Friday, February 12

We started our day this morning in the Rio Grande Village campground on the east side of Big Bend National Park. Aden usually hops out of bed with a smile and a bark by 7:00am (yes, a bark - he thinks he’s part dog), but everyone slept in later this morning including this little pup.

Once the kids were up, I went outside to do my workout while Tory and Aden worked on their Junior Ranger packets together. Tory patiently read all the questions to Aden and helped him spell his answers. She’d make a good teacher one day!

Around 10:30am, we left Rio Grande Village and drove the RV up the Chisos Mountain Basin. Andi reserved us a spot to camp tonight at the national park campground in the mountains, so we wanted to check into our site and then go for a hike this afternoon. Our drive there was peaceful and quiet — either the national park is so large that visitors can really spread out, or there aren’t many visitors during the month of February. We did have to wait for some construction on the Chisos Mountain road, but waiting is easy when your home travels with you.

RVs over 24’ are not recommended on the narrow, winding Chisos Mountain road, but Andi read plenty of reviews from people who said they drove their RVs up the mountain without issue. Since our RV is exactly 24’ feet long, Andi thought we’d be fine and we were. Sites in the campground, however, are definitely meant for shorter campers! As we pulled up to our spot for the night, I said “how’s that going to work?!” The cement pad was short and on a steep hill. Our RV fit into the spot, but just barely.

The kids and I were excited to see a roadrunner hop through our campsite! Tory, Aden and I quietly followed the bird as it searched for food in the grass nearby. We compared our sighting to the cartoon roadrunner, of course, but in reality the two are nothing alike. Greater Roadrunners found in Big Bend National Park are excellent hunters feasting on venomous lizards, scorpions, and even rattlesnakes. They have to be tough to survive in the Chihuahuan desert. Noting like the wimpy cartoon character running from the big coyote.

The four of us ate lunch and then headed off on a 4.8 mile hike. Four miles is pushing the limit for how long Tory and Aden can walk, but this afternoon was the perfect temperature (50 degrees & sunny) to be outside enjoying nature without getting too hot. Andi and I were confident they could do it. The Windows trail follows a deep canyon along the Chisos Basin and then opens up to a rocky “window” overlook. The trail is fairly flat and well trafficked out and back.

We play lots of mind & memory games while we’re hiking to pass the time. Today, we used our imaginations to determine what shapes the prickly pear cactuses made — we found hearts, triangles, and an octopus among others. We tested our knowledge spelling different words and played “guess the number” with one another.

Erosion has worn down the rocks toward the end of the trail revealing a gorgeous opening. The four of us took a few minutes to enjoy the view and celebrate our accomplishment in making it all the way there before hiking out of the canyon. Andi and I were so proud of Tory and Aden for making it all the way to the end without a complaint. They are growing up to be good little hikers!

We took lots of breaks to rest tired legs on the walk back to the campground, but overall Tory and Aden did great on the hike. I will always stop when the kids need rest so long as they are in good sports about getting outside to explore nature.

We liked this shaded resting spot under the tree because there were pretty Mexican Jays hanging around there. The birds were really interested in the granola bar I was eating — Tory and I thought they might swoop down for a bite!

Back at camp, Andi came up with a way to fry sunfish for dinner in a pan on the Blackstone. He also tried a new Louisiana fish seasoning that he found at a grocery store in Texas. We all liked it — it had more of a cornmeal texture than our usual Shore Lunch.

It was hard to believe winter weather was moving into the area within the next 24 hours as beautiful as the night was. Andi and I wondered if we should drive down the Chisos Mountain road tonight before the forecasted ice and snow arrive tomorrow, but decided in the end to stick it out here tonight. We had such a beautiful, quiet campsite in the mountains. It was hard to leave it.

Tomorrow (my birthday!), we plan to make our way to the west side of the park for our last day exploring Big Bend National Park.