Big Tex or just Big Texas??? You choose...

Meet Big Tex. He is a 55-foot tall talking statue and marketing icon of the annual State Fair of Texas. Since 1952 Big Tex has served as an ambassador to visitors from all over the world. Every three years Big Tex gets a new outfit; currently it is the Dickies shirt, but that will be changed in 2019.

I thought it would be helpful to give you an idea how big the State Fair of Texas really is.... (Obviously not my photo.) To football fans, the stadium that you can see in the picture is the Cotton Bowl stadium. I know it seems absurd but there is an entire stadium inside the Texas State Fair, as well as five-plus museums! And that's on top of the normal midway games, rides and fried food. Keep this photo in mind as you go through the rest of the State fair pictures. I think it gives you the idea of how far apart some of the photos are.

I have to say that the Fair made it very affordable to visit. If you brought 4 cans of food per person for the Dallas food bank, you got in for 4 dollars.

One of the other things about the Texas State Fair is that you buy everything with tickets. You can see a ticket booth on the left, with all the fried food on the right-hand side.

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The first place that Mike wanted to visit was one of the car shows. But before we did that we decided to sample our first taste of the Texas State Fair food. This is their homage to Thanksgiving dinner. It is a stuffing dumpling wrapping turkey bits with a side of cranberry sauce and gravy.

Inside the car show many of the manufacturers bring their concept cars. While Mike looked at all the cars he'd like to buy in the future, I contented myself with looking at all the concept cars. This is the Toyota FV2, short for “Fun Vehicle 2”. The idea is to create a physical and psychological connection between driver and machine. It relies on the driver’s body movements to determine how to drive. It also takes into account voice and facial cues to sense the driver’s mood and can even change the exterior of the car's color to match. It's not gonna roll off the assembly line tomorrow, but it's also not as futuristic as it might seem. We all know that driverless cars are coming; this is just one way to see that future.

The last one might see a bit extreme but Toyota brought another car along with them as well, the FT-4X. It is an SUV crossover that has car camping on its mind and in its heart. I spent a long time listening to the woman describe its features... If it ever comes out, Mike and I are definitely gonna have to take a test drive because you can find a sleeping bag in the armrest of the front seat, a warmer and a refrigerator in the back lift gate, a plastic-hoseable-flat backseat area and removable lights and waterbottles for each passanger. It is an FJ, but "campier" !!

Remember the museums I told you were inside the fairgrounds? Well here's one that is dedicated to World War 1. They have a fascinating and diverse amount of memorabilia, political cartoons, guns and dioramas depicting different units.

Here is one piece that I found particularly cool, as it ties in my love of lexicography. Look at the trench mortar that looks like a ball on a stick. It was nicknamed "Toffee Apple" by the British troops who used it, leading to the exclamation,"How do you like them apples!!!"

After going to several museums, we walked past the stadium where the Cotton Bowl is played. It didn't mean a whole lot to me, but Mike seemed very excited to see it.

One of the things that I like best about the State Fair of Texas is that they tried to maintain that sideshow carnival feel. Here is just one example of the fun things that you will run into as you walk around. If you stand around too long, you can be assured of getting heckled.

Now we are on the midway... I hope this ground level photo gives you an idea of what was under all the blue tents in the aerial photo. Really, we saw every carnival game in the world.

Next we went into a greenhouse that looked a bit like Longwood Gardens with a Texas twist. One of the coolest aspects of the greenhouse, that I missed photographing, was a man dressed as a Tree Ant, on huge stilts.

Oh and of course in Texas they carve boots and hats into their pumpkins..

The Texas state fair is well known for its amazing fried creations. This one was my favorite. Imagine if you will... funnel cake, topped with a burger, topped with bacon, topped with melted cheese and of course some powdered sugar. Just a little slice of heaven at the fair.

Most things at the fair are available in multiple places, but this one is brand new this year and you can only get it at this one stall.

A little later we went for this amazing treat. It is fried peanut butter and jelly with banana. It must take a lot of trial-and-error to get it right. Clearly the jelly didn't fry up so well so it went on as an after-topping.

After stuffing ourselves ridiculously we walked over to the animal area of the fair. On the way there I spotted this cop with a stuffed pig and a stuffed donut. I really wish I could run a caption contest for this one!

There is a petting zoo at the fair, but since this is the biggest state fair in the US they don't do an ordinary petting zoo. Here are two of my favorite animals. I can honestly say that I've never petted a zebra before....

Also this guy eyed me up and then turned away, noticing that I hadn't brought any snacks. Another thing about this petting zoo is that you're welcome to pet and feed all the animals at your own risk! There is even a State law that bars you from suing over animal bites. It was quite refreshing.

After the petting zoo we went and saw the chickens, the cows, and pigs. Here is one pig owner walking her pig through the barn to be judged. I guess I never thought about how one moves a pig around, but they use a whip similar to the one used on horses.

Near the cow barn stands this enormous statue. Every year it is repainted by a professional artist to resemble the grand champion of the previous year. The 2016 Grand Champion Market Steer was named “Clifford”. It broke a record at the State Fair of Texas, selling for $131,000 to III Forks Steakhouse. Jagger Horn, 14, who raised Clifford, obviously did a wonderful job. It is super cool to see this larger-than-life steer.

Here is one of the non-fried things that you can buy at the State Fair of Texas. It is an oreo beer! Basically they start with a stout and add oreo slushy and crushed oreo to the drink. I was a little trepidatious to try this but it ended up being better than I would have thought. It would have been truly spectacular if the beer had been oreo-flavored too.

The Texas Star is the most popular ride at the State Fair of Texas. It was built in Italy, debuted in 1985 and has a height of 212 feet. Luckily it carries up to 264 passengers in its 44 gondolas, so if you're not there on a weekend your wait won't be too bad. If you take a ride to see the view you'll be in the largest Ferris wheel in America. Hopefully you can understand why so many people want to ride, because getting an overview of the entire fair is almost impossible except from the top of the Texas Star.

If you notice where we are again, you can understand how many automotive shows there are inside the State Fair of Texas. Also I am consuming the most iconic food at the entire fair, the foot-long corn dog, affectionately called the Corny Dog. It helped me to get through another building full of cars that, unfortunately for Mike, all look way too similar to me.

On the way out we put a dot on the US map to show where we came from. I put mine outside of Philly and Mike gave a shout out for State College by placing his dot there. As you can tell, the big winner was the Dallas Fort Worth area; no surprise I guess.

As we exited the fairground I saw this sign across the road. For the first time all day I was left speechless. Really, does this marketing tactic work?

After the State Fair, we headed out to La Grange, a Texas town of about 4,750 inhabitants, because we had a very generous offer to stay with Michael and Ellen, whom we met at the solar eclipse in Wyoming. What are the chances that we would hit it off so well with so many people at this Solar event. When we met Michael he said, "Do you want to run some errands and see La Grange?" We gladly accepted.

Our first stop was at the Fayette County Courthouse. It is a beautiful old building that has been meticulously maintained. While walking through the courthouse, we ran into one of Michael's friends, Judge Ed Janecka. He is absolutely hysterical, which is not a quality that I would normally assign to a judge. After meeting Mike and me he said, "Don't worry, 80% of the people who've stayed with Michael and Ellen left." Then he winked and went up the stairs.

After meeting the judge, we were able to see his courtroom while Michael filed some paperwork with the Court.

As you can see, the entire courthouse has been maintained in its 1891style, complete with stone frontage, brass hardware, a visitors' gallery above and an open atrium in the center. Not that I ever want to go to Court, but if one had to this would be a lovely place to attend.

After running a few more errands we ended up at Michael and Ellen's house.

One of the best parts is that they allow horses to graze on their land. As you can see, they very much enjoy apples!

After feeding the horses, I turned around to see Larry… he can be quite jealous and wanted our attention away from the horses and on him! So cute.

Michael and Ellen took us out for a wonderful evening. We started at Prost Wine Bar and had dinner at Garden Company in Round Top. We got to eat under a 400-year-old Living Oak and the food was spectacular.

We ended the night at the Stone Cellar and Round Top Dancehall. When we arrived they were playing a slow song, and in Texas people actually get up and dance.

Here are Michael, Mike and Ellen, all enjoying a drink.

The band that we were seeing was a cover band called Black Cat. Just to bring this all back to the solar eclipse, Frank, the guitarist on the right, was also at the solar eclipse. Just sheer chance that we all ended up in the same parking lot at the same place.

Just in case you're thinking to yourself, "Why have I heard of Round Top?", they do a bi-annual antique fair that is 15 to 20 miles long! It pretty much pervades the front yards of every business along that stretch of highway. Hold for photographs though, we're going to take them in the morning on our way out.

Mike and Ellen are extremely well-traveled. We discovered this salt-crusted skull chilling on one of their shelves. I had never seen anything quite like it. It is from Lake Assal in Djibouti.

Also Ellen is a very accomplished artist. She did this beautiful piece by scratching into a surface and then painting over it. It is truly beautiful.

Oh something that I forgot from the first day is that Michael took us to Taqueria y Panaderia Rio Verde, which is an amazing Mexican restaurant. On Saturdays only they make Menudo, also called Pancita. It is a delicious intestine soup. I had never had a genuinely Mexican version of this dish. I have to say if you're ever in the area, order on Friday, pick up on Saturday, and enjoy. It has a wonderfully hot and tangy flavor, and the consistency of the different stomachs really makes it the best.

So as we left La Grange and headed to Austin, we went back through Round Top to see the antiques fair in the daytime. Here is just one tiny bit of this huge fair.

Really, they have everything at the antiques fair! Here is a section that focuses on current and old gas station memorabilia!

On the way to Austin I started searching for any entertainment that was playing. We got really lucky and the Symphony was in session.

The Austin Symphony building is beautiful and offers a spectacular view of the entire city, but luckily the best part was still inside.

The program was: Beethoven-Bruckner First Movement from Piano Sonata in C Minor, Op. 13, Pathétique; Ralph Vaughan Williams Flos Campi Mahler-Britten What the Wild Flowers Tell Me; Anton Bruckner Te Deum. The picture that you see above is from the last piece. There were four soloists, the entire Symphony and the Austin choir. This is the most artists I've ever seen on a stage at one time and the effect was absolutely magical. If you'd like more information about the symphony we saw, you can click here.

Now, if you can tell from the picture above, we had pretty good seats. I had had Mike drop me off so that we could get community-rush tickets. When I was standing in line, the gentleman in the kilt above handed me two orchestra tickets! We ended up sitting next to them and had a wonderful chat after the Symphony. Just in case you're wondering why the heck we would have clothes like this in the van, let me assure you we didn't… luckily the Goodwill in Austin rocks!

Here's a more complete version of the Austin skyline. It's amazing that Mike was actually able to find street parking for the Beaver Lodge, not too far from the Symphony. Nothing like Philly on a Saturday night in the theatre district!

After the Symphony, Mike wanted to hit a few of the breweries in the Austin area. Then we stumbled across Argus Cidery. It made the best cider either of us had ever had and

the décor inside was equal to the quality of the cider. Quite a risk to open a business like this, because cideries are not anywhere near as common as breweries and many people are not willing to give it a go.

Unfortunately for Argus Cidery they were not the best place that we went to, but to be fair the game was a bit rigged! Jester King is one of the best sour beer brewers in the nation. I adore sour beer. For the first time ever I was looking at a beer list and there was not one IPA, not one rye PA, not one black IPA, just sour beer. The trouble with that is that every time you take a sip of a different one, you think it's better than the one before.

Also they had a wonderful outdoor area to drink and hang out. It's an extremely family-friendly brewery and, even though this photo doesn't show it, there were about 6 kids covered head to toe in mud that they rolled in, I don't even know where. It's wonderful to be in the country where adults can hang out together and kids can play as kids.

After Jester King we stayed one more day in Austin to have the van worked on. We ended up with new tires and are hoping that the car will run a bit better because it's a really long way to Big Bend National Park (BBNP).

It took us 7.5 hours to traverse the 460 miles to just outside the border of BBNP. We camped at a picnic area just outside Marathon TX. It was a lovely place to spend the evening, especially when a deer wandered right past the van.

Now I know that I said that we camped just outside BBNP but that doesn't really give you the full picture. From this sign to the entrance gate, it is 80 miles of park. When I say that this park is big I mean it is absolutely enormous, the 14th largest in USA at 801,163 acres.

The first hike that we did in BBNP is called Dog Canyon. This is a view of the end of the trail. It was just a preview of all of the beautiful volcanic rock that we were about to see. It also gave us an introduction to the fact that BB has a large number of Stick Bugs. By the time we leave the park we will have seen 8 species. More than Mike and I had ever seen before.

One other lesson that we learned is that in Big Bend everything is almost twice as far as it appears. From the spot that I'm standing to the edge of the cliffs is over 2 miles. Big Bend's air quality allows you to see way off in the distance.

BBNP was under a shallow sea for millions of years and then dried up into a tropical forest. Because of this it is a hotbed of fossils, from very primitive all the way up through the dinosaur era and into early mammals.

To be more specific, over 90 dinosaur species, nearly 100 plant species, and more than two dozen fish, frogs, salamanders, turtles, crocodiles, lizards, and even early mammals have been discovered in BBNP. Because of this, Big Bend just put in a new fossil house to help visitors appreciate some of the most important finds at the park.

BBNP has an awesome set-up for campervan camping in the backcountry. Here is a picture of 2 car backcountry sites. The other thing about BBNP is that there is a one-time $12 fee to stay in any campsites in the park for up to 14 days. That is an unbelievable deal! We stayed for 7 days, so you can do the math about what each campsite cost us.

On our first night we stayed in a campsite called Grapevine 3. We were super lucky because the people who had reserved Grapevine 2 never showed up. This meant that we had silence, extremely dark skies, and coyotes that came practically up to the back of the Van. I made a joke the next day that if Mike hadn't closed the back I would have said something like, "No Sydney, not now, go back to your dog bed" before I realized that I was petting a Coyote ... It's amazing how much they have to say when they're chasing something. They call and yip and howl to let each other know what's going on.

Here is a small collection of the insects that we saw on our first two days. The top left is an assassin bug, the top right is a desert tarantula, and the bottom is one of the many stick bugs.

In the morning we left our campsite and headed to the Chisos Basin. This is definitely the most famous portion of the park. You can start to see its craggy peaks at a very great distance.

We chose a series of trails that made a loop so that we could see the South Rim. After we had climbed up out of the Chisos Basin, this is the beautiful view that presented itself to us. If we had hiked out towards the pass you see in the middle, we would be in an area they call The Window.

The entire trail was quite beautiful, but the South Rim trail portion was the best. In so many portions of the park you are close enough that you can see Mexico. We looked out and tried to see the Rio Grande but couldn't find it from here. The air quality was a bit hazy so we were only able to see about 75 miles into the Mexican states of Coahuila and Chihuahua.

Here is another vista, just a little further along the trail.

Ok and a selfie too. This is Mike's first time seeing Mexico so we thought it deserved to be preserved in pictures.

Oh pardon me Araneus gemma, or cat-faced spider. Do you mind if I cop a squat here too?

I have to say BBNP did a nice job putting privies in the woods on the major hiking trails, but as you can see from above the humans are not the only ones who enjoy using them. He may be bigger than my thumb but luckily he's not poisonous to humans and he was gracious enough to share his haunt with me for a short while.

One of the nice things about the South Rim trail is that it does have some shade from the sun. This is a good thing because we chose to do a 14-mile round trip. Most of the other hikes that we will do in the rest of the park will have zero shade at any point. The trees that you're seeing in this picture are Junipers. Probably not the way you're used to seeing them, because at home they're generally butchered into a hideous small bush shape. In BBNP they're allowed to grow and mature for over 100 years, forming stunning, interestingly shaped trees.

The week before we came to Big Bend they received an unusual amount of rain for this time of year. This was amazing for us because it greened up the entire park and made a lot of the wildflowers bloom. Generally Big Bend is very brown and very dormant at this time of year. We didn't exactly have a super desert bloom (defined here) but for us it was pretty spectacular. In the picture above there are two examples of the wildflowers. The red is Salvia roemeriana- Dwarf crimson-flowered sage and the purple is possibly Hedeoma Nana, Dwarf False Pennyroyal.

In the last few miles of the trail we came down along one of the cleanest sources of water we have seen so far. You have to remember that most desert water sources pick up sediment as it runs off through the washes and down the mountains. We even saw two green hummingbirds in this area. They were clearly here for a drink.

If you look at the sign above, you can tell that we've come back towards the front country. All over the Chisos Basin there were signs warning you about bears and mountain lions. Then we ran across this sign warning you about leaving your backpack unattended. I had to giggle because, as an AT hiker, this is a no-brainer. If you leave your bag unattended in certain areas, especially the Smoky Mountains, you could make a strong bet that it won't be there when you get back.

BBNP Has some of the best in-park shopping we've ever seen. You can get local beer, hot dogs and other canned goods at just above supermarket prices!! Needless to say, we've eaten more hot dogs in our stay here than at any other time. It's nice to be able to go into a store right before dinner and buy "fresh" meat.

In the morning, when we woke up in the Chisos Basin, the clouds were hovering right over the top of the mountains. It reminded me of so waking up in the Pyrenees. The clouds would sneak into the valleys at night, or hover over the tallest peaks, creating a magical vista.

This morning we decided to go to Mexico because the weather is guaranteed to be warm but clear. The border crossing opens at 9 o'clock, but we thought we would do a few short hikes before then. On our way out to the Rio Grande overlook, we spotted this snail. You can see that he was eating the cactus last night and as the sun came up he adhered himself to the side of the cactus to sleep it out until nightfall.

We also saw a good example of the Euphorbia antisyphilitica, or Candelillais plant. It is a shrubby, leafless plant whose stems are covered in wax to prevent transpiration. This may seem like a lot of information for a boring plant, but there is an interesting history with this plant that ties Southern Texas to Mexico. People on both sides of the border have harvested this plant, boiled it for its waxy coating, and formed that into many secondary products in the cosmetic and food industries. After World War II its uses did decline, but poaching of this plant in BBNP still occurs as it is part of traditional Mexican culture.

Remember this point, because you're going to see it from the other direction in a minute. This is the first look that we have of Boquillas Del Carmen and it is the only legal crossing between BBNP and Mexico.

The crossing is only open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday. Mike and I made bad jokes about getting trapped on the other side and having to sneak back into one's own country across the Rio Grande! Technically if you get caught it's a $5000 fine and one year in jail. Though honestly if I had to be trapped on the Mexican side from a Sunday night to Wednesday morning, I might take my chances on a swim across the Rio Grande.

Here is a picture of the border crossing. This is the very first time that I have ever walked across an International border! I'm not entirely sure why that's so exciting… when we got in there, the border guard didn't even look at our passports. He just told us to make sure we had them and that they were current. Needless to say I double-checked immediately even though I knew they were in my backpack.

As soon as you walk out of the border crossing doors, you are welcomed to Mexico's National Refuge, even though technically the border is the Rio Grande (which the Mexicans call the Rio Bravo).

When you get to the river you're able to walk, swim or boat across. As you can see, the walking and the swimming were out for us! All of the rain the area has received made the Rio Grande about 10' deep and very swift. For $5 a person you get a round-trip boat ride by this gentleman. It's amazing how hard it is to get across the swift-moving river, and he does it all day.

When we got to the other side I immediately had to put my Spanish to bear. I sounded like a broken record saying, "No gracias" to the children selling chachkies, the men renting out burros/ horses, and the gentleman trying to be our guide in town. He came up to us saying that he was an official town guide and that he would lead us around. I looked directly in his face and said that we've been there before and would be fine… luckily I've done enough International travel that I figured we could work it out.

If you look behind Mike you can see that most people rent donkeys. To me there's no reason because the village is less than half a mile from the Rio Grande. I know that this is a way that the locals make money, but at $10 a donkey we can make the walk.

This picture shows you "the center of town". It is a short, double-sided commercial area. The larger area contains about 30 individual homes and a few municipal buildings.

As you walk past the industrial center of town you get to see a little bit more of the non-tourist section. For example, this is the K through 12 school. Not exactly one room, but not very many rooms for all the grades.

After doing a tour of the town we settled in for a much deserved beverage and Tamales. The food here was exceptional, and it does make me sad that this is probably the only place we'll cross the border. We've done a lot of asking around and most of the people that we've met, even the Mexicans going home to visit family, tell us don't go! The risk of being kidnapped along the border is just too great, and being in the Beaver Lodge puts a "great big rich American here" sign on our backs.

This picture of Trump and the no-wall sign with a poisonous viper might seem very extreme. But the people here have been dramatically undermined by souring US/Mexican relations. Now to be fair, this all started long before Trump and actually had nothing to do with Mexico at all. Here is a brief history of the downfall of this town. If you're not interested, you can just skip over the italic portion.

The border between BBNP and Boquillas Del Carmen was always very fluid. Then came the events of September 11th. This destroyed Boquillas del Carmen's traditional way of life that was very dependant on open tourism with BBNP. May 2002, the border crossing was closed indefinitely. Quickly the residency plummeted from 500 to < 100. Finally after much cajoling, BBNP's plan to re-open the border was approved in January of 2011. After multiple delays, the new Boquillas Port of Entry was finally officially opened in April of 2013 but the prosperaty and culture sharing that once characterised this area is gone.

Do I have to say some people make do. The car that you see in front is the ice cream man. The owner of our restaurant said he drives a 120-mile round trip to bring ice cream here. We saw lots of children lined up to buy, so I guess the drive is worth it.

For some reason the placement of this modern, well-outfitted ambulance in an abandoned lot seems to say it all. Do you think that this would be here in town if it wasn't an American tourist town?

This is a view out over the residential area in town. If you look at the Sierra del Carmen mountains in the distance, they are very similar to the ones found in Big Bend. We would love to have hiked them!! The gentleman who approached us as we crossed the river and wanted to be our town guide, came back as we were having lunch and told us that for $150 each we could go up into the mountains to hike, stay in the house owned by his boss, be fed by a private cook, drink all the beer we want and then be driven back the next day. It's the kind of offer we would have relished to take up, but then you never really know, do you.

On our way out of town I couldn't help stopping to take a photograph of this gentleman in his truck moving his horse.

And back across the river we go with our small number of souvenirs.

When I got to the other side I took one look back at the stables for the horses and donkeys, the boat going back across to the other shore, and all the people who make their living at this crossing.

After coming back to our side of the Rio Grande, Mike and I did a short hike out to see this Canyon. When we got there Mike looked across the Rio Grande and quipped, "Who's got whose wall?"

...to which I retorted, "I'm not sure, but this black steer is clearly border control, keeping the cows on our side of the line."

The next day when we hiked the Hot Springs trail, the Rio Grande was our constant companion. This photograph is a little distorted because I did a panorama, so the Rio Grande doesn't really bend this dramatically.

This section of the park also offers beautiful fossils right on the trail. You can see this ammonite fossil that is at least 65 million years old. It is the best one that we've seen in the park. If you notice the rock here, it is layered sandstone. Very easy to break apart and look for other fossils.

This trail ended up being more challenging than it looks because the wind was furiously blowing. At one point Mike leaned into it and it held him up. I have to say I took all of my photographs from a few steps back from the cliff because of the sudden and unpredictable upswells in the wind.

Just before you get to the Hot Springs, you run across this historical building. It used to be a general store serving both sides of the Rio Grande, but after the park was created in 1944 most of the ranchers, businesses and residents of the area left to find jobs in more populous locations.

This long historic building used to be J.O. Langford's private rooms for people who had come to soak in the hot Spring. Now they are only home to the paper wasps that make nests in their doorways.

As you walk down the road from the private rooms to the actual Spring, it's clear that this area has been known to ancient peoples. Here is an example of red painting on the sandstone walls.

Here is Mike and me in front of the hot spring. The water is ancient water that long ago infiltrated into an aquifer and is irreplaceable if overused. It is heated by geothermal processes and can be up to 105° F. The water carries dissolved mineral salts and is reputed to have healing powers.

Here is a better picture of the hot spring where J.O. Langford built his bathhouse. The water structure is long gone, but the spring is still contained by the foundation of the bathhouse. As you can see, when the Rio Grande is too high, it comes over the walls of the foundation and makes the spring water muddy. This of course didn't stop me from getting in, and I really enjoyed my dip.

After hiking to the Hot Springs we made dinner, got our headlamps and went out to look for invertebrates at night. We were greatly rewarded by finding this Bark Scorpion, Centruroides vittatus. This was the first scorpion that either Mike or I had ever seen in the wild.

In the morning it was back to the Chisos Basin to do the Window and Oak Canyon trails.

One of the benefits of this trail is that it brings you out to a 200' waterfall. It is reputed to be one of the tallest in Texas. Both Mike and I were shocked by the plethora of animals that were alive and well in the shallow stream. Lots of tadpoles, boatman, diving beetles and snails. Also all of the wasps in the area come here to drink. So we saw a wide variety of them as well.

Mike is sitting in front of the rock structure called the window. This is where the waterfall cascades 200' to the Canyon floor. Unfortunately we have to walk back the way we came and several miles further to see it from the front side.

I'm not often disappointed… but I have to say this waterfall falls a bit short. (No pun intended.) Perhaps if we had been here at a better time of day I would have been able to really appreciate its tumble to the canyon floor, but as it was we just stopped, had a snack and went back.

Here is a look over Oak Canyon from the Oak Canyon trail. The funny thing is that from this vantage point the oaks are completely invisible. Again I think Mike and I expected there to be quite a few, but there is just a small collection about halfway down the Canyon. They are lovely and hundreds of years old. We both love Emory Oaks and wish that they would grow in PA.

When we took a picture of this guy we had no idea what he was. Looks like a scorpion, but different with no tail. It is a Solifugae, an order of animals in the class Arachnida (like spiders), but if you look at their full classification they are more closely related to scorpions than to spiders. And of course he stings with his front barbs. When in doubt in the desert, never pick anything up. Just a photograph and Google it later.

On our last full day in the park we decided to do several short hikes. The first two are an interesting pair of trails called Upper Burrow Canyon and Lower Burrow Canyon. The first takes you down the slot canyon to a drop off, while the second brings you around the front where you are able to look up at where you were. We were only able to do these two trails because the slot canyons were completely dry. When you see the view from the bottom up, you can imagine what the waterfall would look like after rain. The picture above though is along the trail.

I had a wonderful time climbing up and down to have my picture taken. We have been doing so much bouldering, so I took this opportunity to keep up my climbing skills.

Here is the view at the end of Burrow Slot Canyon. You can see Mike (left foreground) in relationship to the tall slender walls with a narrow opening at the top. Quite worth the 4 miles round trip to get here and back to the Beaver Lodge.

We had to climb up and down a lot of long drops to get to the end of the Canyon. Here is Mike climbing out of the last one.

Here is our view looking up at the end of Burrow Canyon. When we were there taking photographs and chatting about our walk at the top, we realized that we could hear voices. A group of hikers was at the top of Burrow Canyon. They waved to us and took pictures. Presumably they were using us to show the scale of how high up they were.

The next trail that we undertook was to Mules Ears Mountain. As you look at this photograph I trust you can see why. This is probably the most recognizable mountain in the entire park to me. Once I'd identified it as an interesting point I kept seeing it for the next day and a half. I can fully understand why it was used by early explorers and native peoples as a navigation landmark.

BBNP, like many parks created in the forties, did not do good things to preserve the early settlers' buildings with

in the park boundaries. They were largely left to decay into the landscape, un-helped or harmed. It was only much later that park superintendents realized that these areas are an important part of the park's history, and not a detractor from the natural beauty of the park. The house you see above was from the original owners of this land in the early 1900's. They were farmers and settled in this area when the Rio Grande flooded more reliably. You can see the beautiful stone and stucco work as well as the original wood beams. As you look out their door you can only imagine how beautiful it was to live here, but also how isolating.

Our last hike of the day was meant to be to Santa Elena Canyon. We showed up for this hike and were both like, "Holy crap, this is where all the other tourists have been hanging out!" The parking lot was nearly full. This is in stark contrast to the rest of the park where we generally saw one or two cars in the parking areas. The sun was not in a great position to see this Canyon and Mike and I found the mudflats in the front much more interesting. In fact you can see a wading bird hunting in this offshoot of the Rio Grande.

Our last night was in the Ocotillo Grove 1 campsite. It is named for the tall spindly plant you can see in shadow here. As I went to bed I said good night to the night sky in BBNP.

In the morning we took our last hike in the park. This one is to an ancient ridge called The Chimneys. This is another rock structure that was used in early navigation. Once you see it you won't wonder why, because nothing else we photographed looks anything like it. In fact the entire geology of this area was very different from other sections of the park.

Here is a close-up of the most prominent Chimney rock. It is the one on the far right hand side, and is the best way to navigate across the desert to find this rock ridge. Of all the trails that we have hiked in BBNP, this one was the most challenging. It is over 10 miles round trip, no shade, and very limited trail cairns. The one thing that keeps you going in the correct direction is this tallest chimney.

Here's a view of the entire Chimney chain. As you can see it is the remains of a very old mountain ridge. Also the fact that it's in an open plain leads to its being a very good navigation tool that is mentioned in early settlers' letters and diaries.

As we hiked out of the Chimney Trail and prepared to leave BBNP, I noticed one more geology feature that can't be overlooked. The white mound on the left hand side is actually ash from a long defunct Volcano. As we walked across it, the texture of the ash was radically different in different portions of the trail. Sometimes it was spongy and our shoes would sink an inch down, and at other times it was hard as rock. There's so much volcanic action in this side of the park. I'm glad we didn't miss it.

After going to BBNP we were supposed to head over to Big Bend Ranch State Park. Unfortunately after driving to the visitor center that is outside the park itself, and looking at maps as well as putting our eyes on some of the dirt roads, we realized that the Beaver Lodge was not cut out to make the 50 miles over this type of dirt road. Luckily we were able to go and see one of the park's best features.

The shots that I was able to take of it were not great, so again I'll have to thank the National Park Service and borrow two of theirs. When seen from the air, the Solitario looks like a large impact crater, but geologically speaking that's not what's going on here. In fact it is much rarer than an impact crater. It is a long-collapsed dome that developed during the Paleozoic era. When volcanic activity pushed a granite intrusion up to radial rhyolite and erupted ash flows, the 16 km nearly symmetrical dome collapsed into the center cauldera, producing the dramatic geologic feature above.

Here is a close-up view of the edges of the Solitario. We would have loved to hike this rim, but alas we'll have to come back with a 4-wheel drive version of the Beaver Lodge.

Then we found ourselves in Terlingua Ghost Town. The discovery in the 1850's of cinnabar, the rock from which mercury (Hg) is extracted, brought miners to the area that is now Terlingua. This boom created a city of about 2,000 people. There are very few remnants of the mining, except in the local cemetery which has a character all its own.

“Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;

Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes

Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth, Let’s choose executors and talk of wills”

― William Shakespeare

As you can see, many of the graves in this area are homemade resting places for the Mercury miners. But just because they are from the late 1800's into the mid-1900's does not mean they are forgotten. Most of the people who visit this graveyard to pay respects adhere to a more traditional Mexican doctrine. They celebrate Dia de Muertos on November 2nd, burn candles for the dead, and leave familiar or important items on the graves.

Here is a much more modern example that I loved. As you look at the items that are scattered around, you feel as though you have known this person.

After that we headed over to the Starlight Theatre. This is a bustling bar and live music venue that was hopping on a Thursday evening. We found the prices to be a little bit expensive so we took a couple of photographs, looked in the store and then moved on.

One of the good things about this road trip is that we're not scheduled, which is a good thing because we had to stop at Alpine to have the shocks replaced. In this small town we were lucky and ended up at a garage that didn't require prior arrangements.

I have to say at first I was a bit trepidatious leaving the Beaver Lodge here. Have you ever seen so many warning signs on one garage!

Yet when we got back after an hour and a half there she was, safe and sound, with brand new shocks installed at a very fair price.

After we retrieved the Beaver Lodge, we headed over to the Museum of the Big Bend on the Sul Ross State University campus. They have a lovely free museum that introduces visitors to the history of the Big Bend region. The museum covers topics such as the area's Indian tribes, the Buffalo soldiers, the mining era, the railroads influence, stagecoach uses, and of course a bit about Big Bend National Park.

This is my personal favorite exhibit in the entire museum. This Native American shamanistic piece is from the Livermore phase (600 to 1300 CE) in the Davis Mountains. The piece is 17" tall and has stylized human and animal figures. It is not just the size or precision of the art that makes it so appealing to me, but also the use of 7 distinct pigments. It is unlike any other native art from the period that I have seen.

After leaving the museum we went on a driving tour of Alpine. They have done a wonderful job at preserving their early buildings.

They have also worked to hold on to their industrial roots as well. If you look at the white 4 by 4 on the left side of the picture, you might notice a symbol on the door; it is the symbol used by the Alpine Cowboys, a professional baseball team based in Alpine, Texas. They play at historic Kokernot Field, which is a stone and wrought-iron replica of Chicago's Wrigley Field. The "o6" insignia comes from the Kokernot ranch brand. At the end of championship seasons, Kokernot presented each player with a pair of handmade red cowboy boots emblazoned with his ranch's brand. The idea stuck and now you can see it all over Alpine.

On our way out of Alpine heading towards Fort Davis, we thought that we would stop at Big Bend Brewing Company. We had enjoyed some of their beer in Big Bend National Park and I wanted to see their facility. When looking them up, Mike came across this on their website…

The brewery and the beer are as good and witty as the author who penned this legal FYI.

At the end of the evening I can't tell you how glad I am that we ended up stopping. The group that you see behind me, plus the person taking the photograph, were all volunteers at the Trans-Pecos Ultra Marathon race that starts in Alpine. That explanation really doesn't do it justice... It's actually a 170 miles in 7 days, with an average elevation around 4500 ft. and a total elevation gain of 15,000+ ft.! Go ahead, do the math on how long you need to run every day...I dare you. Now most of you know I like to trek and run long distances, I even like to run what people consider silly distances, but this is just insane. If you're interested in the race you can look it up here . Mike and I spent a lot of time talking to the two girls and they were both amazingly fun. I really hope that some day we could get together and have a drink in Texas again.

Fort Davis is one of the best examples of a frontier military post in the American Southwest. Throughout its history from 1854 until 1891, the fort played a major role in protecting immigrants, freighters, mail coaches, and travelers on the San Antonio-El Paso Road. Many of the people and much of the cargo was hoping to reach the gold fields of California. One of the neat features of the Fort is that they play the traditional bugle music at the appropriate hours of the day. The Rangers explain it as being like a cell phone reminder for the 1800's. If you look at the mountains in the background, you can imagine that Mike and I immediately headed up to take a hike and get a look at an aerial view of the fort.

On the trail we spotted this Canyon Tree frog, Hyla arenicolor . He blended into the rock so perfectly that we nearly missed him. If you look closely you can see that he's all yellow under his legs.

Here's a view from the top of the mountain that you saw in the first picture of Fort Davis. The line of restored houses that you can see below are called "Officers' row". These buildings are the more modern and date from the Civil War period. People often forget that Texas ceded from the Union and joined with the Confederacy. Because of this there were several Civil War battles in the American Southwest. All of these restored buildings line up perfectly with magnetic North. Now if you look at the square foundations behind the "officers row" you may notice that they are at an oddly different angle. The original pre-Civil War fort lined up with True North. Unfortunately the sign on the overlook didn't explain why this was done, and for once Google is silent on the matter too.

On the way down the mountain trail we spotted this dung roller beetle from the genus Melanocanthon. I had never seen one in the actual act of rolling dung but now I have! Don't worry, there will likely be an Instagram video of it soon so you can see it too!

Not many but a few of the buildings on officers' row are restored. Here is a photo of the restored Commanding Officer's Quarters. It served as the residence for the commanding officer starting in 1867 but is furnished in a style consistent with the 1882-1885 period.

After touring the Fort we scampered on to McDonald Observatory. We needed to go quickly because they only do two tours a day, at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. Luckily we made it for the last tour and procured the last two tickets.

The two-hour tour started out with a powerpoint explaining facts about our sun. One of the cool features about the presentation is that you get to see the Sun as it is at the moment that you are at the observatory. The presenter uses a telescope with a solar filter to show you the different layers of the Sun. Unfortunately for us the Sun is in a very quiet period right now so there were zero sun spots to be seen. But we did get lucky enough to see a perfectly arced Coronal loop. These form in the lower corona and transition region of the Sun and are a direct consequence of the twisted solar magnetic flux within our sun. The red circle over the center is just there to block out the bright center so you can focus more clearly on the corona.

After the power point explanation we went on a tour of two telescopes. The facility is located on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains which is an ideal location for solar viewing. It is high elevation, with low humidity, few cloudy days and low light pollution. If you look at the panorama above, you can see that the 30' telescope in the foreground has uninterrupted views of the sky.

This is the Harlan J. Smith Telescope. It is a 107-inch (2.7 m) telescope named after Harlan James Smith, the first Texas director of McDonald Observatory. We enjoyed seeing the telescope and the dome move. The large black and white piece on the right is an extra lens for the telescope. It changes the focal length, allowing the telescope to bounce the light quickly onto instruments at the end of the telescope, which maximizes light gathering; or down under the telescope to be analyzed by up to 100 spectrascopes. But it has a fascinating history starting in the 1960's with the Apollo 13 mission. Apollo 13 left a mirror on the moon. NASA tasked the McDonald Observatory to use it for almost a decade. The telescope also reflected a laser off mirrors left on the Moon by Apollo astronauts, in a program called “lunar laser ranging.” These results have enabled a better understanding of the distance to the Moon, the moon's interior, and eventually provided a test of Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity. This was my favorite part of the tour.

This is the newest, largest and most sought-after telescope on the property. It is the Hobby–Eberly Telescope which has a 9.2 m (360 in.) aperture and is one of the largest in the world. If you attend Penn State, the name Eberly should be familiar to you. It is indeed the same one as the Eberly College of Science. It is jointly named for former Texas Lieutenant-Governor Bill Hobby, a patron of the sciences, and for Robert E. Eberly, of Pennsylvania. See, we go all the way to Texas and I can't seem to get away from Penn State😋.

This telescope is much harder to photograph, but at the bottom you can see its primary mirror which is constructed from 91 hexagonal segments. This was a great cost saver, as 91 small mirrors are much cheaper than one huge one. One of the primary missions of this telescope is to try to shed light on dark energy, which of course may turn out not to be dark or energy, but that is Physics for you!

On our way back to New Mexico we decided to stop in El Paso for the night so that we could grab a shower and watch the Penn State vs Michigan game. On the way I spotted this building; it is a harbinger of what is to come on our trip.

Now I know that most people from the American Southwest will know what this is a picture of, but I was mstified... Was it a weigh station for trucks? A permanent DWI check station? No, it is an immigration checkpoint in our own country. You pull up and they just ask are you a US citizen. You say yes and they let you through... I would elaborate further on my views but perhaps a simple yuck will suffice.

Now we are off to White Sand Dunes National Park. But first Mike decides we need to do a Texas geocache.... I'll let the next pair of photos explain how difficult it was to find one. Remember, everything is BIGGER in Texas 😉