Big Bend

After checking out the caves, we headed to Big Bend State Park. It took us five hours to get there so we arrived at night. It was beautiful because we were in a dark sky area, but we realized that we don't want to miss any of the scenic driving.

The next morning we woke up at one of the best campsites yet! The Wi-Fi wasn't great, but the pool was awesome! We swam and swam and swam. It was so fun! After a half day of school, we heard that mom had booked us a horseback adventure for the next day! So fun! Also after school, we went for a mountain bike ride. Dad chose to ride extra, so he went a different way, but our ride was great! It was not as flat as in Wichita Falls, but nothing like the riding back home! That night, we called a shuttle bus to bring us from the campground to the fancy golf resort restaurant. Our server was really nice, and he also was living in a mobile home! So cool!!

When we woke up we went for a little swim and then jumped in Charlene to get to the start of the ride! The horseback ride was really fun, and Annalee decided to wear her padded bike shorts! Dad and the wrangler got along great, sharing horse back stories and so on. My horses name was Azul. She was the best horsey ever! The only bad thing she ever did was try to get a snack. Oh well. Still the best horsey! She trotted sometimes, but I didn't mind! I found that part exhilarating!

After our ride, we headed to a little town called Terlingua. There was a few things there, including a little souvenir shop, a restaurant, and a band that was playing! We put our name down for a table at the restaurant, we found some books and drinks in the shop, then we sat on the porch and listened to the band. It was a really fun night, even before we got our food, which was fabulous!!

The next day, we went into the national park. It was beautiful! We went to some hot springs, a ranger talk, and hiked a random ridge while we were there. At the hot springs, we met a nice lady and her kids. They helped us decide that we wanted to go to the ranger talk. Next at the ranger talk we learned all about different kinds of predators that live or have lived in the Big Bend area. The next morning we hiked a ridge called Lone Mountain. It was a great view from the top! We all noted that it was cool to hike with no trail, but also kind of hurtful to the environment.