Big Bend National Park

Greetings from Lajitas, Texas!!

We are staying at the Maverick RV Resort, in Lajitas, Texas. It is a really nice resort and we were able to park next to Jerry and Charlie. As you can see there is  plenty of room between for Brody and I to run back and forth, whenever we can manage to escape.

Hey, look out! I think Brody is getting ready to go now...

I love the  the view from my window

The sun doesn't come up until 8:00 a.m, that's a long time for me to wait, but I'm afraid I might step on a snake if it is still dark....

 One night we went to the clubhouse to listen to a couple from Minnesota play some Texas tunes.

Check out Jerry and Charlie on the dance floor.






















The mighty Rio Grande river that separates Texas from Mexico, has dwindled in many areas. That is Texas on the right side and Mexico on the left. 

 


Hey, watch out, it looks like Jerry is considering an illegal border crossing

The next day Mom, Dad, Jerry and Charlie went to visit Big Bend National Park.

This day they visited the Santa Elena Canyon, stopping along the way to appreciate the spectacular scenery.

as well as the beautiful flowering cactus.

 In the distance you can see the mouth of the Santa Elena Canyon















They stopped for a photo op at the overlook of the Santa Elena Canyon.

and then they went on to hike up the trail

Up and up they went, on a trail leading along the canyon wall, first mom 

then Charlie, 

and here comes Jerry

They kept going until they reached a point where they could get some great views of the canyon

Can you spot the canoes in the picture below? Mom and dad had wanted to take a float trip through the canyon, but there was only enough water for canoes.

Stopping to check out the Hoodoos

Another day they drove to the Chisos Basin.

A view of the basin

Mom told me the reason why they were so late in coming home that day was because they took the 12.4 mile walk to the South Rim Loop. Ha Ha! I don't believe it - sounds like that falls in the "fake news" category....

As you can clearly see, no dogs allowed, so I wlll never know if she was telling me the truth.

On the way back Jerry spotted a sign for BJ's RV Park, he was surprised as his friend BJ had never told him about this park, maybe we could have stayed there for free!
.

"We" had some great dinners in Jerry and Charlie's motor home, of course Brody and I had to wait until after dinner for mom to bring us some leftovers...

Jerry cooked some great steaks

 and they enjoyed dinner and a bottle of wine mom had brought back from one of her winery trips.

Blogging is a lot of work, especially when the internet connection is slow. Mom has kept my nose to the keyboard, sure is hard to do with no thumbs. 

And check out Brody watching me work, no fair! I have got to get him working on this too!

Time to chill out ( did I mention it is over 100 degrees here)...

Adios,
Yuki and Brody

Alpine, Marfa and Fort Davis Texas

 Greetings from West Texas!!

We are spending 5 days in the the small Texas towns of Alpine, Marfa and Fort Davis. Our RV park is in Alpine, the largest of the three towns. Alpine is in Brewster County, the largest county in Texas, three times the size of Delaware!  As you can see in the picture of us above, no green grass, but lots of prickly burrs that get caught in my paws, ouch!!

We parked our RV next to our friends, Jerry and Charlie from Oxford, Mississippi. It was good to see them again.

One day we visited Fort Davis to walk around the old cowboy town 

After that we went on a tour of the McDonald Observatory. A world leader in astronomical research, it sits atop Mts. Locke and Fowlkes and benefits from some of the darkest skies in the nation.

We got to go inside and I couldn't believe how big the telescope was.

We also visited Fort Davis National Historic Site. It was one of the most important posts in 

frontier defense in the late 1800's The infantry gave protection to the immigrants, freighters and mail coaches from raids by the Apache and Comanche Indians in the area.


 Starting in 1876, the fort was home to African-American soldiers who became know as Buffalo Soldiers.

We spent the next day in Alpine, 

visiting the shops, and sights

and  having lunch at the Reata. Check out Mom's chile relleno, sure wish she had saved me a bite!

Marfa is another small west Texas town,

 famous for being where the classic movie Giant was filmed. It was James Dean's final picture and also starred Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and Dennis Hopper.

They all stayed at the Hotel Paisano.

We visited the courthouse

and climbed all the way to the top of the dome to see the sights.

Visitors from all over the world come to visit the Chinati  Foundation,  housing the work of Donald Judd, the renowned minimalist artist. Although, to be perfectly honest I am not sure why. Brody and I just shook our heads in amazement as we walked around the grounds looking at his "15 untitled works of concrete".

I have to admit, we skipped paying to go inside to see his 100 untitled works in mill aluminum, peeked in the window and it was just long rows of aluminum boxes. Maybe my artsy friend Mary can educate me as to the significance of his work. 

The next day we visited the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Garden. I loved walking around looking at all the beautiful cactus, just had to make sure to keep my distance so I would't get pricked.

My favorite time of day is sitting around outside before dinner. 















Brody loves it too, but his main goal is to lick dad's  beer bottle. I don't like it at all.

 Before I go to bed I like to watch the sky get dark......

 

Our next stop is Big Bend National Park!!

Adios,
Yuki and Brody