Big Bend Nat'l Park 2004

Big Bend Nat'l Park 2004
			On April 13, 2004, we headed out to the Big Bend Nationl Park in West Texas. Our youngest son, Carlos, was still insisting on joining the Marine Corps once he graduates from High School in May. We wanted to spend some time with him. Big Bend seemed like the ideal place. We drove into Study Butte at about 04:30 PM. It had rained for two days and we still found some clouds in the area. We caught the rain when we left Waco. It was raining so hard that visibility was about 30 feet. The evening was cool and the smell of rain was still in the air.
	By sun set the clouds had moved out of the area. The mountains started turning red as the sun set. We were expecting the temperature to drop, but it stayed very pleasent.
		We went to eat at the Phoenix, a small restaurant in Terlingua. The food was excellent. We had a slow enjoyable dinner of Salmon, Chicken Alfredo fettuccini and Chicken Caesar Salad. Dinner was followed by exploring the surrounding area and walking off some of the dinner.
	Back at our hotel we sat outside and watched the sun paint the sky and clouds. It was quiet, very quiet.
			We decided to work on some trick photography. Using my husband work flashlight and an open shutter we managed to get this one.
	Next morning the moisture lifted of the ground and covered the land like a thick blanket. The sun struggled to get high enough to be seen.
	I stayed at the hotel while the boys took their bikes to try out the rough roads in Big Bend. Carlos rode his full suspension Diamondback and my husband, Luis, rode his Schwinn Moab front suspesion bike. It's and oldie and had been in storage for a couple of years. He had been using his Cannondale but decided on using the Moab because of the front suspesion.
	The the first road they tried climbed for four and a half miles. It took them an hour and a half to ride in. It took them about 25 minutes to ride it back down. Carlos takes a break.
	Thumbs up for the down hill ride! So much easier.
		The weather was warm and the sun felt good after a short winter. He spent $140 on a pair of Oakleys. OK, they look good but $140?
			That after noon they went and picked me up at the motel and we went to eat lunch. I wanted to go hiking so we headed back to the Chiso basin to try out some of the trails there. We picked one that was suppose to be a four and a half miles loop. When we started it was very cool and I was missing my light jacket.
		In the background you can see "La Ventan" which looks into Mexico. By the time we mad it this far the cool breeze could not get into this ravine and it started to feel too warm. OK so we are never happy with the weather, right?
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