Archive for January, 2017
Flying Home
Our flight home provided some stunning views of the rugged, snowy Western landcapes of northern New Mexico and Utah.
Organ Pipes
We made good time on today’s driving, arriving in the Las Cruces area with time to stop by the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument.
Heading Home
Posted by nbdog in Uncategorized on 29-Jan-2017
On Sunday morning we had an early breakfast with Lisa and Zyg, then headed west from Lajitas through Big Bend Ranch State Park, taking in some final glorious views of the Rio Grande River.
Texas Sunset
As we sat down for dinner to wrap up our Big Bend adventure, we were treated to a really beautiful sunset.
Southeast Side of Big Bend
Today we drove Route 12 south east toward Rio Grande Village. It was another perfect day: calm and clear with very few visitors. Along the way we were treated to this lovely vista of Mexico’s Maderas del Carmen mountains on the east side of the Rio Grande river.
Full Day at Big Bend
Posted by nbdog in Travel, Uncategorized on 27-Jan-2017
We joined up with Lisa and Zyg yesterday afternoon and we all headed out for a the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, the best known route through Big Bend. The road includes numerous memorable vistas and ends at the iconic Santa Elena Canyon where the Rio Grande River passes between 1,000-foot canyon walls.
“The Window”
We had time to visit one of the Park’s famous vistas: “The Window” at Chisos Basin. It’s a grand view to the west into the Rio Grande River valley; and, a nice spot for lunch as it turned out.
Dinosaurs
We had a nice surprise upon entering Big Bend. The Park had just a few weeks earlier opened a very cool dinosaur exhibit that I had not discovered in any of my trip planning work. There were wonderful replicas of dinosaur fossils and excellent commentaries too. I couldn’t resist hamming it up with this Deinosuchus skull.
Heading to Big Bend
Today’s route took us from Fort Stockton to the north entrance of Big Bend National Park. It was a very tranquil drive with nearly no traffic and lovely overcast skies.
View east along Us-385 about two hours south of Stockton, TX
Carlsbad Caverns
Today we visited Carlsbad Caverns. It was great to visit in the off-season; there was almost no one else there so we could enjoy the experience in quiet. And the caverns were so much more spectacular than we expected. Trisha trekked the whole 1.4 miles along the “Big Room” route. 
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