A Big Bend Thanksgiving

It's only been 3 1/2 years since I last blogged! Maybe on another post I'll discuss my decision to leave Facebook, but for now I want to share our Thanksgiving adventure with you!

Since we only live in certain areas of the country for a few years at a time, we do our best to explore our surroundings and really feel like we've experienced what our location has to offer. I'm not gonna lie, it's been a strange adjustment period here in San Antonio. It is a friendly, hot, and delicious place to live (tacos!), but for such a big city it sure feels like a small city at times. TX is huge, and once you leave the San Antonio area you can find some true beauties. Quite a few people in our church congregation camp a lot, and maybe it was them that planted the idea of camping over Thanksgiving in my mind. 

Dan's dad has stated that Big Bend National Park (BBNP) is his favorite of all the National Parks, and only maybe if we're stationed in El Paso would we be any closer it. So about six months ago we began to plan our camping trip! Campsites in TX fill up fast, and BBNP opens up six months ahead of the date you want to camp. Sadly the sites on BBNP filled up immediately, so we found a campsite in Terlingua, roughly 45 minutes from the entrance station to the national park.

We initially booked a primitive tent site, but upon watching the forecasts with some overnight lows in the 20s, we decided to have our first try at RV camping. We rented an 18' RV from Lackland AFB, which had a set of bunk beds, a queen bed, 2 burner gas stove, microwave, small fridge and a shower/toilet. 

Tuesday before Thanksgiving we picked up the RV and worked on getting it all loaded with food, bedding, and all the other trip necessities. This literally took ALL day. I think if we ever own an RV this process would get much faster and easier. 

Wednesday before Thanksgiving was the 8 hour drive to Terlingua! Well actually, given the poor gas mileage and slow speed from trailing an RV it was like 10 hours :)

In the car ready to go!

We stopped at Haby's Bakery in Hondo, about 45 minutes outside San Antonio. You guys, GO to this bakery NOW!

We got into Terlingua pretty late, and the restaurant selection along HWY 90 left us hungry, so we settled in and made our first meal in the RV, chorizo and egg breakfast tacos! I should add that it rained all the way there and was in the 40s. Brr!

Alex's bunk

Cade on the top!

Dan cooking up some chorizo and eggs

Yay for our first day and meal in the RV! We're having fun so far :)

Our first night sleeping the RV was okay. Something about being in a new environment, plus the heat turning on and off (it was loud!), made for some restless sleeping. We woke up a little later than intended and didn't get going to BBNP until 10:00ish. Breakfast was cereal for Cade and yogurt/granola for the rest of us.

View from our RV!

Dan's not mad, just took a random shot of our campsite. I wish we'd had a little more room to set up the awning and some chairs and have a fire.

The drive to BBNP taught us just how far away we were from everything! It was 16 miles from our RV site out to the main road, and then another 40-50 miles from the visitor's center in the middle of BBNP. It literally took us an hour to an hour and half to travel to and from BBNP every time. We also had counted a little too much on being able to use the internet for maps and stuff, so the fact that there was NO cell reception at our camp or in most places inside BBNP, we had to spend some time at the visitor's center coming up with a plan. Finally about 11:30 we had our plan and started our Thanksgiving day adventure!

First stop was the Fossil Discovery Center, Alex's pick. There was an outdoor exhibit to walk through with lots of replicated fossil discoveries on display. I guess BBNP has been known for its fossil finds as recently as 4 years ago. Pretty cool!

After the Fossil Discovery Exhibit it was time to do what Dan's car does best... off-road! One thing we loved about our Arches Nat'l Park visit was exploring places that most people can't go due the vehicular restrictions. We took advantage of that same thing at BBNP and saw some really interesting historical sights and almost felt lonely out in this desert landscape so far away from where others frequent.

The first area we got out and explored was called Glenn Spring. Apparently this area was 'bustling' with the production of Candelilla wax from the Candelilla plant that is so abundant in the area, and because of the natural spring that still was visibly wet in such an arid location. The two together made for great industry. What was left behind was fun to find!

Rifle pit

Lots of metal cans scattered everywhere

Some kind of pottery or ceramic tubing that has broken down

Bricks

Resemblance of an old foundation

Lunch break on top of the car!

Next stop on our off-roading adventure was the Marsical Mine. This mine was abandoned in 1943 which made it feel not as distant as other historical finds. This spot in BBNP is definitely unique and a bit eerie. Just check out the sign below! 

It didn't take much exploring to start finding evidence of a past community of people living here. Lots of debris, homes in ruin, bricks that we didn't touch, mine shafts we were very careful around and even an old rusted car!

Some sort of broken machinery

This is the view of the mines from down near our car. Tucked away in the corner of this valley.

Don't touch the bricks!

"The Mariscal Mine once bustled as the center of the Big Bend quicksilver mining economy. From 1900 to 1943, Mariscal Mine produced 1,400 seventy-six pound flasks of mercury - nearly one quarter of the total produced in the United States! Now deserted, the mine and surroundings once provided the people who lived here an income, a community, and a home."

Mine shaft

I think my least favorite part of off-roading is that driving you need to do AFTER visiting that really cool place. In this case it was 18 miles back out to the main road, and when you're only going 15-20 miles an hour, well, it takes about an hour! (It had been a long time since we'd been near a bathroom...)

Next was Cade's pick, a hike in Boquillas Canyon. This was right along the Rio Grande, which means in this picture below you're seeing Mexico across the water! 

After being in the car for most of the day it was nice to stretch our legs for a bit of a hike along the Rio Grande. We were in the last hour of daylight (and if you're remembering it's Thanksgiving Day and we haven't had any sort of meal...yet!) and it was just beautiful scenery.

Boquillas Canyon wall behind us!

It's not water without my boys skipping rocks!

There was a "sand dune" near the canyon, but a very rocky one! Cade and Dan climbed up and filled themselves full of sand!

One advantage to staying out later than planned are some picturesque sunset moments!

You might think that our day at BBNP ended there, especially with the sun setting. Instead we decided to hit up one last thing, the hot springs. We changed into our swim stuff and with phone flashlights we walked another half mile down to the hot springs.

This is what it looks like in the daylight:

Stock Photo :)

It is the remains of an old bath house, but the water is a HOT 105 degrees all the time, pouring into the Rio Grande with Mexico right behind you.

Obviously we don't have any pictures of us there, but it was nice after a long day, to experience something new together. Dan even switched back and forth between the cold river and the hot springs for the full experience.

We finished at the hot springs at about 7:45pm and were all the way in the South East corner of the park. This meant we had a long commute to the RV, it was nearly 9:30 by the time we got back. Yes we were all tired, but it was Thanksgiving! We had a plan for our makeshift meal and by golly it was still going to happen, no matter the hour.

We sent the boys and I to the shower while Dan peeled and cut potatoes. I came back and got the potatoes going in the instant pot (SO good!) and some stovetop stuffing. We had purchased a honeybaked ham brand of turkey breast so no cooking or warming required. Rolls and brownies were made before we left. Sparkling Cider in some plastic cups and the meal was complete!

Don't forget to open some windows when releasing the steam from your potatoes! Lol, that potato steam was everywhere!

The boys were not too thrilled with me taking pictures, but this was not to be forgotten!

It was about 10:15pm when our official Thanksgiving meal began. We even shared the things we were thankful for, and it tasted just like Thanksgiving should. It was a wonderful meal and moment together.

For dessert we took the marshmallows that we would've used for s'mores and toasted them over our gas stove to add little something extra to our brownies! Yummm....

What a great end to a great day!

For Black Friday we avoided the crowds in the shopping malls, and quite frankly we found them at BBNP! Either the places we decided to visit in the park were naturally more popular, or there was an influx of people for the day after thanksgiving. Our friends from our ward in San Antonio were also having a Big Bend Thanksgiving, so we planned a hike and a day with them. We wanted to get the big hike done before it got warm (high of 90 that day!), so we met at 8:30am. This meant leaving our RV site at 7:00. To our surprise there was already a severe lack of parking spots for the trail we had planned, so our parking spot added a mile to our hike each way!

A shot of us walking along the windy road up to the trail head!

The Lost Mine Trail is found in the Chisos Mountain. It's about 5 miles round trip, but it's all UP, UP, UP! The first half of the trail climbed nicely through some gorgeous terrain. Then all of the sudden it was some intense switchbacks until you reach the top. At the top you are treated to a 360 degree view of the Chisos Basin and it really was breathtaking. Was this Texas or Colorado?? 

It was VERY windy! Hold on to your hats!

Lambert and McBride families!

And Dan!! 

Me and Teletha!

Gollum

Just look at that background!

A rock-shaped heart  ;)

We were all pretty pooped after what turned out to be a 7 mile hike, thanks to lack of parking spots. We decided to drive down into the basin and freshen up and have our lunches. 

After lunch we followed the Ross Maxwell Scenic drive route through the west side of BBNP. 

Mule Ears Viewpoint

Grasshopper I found in the bushes near the Mule Ears Viewpoint

At the end of the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive is the Santa Elena Canyon. We were literally on the opposite end of the park that we were the night before, but you still find yourself by the Rio Grand and a canyon wall.

After a fight for some parking spots (almost literally) we walked over to the river only to find that the 2 mile trail we were planning on hiking involved a deep river crossing or a risky cliffside hike. None of us were dressed for being waist deep in water, nor did we feel like we had the time to go the cliffside route, so the McBrides and Lamberts said our goodbyes. Our family spent a little time at the riverside skipping rocks and hanging out until we were ready to make the trek back to our RV too. If we ever come back to BBNP we will start with this trail because I think it would be really neat to be deep in the canyon. The picture below shows were this canyon intersects with the Rio Grande. The left side is Mexico and the right is still US territory. So cool!

We'll hike you next time, Santa Elena!

We took one last off-road trail, Old Maverick Road, out of BBNP and went back to our RV for some Thanksgiving leftovers.

Saturday we slept in a little and Alex made us french toast for breakfast.

We cleaned up, packed up and got back on the road towards San Antonio. I think this was my favorite part of having an RV, everything was pretty much ready to go! Leaving was easy!

There were a few fun sites on the way back home, and I'll also remember finishing listening to Skyward by Brandon Sanderson so that we could start listening to the sequel that came out last week!

Pecos River Overlook

And for some reason someone had turned this old building into a Tiny Target?! Don't go inside, there are like 100 bees!!!

Well that's a wrap for our Big Bend Thanksgiving Trip! It was a huge success, and I think I need to add another "M" word in our blog header. M is for Memories, and we love doing what we can to make them as a family. Happy Holidays everyone!