Big Bend Nat’l Park

A big Texas bucket list for Ben: Big Bend National Park! Underrated because of it's location.

Camping in the Chisos Basin Campground, site 40, in the desert with phenomenal mountain views. Up in this mountain valley it was 15 degrees cooler than down below. 

Our roomy tent fit sideways. The girls thought it was pretty in the mountains.

The best part was meeting amateur photographer neighbor. Lydia learned a lot from talking to him. He got this shot at 3am after the moon set. Big Bend is one of the four darkest skies in the US.

Waking up to see the 360 degree view of the stars and Milky Way was stunning!

"Half the park is after dark."

The Window

The girls enjoyed scooting down the hills

Our new friend offered to take this picture!

Camp Stove Master

 

We got out as early as we could down to the Santa Elena Canyon Trail. That's Mexico on the other side of the Rio Grande.

  

Ben and Lydia crossed over with beautiful views.

Lydia got sworn in as Junior Ranger.

Glow party!

Happy Father's Day to the best dad!

The agave plant flowers once in its lifetime then dies. The ocotillo was also a very interesting plant.

We hit up the Fossil Exhibit on our way out. 

It was an awesome experience camping in the park. If we visit again, we'd go in a cooler month and soak in the Hot Springs and cross into Mexico from Boquillas for lunch! (closed due to COVID)

River Tubing

 We drove to New Braunfels near San Antonio, blew up some tubes, and floated the Comal River. This was a convenient stop on the way to Big Bend, but it deserves its own post because it’s so Texan and we loved it!

The cool river water felt like heaven after a 3 hour hot car ride. Each in our tube, and one for the cooler trailing behind.

We went through 3 chutes. The first one was surprisingly fun. The second chute popped my air hole open. And the third we were totally prepared for. In between it was a real lazy river (unlike a water park filled with kids pushing against the current and fake waterfalls). Everyone on the river was respectful and kind.

The B&B we stayed at was charming in every way! The roomy porch adorned with plants, custom soaps, comfy bed, breakfast with bread from a local bakery, and hosts to offer a quick ride.

Grandma Visit

Grandma Jan came to visit and she’s always up for fun!

 

And always does crafts with the girls. This time, they discovered Diamond Art or Diamond Paint!

Abby still had time to pass out treats to the dogs at the shelter.

Hungry for Watermelon

Exotic reading picture styled by Gma.

Grandma and her girls ❤️ 

Waco & Fort Worth, TX

Summertime is for exploring Texas. This weekend we visited Magnolia Market in Waco on our way to Fort Worth to see the Stockyards and stay at Great Wolf Lodge.

Excellent cupcakes from Silos

As a fan of Fixer Upper, Abby loved Magnolia Market. She thought the style was so pretty and charming.

Having delicious bites from the food truck.
Biscuits & strawberry butter. Chicken orzo soup. 

Checking out the shops.

Live Stock Exchange aka Wall Street of the West 

Longhorn Cattle Drive
Fort Worth-a cowboy town with cowboy murals

Within walking distance from our downtown hotel, the Water Gardens had 3 pools, a mountain and a stage.
 
Quiet Pool
It looked cool from Abby’s POV

I blinked, and Abby had hopped down to the bottom of this active pool.

In the morning, we walked the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens

There were 15 LEGO builds throughout the gardens. Some blended right in with the habitat and some were larger than life.

   

Lydia got to see and feed koi fish in the Japanese Garden. They were little piggies!

There is a LEGO duck family hiding behind the leaves. (the egg is walking)

Fox & rabbit LEGO photo stand-in
May you both never stop being goofy.

Then a stop at Jamba Juice in Sundance Square in Fort Worth before heading over to Great Wolf Lodge!

 

We made it to Abby's favorite vacation spot!

 

We got enjoy the entire outdoor park and then still play indoors when it stormed the next day.

 It's been a great kick-off to summer!