Deep in the heart of Texas

Joy and John are one more weekend into 2010 with another great weekend worth reporting. This one started on Friday night (15 Jan 2010) at the historic Cactus Hotel in Old Town San Angelo. Joy, John, Laura, and Cat had the great pleasure to see Beto and The Fairlanes and dance the nights away to some Cha-Cha, Swing, and Salsa. The best part was seeing the look on Joy’s Ob/Gyn face when she saw Joy swinging around the dance floor at 7.5 months pregnant. John danced with all three of his beautiful escorts who in the process made him look like some kind of gigolo. Right---Dream On Johnny O!

The next morning we hit the road again;


this time for southwest Texas and a small town called Ft. Davis.

We stayed at the exceptionally cute Limpia Hotel in the heart of downtown Fort Davis (a very small but nice town- Joy was very impressed), enjoyed a fine diner of Texas BBQ at The Chuck Wagon, and took in the stars at the McDonald Observatory (http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/). What a great evening! We attended two events at the observatory which is boasted as tops in the world. The first event was called “Modeling the Universe” where we learned about how the earth lies within our universe (The Milky Way) and how we correlate to all the major constellations. The most interesting item of the evening was that the earth wobbles and there are actually 13 major constellations. Due to that wobble and the extra forgotten constellation, we all might think we’re Cancer or Scorpio but are likely NOT. This was a somewhat positive development since all astrology books say Virgo (John) and Gemini (Joy) should never get together. Maybe we work since we’re not what we thought… Apologies for the digression.

The night sky was clear, crisp, and truly spectacular. The clarity with which we could see the Milky Way, Orion, Taurus, Andromeda, and all the others were amazing. Our guide pointed all these heavenly bodies out to us and at the end of it all we had the pleasure to view many of the celestial bodies through high-powered telescopes.

The next morning we enjoyed a Mexican Breakfast- John’s favorite (but, the only place that was open for b-fast at 9:30am on a Sunday morning- crazy) and stopped into a Health Food Store (unbelievable that Ft. Davis had a health food store- it barely had a convenient store- and with products we can’t get in San Angelo) to stock up on foodstuffs for our trip into Big Bend National Park.

On the way, we had a loss in the family. John broke his beloved lavender sunglasses.
They have been together for the last five years and we were unsure if John would recover enough to enjoy the rest of the week-end. (R.I.P lavender shades, you will be missed!)


We drove southwest from Fort Davis toward Mexico and entered Big Bend National Park (http://www.nps.gov/bibe/index.htm) just North of the Rio Grande. We did a bit of hiking along a ridge on the North bank of the Rio Grande and took in some spectacular views while on our short hike. It was gorgeous and also very cool that Mexico was so close.



The next morning we awoke early and hit the hiking trail. A five mile hike seemed within reason for someone 7.5 months pregnant but we soon regretted our decision when we discovered the first 2.5 mile were straight downhill and the 2nd 2.5 miles were spent climbing out of the basin! While exhausting, it was well worth it. The air was clear and the views marvelous. Just as we returned to the lodge we had an encounter with a family of deer.

We were both astonished when we realized a family of three deer was walking along side us on the hiking trail. They were within about 10 feet and strolling along until our paths began to intersect. The lead deer froze and so did the baby deer just behind. The lead doe started stomping her hoof and grunting in our direction. Recalling some “When Animals Attack” video clips and realizing that nothing is more powerful in this universe than the maternal instinct to protect her young we backed slowly away. We provided the family a wide berth and hoped they would move along. But no…she continued stomping and huffing. John launched a rock in their direction to attempt to spook them but to no avail. The stomping and huffing continued. Finally John ran up the hill in their direction waving his arms like a lunatic and making equally strange noises. While far from threatening it was apparently enough for them to move on their way; surely laughing in the process.

We packed up our things and enjoyed a scenic ride home through the Western Texas landscape.

It was a great trip and allowed us to once again appreciate the joys of nature. Along the way we say sparrows, bluebirds, javelina (wild pig), the aforementioned family of deer, a collection of prairie dogs, and the largest roadrunner you’ll ever lay eyes on (http://www.texastwisted.com/attr/paisanopete/).

We were so impressed with west Texas, we are currently planning our return; maybe to the Alpine Cowboy Poetry Gathering and to the small city of Marfa, where the movie “Giant” was filmed (which we rented as soon as we returned home) It is a really great movie filmed in the mid fifties and stars Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, a young Dennis Hopper and James Dean in his final role before his untimely and tragic death.

Until next time....

Happy Trails!