I had wanted to go down to Big Bend for years. My grandparents used to take my mom and uncle, along with their best friends and neighbors with their kids, once a year. They slept in cots under the stars, didn't even use tents! We have always had people tell us how amazing it is there. And then there's the movies that show the scenery - breathtaking! And because we have become addicted to hiking, it seemed like the next great frontier we should take on. But I must admit that one of the main reasons we decided to go was because of the Trump "We're Gonna Build a Wall" campaign promise. I cannot fathom how awful it would be if a giant wall was ruining the view. So although we continue to hope and pray it never happens, at the time we started planning we wanted to see the untouched and untarnished beauty of the place, just in case.
We decided to try and stay in the Chisos Mountain Lodge. We called in early summer 2017 to try to go around Thanksgiving that year. Sorry, booked. After Christmas? No vacancies. How about Spring Break 2018? Nope. Thanksgiving 2018? Zilch. AFTER CHRISTMAS 2018? Yes we have a few rooms. WE'LL TAKE ONE!
It seemed like forever and a day passed before the holidays were happening and our trip was finally going to happen. But as luck would have it, just before we left there was a giant government shut down over budget disputes. The national parks did not completely close, but they had limited staff. We held our breath and called to find out whether our reservation would or would not be honored. It would - because the Chisos Mountain Lodge is run not by the National Park staff but by a private company. Whew.
Next thing to plan for was that big, long seemingly never-ending drive. But we discovered that not only were the boys older and more patient, but because they've been going on long road trips since they were born it isn't a big deal to them. In fact, they look forward to the drive. They've come to expect certain road trip traditions - breakfast at Denny's, license plate bingo, at least one spelling bee each way, and history trivia. Then once complete boredom has set in, they can whip out the mini DVD player to watch movies.
But I'm jumping ahead of myself. The first pic I ever downloaded for these posts made me cry. Here is Marlin, God rest his sweet soul 😢, wanting to come with us and not get dumped at the vet.
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| We all miss this guy more than we can say. |
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| The road goes on forever... |
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| Captain Javi, where he was meant to be. |
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| GREAT book I read all the way down. |
Our plan was to leave at 3 am, or at least MY plan was. I think we ended up leaving at 5, which was still a small miracle for us. It was such a smart thing to do because it was dark for two hours and the time just flew by. I love that our boys love road trips. Texas is a big place and to get from one part to the other takes a loooong time sometimes. They've learned to go with the flow and appreciate the beauty we see out of the window. We'll go through a little town with something different - a sign or a restaurant that catches our attention, and we'll read up on the history. We spent a good part of our last Port Aransas drive learning about Gonzales with their "Come and Take It" signs, and the entire Texas fight for independence from Mexico. It ended up being a great way to prepare them for 4th and 7th grade social studies - these boys were way ahead!
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| These boys look tiny compared to now. |
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| Mountain or hill? I'd say foothill. |
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| Travel Jojo cracks me up. |
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| Looks like someone plugged me in - my hair!!! How did everyone else have room in the car? |
But I digress. Back to this trip! The thing that people can't explain to you is not only how big the mountains are (these are Colorado-sized mountains and we were in Texas!) But how spread out everything is. It took two hours to get from Marathon just to the edge of the National Park. Then another hour to get to where we were staying. An hour of driving in the same National Park! And I believe it takes between two to three hours to drive around the entire park. And we didn't pass very many cars. The isolation was not like anything we've ever experienced before. Couple that with that fact that things were shut down - no visitors' centers open, no park rangers, restrooms locked etc... and I was starting to wonder if it was all a good idea. We went through the border patrol checkpoint my mom brain was starting to venture close to thoughts like, "what if one of us has an accident?" and "What if one of us gets attacked by a mountain lion?" And my favorite, "What if we find a Mexican drug lord hiding in our room?" I can be quite dramatic when my worry machine starts churning.
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| My phone was not taking very good pics on this day. Everything is hazy with no definition. |
But I was so ecstatic that we arrived at the lodge before three that I soon forgot all my worries. And I was distracted because the scenery takes your breath away. The charm of the place gets into your head really quickly. Within 10 minutes of checking in we met two different families who make it a tradition to come every holiday season - and have been for generations! And now I was continuing my grandparents' adventures with my kids. It made me feel like we had made such a good decision to take the trip.
We settled into our very small room at the lodge and set out to explore. We found several trailheads that set out from the lodge, and decided to hike one short loop that gave us an amazing view of the famous "window". There was one restaurant on the property for all three meals, plus a small store that sold typical convenience store snacks and drinks, but also hiking and camping supplies. We ate our first meal, dinner, at the packed restaurant. It was really good food and they had an eclectic menu that I figured would keep us happy for the duration of our trip.
When we finally finished dinner it was dark, and getting colder quickly. I think we were shocked from the get-go that these are true mountains and the weather changes just as quickly there as it does in the Rocky Mountain National Park. But luckily for our first dark sky it was clear as a bell, and we were astounded when we looked up at the stars. We could see the Milky Way!!! In hindsight I wish we would have stayed outside looking up for much longer that first night - but we had no idea what was to come. (How's that for a suspenseful segue?)
We finished unpacking and settled in to our cozy, TV-less, partial wi-fi-recepting room and slept.
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