. Sitting in her parking lot, I did a lot of looking at drivers, counting how many folks were driving with cell phones. My UNOFFICIAL count determined that, approximately 3/4th of the drivers who were using cell phones while driving were women AND the majority of all drivers using cell phones were driving small cars. Of the 10 government (USPS) vehicles that went by, 1 driver was drinking out of a thermos and 1 driver was talking on a cell.
Anyway, at 11:40 I texted, " ???? " to my Sweetie who immediately texted back, "omw" so I started up the car and got ready to head out.
We headed off to Big Bend! Finally!
Fast forward to 4 hours into the future. We got to the main entrance, paid our fees, and started to our campground. Getting to the park was easy; the speed limit was 75 in most places. Once we got on the park property, the limit dropped to 45 - dead slow. To get to our campground, Rio Grande Village, we had to drive to Panther Junction (23 miles), turn left, then drive another 20 miles
The drive was actually very nice, although slow. We saw lots of true Chihuahuan Desert. Once we got to the campground, we built our tent and unloaded the food stuffs and grill. Down here, there is an absolute ban on wood fires and the only campground on the park that allows charcoal fires is the Rio Grande Village.
We took one small trail near the campground on Friday. During this walk, we saw a Great Blue Heron, lizards, bullfrogs, and lots of Mexican souvenirs (which can be confiscated by the Federales). Sharon also noticed that her wonderful boots were starting to fall apart!
Back at camp, we had some tuna tacos for supper before calling it a night after watching bats in the sky and a wonderful sunset. We stared at the Sierra del Carmen mountain range as it turned pink! This area is also the least lighted region in the United States so star watching is fantastic! I saw stars that I had never seen before!
Saturday and Sunday were days filled with trying to get the coffee to boil, climbing trails, spotting mountain lions(!), watching our newly found dinosaur (the Road Runner!), and seeing my Sweetie's boots fall apart. During the walk up the Grapevine Trail, my Sweetie was climbing up a very steep cliff when her boots finally failed completed! Her soles were gone and the steel toe fell out. We were less than 30 yards from the end of the trail but it was still very steep and we had to return to the car:(
Overall, we had a wonderful time! We can't wait to go back.
Oh, except that the temp during the day was 98 and at night in our campground, around 43! We forgot to take extra blankets so we shivered and cuddled a whole lot at night!
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