Friday, December 30, 2005
Still in Texas
We've backtracked to Alpine, Texas and will probably stay here till the end of the year--taking some down time. Here's our update
Christmas in the Canyon
Christmas Eve (Saturday) we drove almost 200 miles to Seminole Canyon State Park and Historical Site. We are happy to be back in “big sky” country. No trees here—nothing to block our 360 view. I loved this low key Christmas and especially not having to buy presents. It is perfect weather just now—sunny and 75 degrees. This morning we went on a tour of a shelter in the canyon where there is some well preserved rock art (pictographs). You have to go with a guide and we were the only ones on the tour. In the afternoon we rode our bikes 3 miles down a dirt track to view the Rio Grande River. It is actually a reservoir at this point and in a canyon with huge steep walls. (no wetbacks here). Enjoyed our spaghetti Christmas dinner.
Big Bend (12/26-27)
We had no expectations going into Big Bend National Park. Against the advice of a friend we drove down to the Rio Grande Village Campground inside the park. We were disappointed it was so far from the center of the park but turned out to be a wonderful place for sunset walks. I could wax poetic but the photos do it better. We had a very nice (no-hookups) camp spot for 2 nights. We also saw our first javelina here. The next day we really didn’t want to drive, but the Ranger convinced us we had to at least go to the Chisos Mountains (30 or so miles back towards the middle of the park). You have to remember that for months we have been at elevations of below 300 feet and all of a sudden we are 5500’ hiking up to 6500’. Amazingly we survived a 5 mile hike at this elevation. Views were spectacular. Mountains all around—how we have missed them. Up here in the high elevations we were glad of jackets but down in our campground it was 80 degrees. There is still a lot of Big Bend yet to see (someday, perhaps).
Stars at Night… (12/28-29)
Another long day of driving back north and we ended up at Davis Mountains State Park. (near Fort Davis, Texas) on Wednesday. The state parks are nice because there is always “room to roam”. We haven’t yet had time to hike any of the trails—tomorrow morning’s agenda. Spent the morning at Fort Davis National Historic Park. I am amazed at the number of historic parks we have found. This fort was created in the 1850’s to protect a land road between San Antonio and El Paso from raiding Commanches and Apaches. Some of the fort has been restored but much is still in ruins. The combination makes it all the more interesting.
It turns out that MacDonald Observatory is only 13 miles from here. We spent the afternoon up there. The “tour” was well worth our $16 but alas we were not alone. There was a huge crowd—this being Christmas vacation and all. First there was a program about the sun, and as the mornings clouds had dispersed we were able to see LIVE sunspots, solar protuberances, and even solar flares. Amazingly we actually got to stand right under the $5million telescope and walk around cables and see the walls move. No security guards or anything—just our guide. Astronomers come here for maybe a week at a time to gather data—mostly on the spectrography of stars. There is a public “Star Party” at night but we didn’t want to go back up (with all those people). Even down here in our campground the stars are amazing. No light pollution out here.
Christmas in the Canyon
Christmas Eve (Saturday) we drove almost 200 miles to Seminole Canyon State Park and Historical Site. We are happy to be back in “big sky” country. No trees here—nothing to block our 360 view. I loved this low key Christmas and especially not having to buy presents. It is perfect weather just now—sunny and 75 degrees. This morning we went on a tour of a shelter in the canyon where there is some well preserved rock art (pictographs). You have to go with a guide and we were the only ones on the tour. In the afternoon we rode our bikes 3 miles down a dirt track to view the Rio Grande River. It is actually a reservoir at this point and in a canyon with huge steep walls. (no wetbacks here). Enjoyed our spaghetti Christmas dinner.
Big Bend (12/26-27)
We had no expectations going into Big Bend National Park. Against the advice of a friend we drove down to the Rio Grande Village Campground inside the park. We were disappointed it was so far from the center of the park but turned out to be a wonderful place for sunset walks. I could wax poetic but the photos do it better. We had a very nice (no-hookups) camp spot for 2 nights. We also saw our first javelina here. The next day we really didn’t want to drive, but the Ranger convinced us we had to at least go to the Chisos Mountains (30 or so miles back towards the middle of the park). You have to remember that for months we have been at elevations of below 300 feet and all of a sudden we are 5500’ hiking up to 6500’. Amazingly we survived a 5 mile hike at this elevation. Views were spectacular. Mountains all around—how we have missed them. Up here in the high elevations we were glad of jackets but down in our campground it was 80 degrees. There is still a lot of Big Bend yet to see (someday, perhaps).
Stars at Night… (12/28-29)
Another long day of driving back north and we ended up at Davis Mountains State Park. (near Fort Davis, Texas) on Wednesday. The state parks are nice because there is always “room to roam”. We haven’t yet had time to hike any of the trails—tomorrow morning’s agenda. Spent the morning at Fort Davis National Historic Park. I am amazed at the number of historic parks we have found. This fort was created in the 1850’s to protect a land road between San Antonio and El Paso from raiding Commanches and Apaches. Some of the fort has been restored but much is still in ruins. The combination makes it all the more interesting.
It turns out that MacDonald Observatory is only 13 miles from here. We spent the afternoon up there. The “tour” was well worth our $16 but alas we were not alone. There was a huge crowd—this being Christmas vacation and all. First there was a program about the sun, and as the mornings clouds had dispersed we were able to see LIVE sunspots, solar protuberances, and even solar flares. Amazingly we actually got to stand right under the $5million telescope and walk around cables and see the walls move. No security guards or anything—just our guide. Astronomers come here for maybe a week at a time to gather data—mostly on the spectrography of stars. There is a public “Star Party” at night but we didn’t want to go back up (with all those people). Even down here in our campground the stars are amazing. No light pollution out here.
# posted by Carol Harma @ 6:07 PM 
