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Even though we left Big Bend, we still weren’t done with Texas! We drove northwest to Balmorhea to visit Balmorhea State Park. It was a tiny town, but the state park was pretty great. It’s a large spring (San Solomon Spring) that bubbles up from an aquifer. The aquifer is filled by run-off from the Davis Mountains about 100 miles away.

There is a pool built around the springs that gush over 15 million gallons of water per day. We got to swim in the pool. Even though you can just walk in, we all decided to jump off the 10 foot diving board at one end of the pool. The water is super clear and there are shallower areas with concrete bottoms, and then 20-25 foot deep areas with natural bottoms. We saw tons of fish, several turtles, and scuba divers! A really unique experience – especially in the middle of west Texas.

After swimming we drove northwest again towards Hueco Tanks State Park. (Huecos are gaps and hollows in the rock that collect and hold rainwater (tanks) in a very dry area.)

We arrived at our campground near the park around sunset. It was an adventure figuring out where our site was, but we finally made it.

The next morning we went into the park to explore. Hueco Tanks is known for its world class bouldering, but since we don’t do a lot of bouldering, we decided to find Kiva cave in the park. Kiva cave was a cave used long ago by Native Americans in the area. To find it, a park staff told us to leave the trail at a certain picnic area and go up to the right until we saw a duck rock. Then to look for an alligator rock up to the right of that. The cave was around there. She nonchalantly mentioned that it sometimes took people house to find the cave entrance if they’ve never been there.

Well, it seemed that luck was on our side. It did take some adventuring, but after putting all the pieces together, we found the cave in about 20 minutes! Inside we saw some amazing petroglyphs and some more exploring. Really cool. We were glad we stopped there, even if we weren’t taking advantage of the world class bouldering.

From Enchanted Rock S.P. we headed west towards Big Bend. We took 2 days to drive there (Texas is a large state!). We spent the night in Fort Stockton where we did a load of laundry, watched the Super Bowl, and finished the 1500 piece community jigsaw puzzle (about 1/3 of it was done when we arrived).

The next morning we picked up supplies and headed south. The landscape began to change and there were plateaus, peaks, and BIG sky! We went into the park at Persimmon Gap, stopped at Panther Junction Visitor Center, and then continued on to a campground in Terlingua, TX on the west side of the park.

The next day we drove down to hike Santa Elena Canyon and then stopped at several places on the way back – Sublett/Dorgan Homestead, Castolon Visitor Center, Tuff Canyon, Mule Ears Trail, and Sotol Vista for the sunset!

On Wednesday we drove into Chisos Basin in the Chisos Mountain Range – which is entirely in Big Bend N.P. Fun fact we learned – Big Bend is the only national park to have an entire mountain range within its borders.

We hiked the Window Trail in the basin. The window is the low point of the basin that all the water cascades out of when there is runoff. Needless to say, the entire hike there was downhill, and the entire way back was uphill!

Then we returned to relax and have dinner at camp before going to Sotol Vista again to catch the sunset and do some star gazing. Because of its remoteness, Big Bend is a dark sky area and is amazing for star gazing.

On Thursday we took it easy in the morning and then drove into the Terlingua Ghost Town. There was a cemetery – with lots of graves from the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918 and even a number of recent graves. We went to a neat souvenir shop, saw the old jail, and stopped in at a local artist gallery/shop.

Thursday afternoon/evening we went on a horseback ride! It was one of Claire’s Christmas presents, so she was super excited. The kids had only ever been on a horse at Chincoteague where they were walked around a corral. This time they each got their own horse. It was a 2 hour ride up to the top of a mesa and back around sunset. We had a great time!

On Friday we drove over to the east side of the park where we crossed over into Boquillas, MX! We took a ferry across the Rio Grande – which consisted of a gentleman walking a boat that we sat in. Matt decided to brave the walk across the river himself – and didn’t get swept away!

We walked into the town, had lunch, walked through a number of different shops that people had set up outside their homes, and saw the school/town. It was hot – as evidenced by Reece’s face in the family picture!

Upon returning to the US, we headed over to Boquillas Canyon and hiked in to see that canyon. Another beautiful place, even if it was hot. We were glad we weren’t there in July! Locals said it was unusual for it to be that warm, that early.

We headed back to camp and watched one more beautiful sunset from the campground before heading out the next day.

We had been staying at McKinney Falls State Park while visiting Austin and San Antonio, but we hadn’t taken the time to explore the park. On our last day there we hiked around and saw the falls, the homestead, and the old grist mill ruins. There were some neat features and tons of turtles! (We think Yertle the Turtle probably lived there!)

After McKinney Falls we drove over towards Fredericksburg, TX. We stayed at a Harvest Host location and when we pulled up to our spot, there was an armadillo scavenging around in the field!

We did not spend any time in Fredericksburg (even though we drove through and it was super cute and really busy), because we headed to Enchanted Rock State Park the next day. As we headed out on the trail, we noticed a guided hike that was just about to leave. We joined in and were thoroughly impressed by the ranger’s knowledge – geology, flora/fauna, and fairy shrimp. It was wonderful and educational.

There were a few other people on the hike and we discovered that one was a Colorado College grad from the 70s and is good friends with the owner of Poor Richard’s in Colorado Springs – a favorite place of ours. Small world once again.

After the guided hike we went in search of climbing. It was fun exploring and as we found a spot that looked promising, we were grateful that another couple came up to climb and confirmed the route we were on. It was a beautiful day at Enchanted Rock!

After climbing we visited the winery/safari tour place of the Harvest Host we were staying at. We saw donkeys, pigs, alpacas, peacocks, emus, zebras, and camels! We enjoyed beverages in Adirondack chairs overlooking Texas hill country.

Finally, we returned to our camper to see the armadillo again and fly the kite we had gotten in Galveston.

Grateful for the sunshine and current warmth of TX hill country!

Well, we decided to spend a couple nights in Baton Rouge. We got out to the state capitol and some Louisiana food the full day we were there and discovered the roads weren’t that bad. We decided to leave the following day since Baton Rouge was supposed to get down to 19 degrees and Galveston was supposed to be around 34 degrees.

On the drive to Galveston we drove across a very long bridge over the bayou in Louisiana. Then we ended up seeing a billboard for the Gator Chateau where you can hold baby gators! Well, we had to stop and it didn’t disappoint. We even got to feed ducks and stretch our legs with a walk around the pond.

After that we continued on towards Galveston Island. Google kept sending us down the Bolivar peninsula to a take a ferry. We were rather skeptical that it would actually work out, but after some online research we took our chances. And sure enough, it’s a free ferry from the Bolivar Peninsula across to Galveston Island that Moby and Richard got to ride with us on!

When we got off the ferry, our tire pressure sensor began to beep and we ended up driving right to a tire shop and getting a new tire put on after finding a very large screw in the tire. Crisis averted. We finally got to our campground as the sun was setting.

We ended up deciding to stay in Galveston the rest of the week because of the cold temperatures. Galveston was at least staying above freezing!

We did school, went on beach walks, went swimming, mini-golfing, kite flying, did laundry, enjoyed beautiful sunsets, and did vehicle/camper upkeep. One night we played BINGO hosted by the campground. Matt won $25!

One of the days we went in and toured Galveston (the campground was about 30 minutes out of town). We walked along the harbor, ate lunch, visited some historic places/plaques (Galveston is the birthplace of Juneteenth), and visited La King’s Confectionary. We also drove around and saw several tree stump sculptures that were created from trees that died in the storm surge of Hurricane Ike in 2008. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures, but you can check them out here.

From Galveston we headed to Brenham, TX and stayed with Matt’s aunt, uncle, and cousin. We greatly enjoyed the time with them, and appreciated their generous hospitality (including many fabulous meals)! But unfortunately we didn’t get any pictures with them.

Brenham is the home of Blue Bell Ice Cream, so we went and visited their factory/visitor center/gift shop/ice cream shop! With scoops for $1! Matt got cinnamon and mango. Reece got peppermint. Claire got cake batter, but ended up not really liking it and got a cherry vanilla instead. Libby got red velvet cake ice cream. It was tasty!

We also visited Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park one day. It’s the old town site where Texas declared independence from Mexico and wrote up their own laws. Texas became it’s own country for almost 10 years before joining the US, and Washington was its first capitol.

We ended up staying in Brenham for three nights, and then headed to Austin. We visited the capitol building and had dinner at Scholz’s Biergarten on recommendation from Uncle Richard. We really enjoyed it!

The next day we went to San Antonio and met up with our friend, Ken, who we knew from the climbing gym in Colorado Springs. He introduced us to Spam musubi (and gave us the tool to make it!), and he made food for us when Claire was born. It was great to see him, and he was an amazing tour guide. We wandered around the Pearl – an old industrial area of San Antonio that has now been turned into upscale restaurants, shops, venues, etc. It’s along the river walk just north of downtown, and we had fun watching lots of turtles and ducks.

Then we grabbed some lunch and headed to the Alamo. We toured the church and the grounds and got to talk to a couple living history people on the grounds. It was very informative. Despite a TON of construction on our walking route to and from our van, the city is really neat! We even went by a cool outdoor theater set up.

Looking forward to more adventures across Texas!

Well, we’re back at it!

We had a lovely holiday visit in Michigan and spent lots of quality time with friends and family!

We left Michigan on Tuesday. It was a day later than expected because of bad weather. And actually Tuesday wasn’t great conditions either, but we made it.

We drove to Cincinnati to visit our friends, Kenneth and Katie (who actually live in Newport, KY). We delivered the flask we had purchased for Kenneth in PA (which was also a great deal – like the socks! See post on October 7 for context).

We enjoyed trying Cincinnati chili at Skyline Chili, meeting their corgi – Chloe, and seeing the neat row type house they are living in. It’s been fun to see the different types of architecture around the country!

Wednesday we went to the the Cincinnati Museum Center and visited the Natural History and Science, Children’s, and City History museums. It was a very enjoyable and educational day!

After the museums, Matt wanted to be sure we experienced Jungle Jim’s – A crazy Cincinnati superstore complete with – EVERYTHING! We enjoyed dinner there at one of their several restaurants in store and picked up a few treats.

The next morning we hung out with Kenneth and Katie while having goetta – a breakfast meat famous in Cincinnati originating from German immigrants who were trying to stretch their meat. My Dutch blood understands and applauds this! 🙂

We hit the road early afternoon and made it to Cave City, KY (right near Mammoth Cave). We enjoyed dinner at a nearby local Mexican food place – very tasty.

The next morning we went to Mammoth Cave Visitor Center and then took the Grand Avenue tour of the cave. It was about 4 hours and 4 miles long. It was fun to traverse that long underground and walk through slot canyons and up and down ‘mountains’ as the guide called them. We even climbed ‘Mt. McKinley’!

Then after grabbing some lunch and completing Jr. Ranger books, we were on the road to Nashville to meet our friends for dinner. We enjoyed dinner for their school fundraiser at Waldo’s Chicken and then had to hit the road. The big winter storm that was taking over the eastern half of the nation was bearing down and we had to get to Birmingham!

We spent the night in Birmingham at an Avid hotel where there were extremely hospitable staff and a whole crew of Southern States Utilities setting up to respond to issues the storm caused.

We got out of there the next morning to continue to avoid the storm and made it to Picayune, MS. We reunited with our camper and everything seems to be as expected – no rodents or bugs infested, nothing broken into or stolen, etc.! Yay!

In the process of trying to navigate around/through this storm, we decided the Baton Rouge area made the most sense – as did a number of other people at this campground! So here we wait out the cold temps before heading west. Those of us who have lived in the north in the winter are confused as to why freezing temperatures mean we can’t drive, but locals who know the roads aren’t treated and many roads are elevated over bayous are warning to stay put. So, we’ll be careful and make the most informed decisions possible! Hopefully anyone else affected by this storm is staying safe, warm, and dry!

Next post will be from the west side of the Mississippi River! We’re looking forward to heading west.