Texas 2023:
Day 8 - Big Bend National Park

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Texas 2023: [Day 1 - Tulsa] [Day 2 - Lawton] [Day 3-4 - Lubbock] [Day 5 - El Paso] [Day 6-7 - Davis Mountains SP] [Day 8 - Big Bend NP] [Day 9 - Seminole Canyon SP] [Day 10 - Falcon SP] [Day 11-14 - South Padre Island] [Day 15-16 - Goose Island SP] [Day 17 - Houston] [Day 18 - Stephen F. Austin SP] [Day 19-20 - McKinney Falls SP] [Day 21 - Arlington] [Day 22 - Cooper Lake SP] [Day 23 - Crater of Diamonds SP] [Day 24 - Nashville] [Day 25 - Heading Home]

	Saturday, January 28, 2023: We enjoyed a leisurely pace this morning, fixing oatmeal for breakfast, and taking our time packing up. We were on the road around 9:30 AM, smiling at the sign at the "Y'all Come Back" sign at the exit to the park.
	As we were leaving the state park, we got a better picture of this sign for the Far West Texas Wildlife Trail than the last time we were here.
	We neglected to visit the historic Fort Davis that lent its name to the state park, ...
	... and the nearby town. The town is quite charming with the old west wooden facades on the front of the buildings of the downtown.
	As we were leaving town, there was a gigantic greenhouse with what looked like evergreen trees inside.
	Just after 10 AM, we arrived in Marfa, Texas, the filming location for the 1956 film Giant, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean. We hadn't expected to see much and so we were blown away with the beautiful buildings in the downtown, including this government building, ...
	... and El Hotel Paisano, which was used as the filming location headquarters in the summer of 1955 and was where most of the cast and crew stayed during their time here.
	It was in very good shape, and looked like it had just opened rather than having been built in the 1930s. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
	Here's the Palace Theater, which closed in 1970 and is now a local illustrator's studio, ...
	... and the Brite building, which had amazing grillwork over the windows.
	These train tracks are featured in a scene in Giant.
	All of the buildings looked like they had been painted very recently.
	This house was decorated with green glass bottles stuck through the chain link fence.
	Check out this "Welcome to Marfa, Texas" mural. We wondered how many people had had their photos taken here.
	There were murals on lots of buildings in town, including this one of artist Frida Kahlo on an auto parts store.
	There were also neon signs for businesses that were long gone, like this Holiday Inn ...
	... and the Stardust Motel.
	A short distance outside of town, there was a sign marking this location as Little Reata, which was Jet Rink's home in the movie.
	The windmill from the movie is still there, ...
	... and a ranch-style sign reading "Little Reata."
	At this same location, we saw these giant wooden signs.
	They feature larger than life images of Elizabeth Taylor, ...
	... James Dean, ...
	... and Rock Hudson.
	There was also a replica showing what the filming location of the Benedict mansion looked like. We were headed northwest out of Marfa to the ranch where the ruins of that set remain today.
	Here's what the cutouts look like if you are coming into Marfa from the northwest.
	Even further out of town, we arrived at the gates of the Evans Ranch where the exterior scenes were shot. It is a private road, so we couldn't get any closer.
	Debbie used her trusty camera to zoom in to see what we could see. That's the ranch house on the left, and to our surprise, on the right we could just make out the remains of the scaffolding that was used to hold up the frame of the Benedict mansion in the film.
	We headed back to town, stopping at Dairy Queen for lunch. We were the only people in the restaurant, which was great. The staff was extremely nice, and the burgers, fries, and onion rings were amazingly delicious.
	We drove through the southern end of Marfa, past the Marfa Public Radio station, ...
	... a ballroom, ...
	... and this city building with the coolest sign.
	We headed south out of Marfa on US 67, which is apparently the Entrance to the Pacific and part of the Texas-Western Mexico trade route.
	The northbound lane was diverted through a US Customs and Border Control inspection station since this road leads directly from the Mexican border.
	We admired the beautiful scenery as we continued southbound, ...
	... passing this rock formation known as "Elephant Rock," ...
	... the ruins of Shafter Mine, ...
	... and Lincoln's Profile on the left side of this mountain ridge.
	A haze hung over the town of Presidio in the distance.
	There are a lot of murals in this part of Texas.
	We headed east from Presidio, driving along the Rio Grande. It's just over that embankment, which is probably there for flood control.
	Oh, no. We're not falling for that. We'll be staying on this nice paved road all the way to Big Bend Ranch State Park, thank you very much.
	That's the Rio Grande barely visible behind those grasses, about a hundred yards away from the road.
	That's the Rio Grande coming almost to the road, and that's Mexico right there on the other side.
	Welcome to Big Bend Ranch State Park.
	The road through the park was a scenic rollercoaster ride of small bumps and surprisingly steep hills. Wheeeee!
	There were signs of recent fires, with acres of burned brush visible along the road.
	Roadrunner! Roadrunner! They are fast, but Debbie managed to get a picture of this one as it ran across the road.
	Our first stop in the park was at Hoodoos and Balanced Rock. A short walk would take you to the river's edge and right up to them, ...
	... but we choose to look at them from the overlook. Oh, that's the Rio Grande right there, ...
	... and more Rio Grande there. It's crazy how close to the border you get. That's Mexico over there.
	The road took us right by Dom Rock, which was a filming location for the 1985 movie Fandango. We were going to get out for a closer look, ...
	... but the swarms of gnats were insane. Thousands of them appeared as soon as we opened the van doors. We got back inside as quickly as we could without bringing a cloud of them inside with us, ...
	... and got a good look at the rock looking back from the van instead.
	Debbie was looking out at the pretty view down the valley as Tom spotted what he thought was a tarantula on the road.
	We circled back around for a better look, ...
	... and sure enough, it was a big, hairy, scary tarantula. We were both thrilled to see it, and even more thrilled to see it from inside the van.
	Have we mentioned that the Rio Grande comes right up to the road?
	The scenery was stunningly beautiful.
	We got one more close up look at the Rio Grande, ...
	... and then we headed into the Big Bend Ranch State Park Barton Warnock Visitor Center on the eastern end of the park.
	We made our way to the building, ...
	... stopping first at the inner courtyard ...
	... where Debbie discovered her new favorite cactus.
	We bought two bandanas at the gift shop, ...
	... one with a sun compass on it and the other with instructions for tying knots that Tom hadn't seen before.
	We got back on the road, headed for ...
	... Big Bend National Park.
	Woo hoo! There's only one car in front of us! We flashed our National Parks Annual Pass, ...
	... and headed toward Chisos Basin, which is up in those mountains ahead.
	We turned off the main park road, ...
	... and noticed that there was lichen on the sides of the rocks that don't get as much sunlight as the others.
	We could see Window View as we approached the Chisos Basin Visitor Center, ...
	... where we parked, ...
	... and walked along the Window View Trail, ...
	... until we got to the Mather plaque that's a short distance down the trail.
	This is one of the 1959 casting series. We took a look at the back of the plaque, but there was nothing to see.
	We admired this cactus on the way back up the trail, ...
	... and saw that there were several nests in it.
	Grasshopper.
	We ducked into the Chisos Basin Visitor Center hoping to run into a park employee that we had met at Pipe Spring National Monument when we were hunting for the Mather plaque there, but no luck.
	Where dem bears at? It's always fun to see a bear crossing sign, even if they always lie.
	Green Cacti versus Purple: discuss. We saw lots of purple cactus as we drove through the park. These are a species of violet prickly pear common to this area.
	We stopped next at the Panther Junction Visitor Center, ...
	... and checked out the relief map of the park. The area in green near the center is the Chisos Basin area where we just were, and the area near the bottom left corner, Rio Grande Village, is where we were headed next.
	Big Bend National Park is huge, and it was 20 miles from Panther Junction at the center to Rio Grande Village, ...
	... but you get to drive through a tunnel on the way there.
	We passed the village store, ...
	... and made our way to the campground ...
	... to site 19. While Tom started setting up the tent, ...
	... Debbie took a quick look across the road. The Rio Grande is just beyond that flood plain.
	A little after 4 PM, we had everything all set up.
	The bathroom building was visible through the back of our site, with a path through the bushes leading directly there. Convenient.
	Dinner was fettucini Alfredo with chicken, made on our butane-powered camp stove. Our camp site didn't have an electrical hookup, ...
	... so we bundled up inside the tent ...
	... as the sun set and the temperature dropped into the 50s.
	Our battery-powered lamps make the tent very easy to find when you are coming back from the bathroom after dark. As we were falling asleep, we heard a gentle rain staring to fall as it tippity-tapped (Debbie's words) very soothingly on the rainfly overhead. Day 9 >