State Parks – Twosna Travels

*Enjoying the view of Lajitas Mesa from our RV site*

Merry Christmas to all of my readers! Life is running a little slower this holiday weekend, so it seems like an opportune time to catch up on where the Twosna Travelers have been. I thought of doing a blog post from Texas to Arizona in one fell swoop, but that was entirely overwhelming.

The truth is, our time in the extreme south of Texas was absolutely golden. We loved the area, particularly the capriciousness of the landscape – flat desert with mostly all one type of cactus here, a mesa suddenly poking up there, a set of hills made out of ancient volcanic ash, canyons and hoodoos. When driving, we would find ourselves all of a sudden in the middle of the most jaw-dropping scenery. The nights were cool and the days warmed up, it never rained, and there was a new direction to head off in every time we were ready to go. If we didn’t, then Lajitas Mesa gave us a wonderful view every time we looked out our window. Here is another view with a look left of the mesa:

The piles of hardened volcanic ash look man-made to me, as if looking at a quarry or gravel and concrete business. The fact that they have been there millions of years makes it all the more fascinating. This view is partly in a state park. The RV park, and the resort in Lajitas that it is part of, sticks up like a thumb into Big Bend Ranch State Park, and somewhere in there is the border between the two.

It was like a moonscape, and we enjoyed some short hikes right from our RV into it:

*Mexican Heather growing in the wild – something I planted every year in my flower garden*

*A prickly pear with the biggest spines I’d ever seen. Don’t dare come close!*

It was a thrill one day to see a road runner cross the path near our RV:

One of the highlights of our time here was the day we drove through Big Bend Ranch State Park. Its border is the Rio Grande River. The scenic road, at the very bottom of the United States, winds up and around hills and canyons, always with the river on the left (going west) so that one is always looking at Mexico on that side, and more of the state park on the right. Here are two views of the river at Madura Canyon:

Closed Canyon was a “don’t miss” stop. It was our first slot canyon, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of these as we travel further west. It was marked as an easy-moderate trail but as the canyon walls closed in, the trail became very rocky with steep declines from one layer to the next. The rocks were slick and smooth with lots of crumbly gravel thrown in. We finally called it quits when one dropoff was so deep we couldn’t figure out how we’d get back up!

*Cal looks so small compared to those canyon walls!*

*A place of awesome beauty which made us feel significantly small in the universe*

Once back on the road, we stopped to check out a scorpion scurrying across:

From here, we entered the land of the hoodoos. Hoodoos, by definition, are tall, thin spires of rock that stick up from the desert floor. Mostly they are relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements, and are formed within sedimentary rock and volcanic rock formations.

Along the road, this was our first glimpse of hoodoos, and this one looked like a shaggy dog to me:

Our last stop, Ft. Leaton, was a total surprise to us. We thought it might be another western military outpost, but no…it was a trading post used from 1848 to 1884, but the last family lived here until 1925. The original owner had a Mexican wife, and after his death, she remarried and stayed on at the post. Lots of murder and mayhem went on here, and the post had a major fire in later years. Archeologists have found artifacts, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife completed a faithful restoration job. The walls are adobe and the inside rooms were cool and comfortable. A lonely state park ranger was pretty excited to show us a video and then we walked through. This was a very fascinating stop.

*The parlor, one of many rooms in the restored family area*

*Carretas such as these may have been the first wheeled vehicles to enter the United States when the Spanish first brought them in 1590. The wheels on this carreta are 6 feet tall*!

Fully loaded carretas were so heavy that it took 10 to 12 oxen to pull them. The carretas here transported goods, most commonly Mexican silver bullion, on the Chihuahua Trail to San Antonio, Texas.

In the picture below is a fence made out of ocotillo, a common desert cactus.

*Of course, after this, a picnic was in order*!

Before turning around, we decided to drive on in to Presidio, TX and discovered a grocery store! We had been deprived of a real grocery store for weeks, so this was very exciting. There was also a plethora of various dollar stores owing, we think, to the fact that Presidio is a Mexican border entry town.

The town of Terlingua was a short drive from our RV park in the other direction. It is a ghost town, but has a small artist colony which makes for some interesting shopping, and a handful of restaurants. The biggest thing that draws people to Terlingua, though, is the cemetery. It dates back to the early 1900s and is still being used. Many of the graves are of Hispanic heritage but then there is a hippie vibe to it, too.

In the early 1900’s, Terlingua was a mercury mining town and helped supply the WW1 war effort. The town was booming but there were mine accidents, gunfights, and the 1918 influenza epidemic. The town declined through the mid-1900’s and demand for Terlingua’s mercury was not repeated during WW2.

I had fun exploring the ruins of some of the houses. They were so small, and the doorways so short!

*This church reminded me of one that has been in the news lately..the movie set shooting.*

*A 1930’s movie theatre, which is now a great place to eat, have a drink, and listen to live music. All is* *not dead in Terlingua.*

Our RV park, Maverick Ranch, was part of the Lajitas Golf Resort and Spa. Like a poor cousin, the park is set back across and down the road from the resort. While there was nothing at all luxurious about Maverick Ranch, you could be entertained for days at the Lajitas Golf Resort, especially if you play golf. Whatever Lajitas was before the resort was built, the tiny town is now all about the resort. There is an airport built specially to ferry in the vacationers. If you need more entertainment, there is horseback riding, ziplining, jeep tours, and a concierge to arrange whatever it is you might need. There’s also a “boardwalk” (made out of cobblestone) for shopping, although I couldn’t begin to afford anything in the shops. A couple of restaurants/bars round out the offerings.

Down the long driveway from Maverick Ranch, there is a cemetery smaller than the one in Terlingua:

We made a personal call on the Mayor of Lajitas, which is… a goat:

Our last evening in Lajitas, we took a stroll under the starry skies, and a full moon, over to one of the bars at the resort. It was a great way to say farewell to an area that we had enjoyed very much. We are on the lookout for long-term places to winter in the future. If we could boost our phone and internet service, Maverick Resort would be a sure contender. Cheers!

*Looking at Big Bend National Park from Terlingua Starlight Theatre, Mule’s Ears on the right*

Next time: Alpine, Texas

I last left my readers in Duluth, Minnesota, but we have been back in Denver since that trip. This autumn season has been packed with things going on each day. It’s been interesting and entertaining, but it hasn’t left a lot of time for blogging. I’m still finding my way through the slowness of the internet and my computer. In these beautiful fall days, I’d rather be outside, pursuing non-computer related activities, or enjoying the little time we have left here in town with my grandchildren!

But to pick up that trip just a little, we had back-to-back stays at state parks in two states on our way back. The first was Platte River State Park south of Omaha, Nebraska. We were here for a family reunion some years back. My oldest brother had to stay at an RV park down the road because there were no RV sites at Platte. That has changed with the addition of a new RV campground, with full hookups, just completed in the last handful of years. This time, we were there to spend some time with my sister Gloria, who rented a cabin in the park. We also went in to Omaha to catch dinner with her husband Chuck. This waterfall is an easy hike, and is one of the centerpieces of the park, besides the Platte River. I also caught a pretty picture of the little fishing lake early one morning while walking over to Gloria’s cabin.

It’s always fun to have a “girls day” (if you identify as a girl, that is) and Gloria and I did that with a day in Lincoln, Nebraska. We toured the Capitol Building. It’s different than others I’ve seen. The original building, which was built like typical domed capitol, actually crumbled while sitting on ground that was too soft. This one was built in the 1920’s and looks much like that era to me. There was a lot of beautiful artwork meaningful to Nebraska laid in the architecture. A guide took us through and pointed out many things I would have missed.

*Gloria, looking quite lovely in the sunshine*

After walking through downtown to a Mediterranean restaurant for lunch, we finished our day with a visit to the International Quilt Museum. This quilt was one of my favorites.

On another day, Gloria drove us through the Lee Simmons Wildlife Safari, which is just down the road from Platte. I was happy to see this sandhill crane. From late February to early April, over 600,000 sandhill cranes migrate on the Platte River valley before heading farther north. That is something I’d like to see some day – but I don’t know if I’d want to be in Nebraska at that time of year!

After leaving Platte River SP, we headed directly southwest to Tuttle Creek State Park just outside of Manhattan, Kansas. Manhattan was a place we called home for four years and both of our daughters were born at the hospital at nearby Ft. Riley. It is the kind of small university town with huge leafy trees that you would expect to find somewhere farther East, and we loved our day to day life here. We have traveled down memory lane several times in Manhattan, so our purpose this time was to catch up with our friends Gayle, Roger, and Gayle’s niece Annalise. All of the roads around Gayle’s berm home on a hillside are dirt, so they have ATVs. Of course we all had to go for a ride. Cal and I have been on many conveyances in our life, but this was our first for ATV riding.

Here we are with Annalise, who at eleven has her own ATV and rides it around her neighborhood like other kids might ride a bike. We rode to the top of a hill for a great view of the Kansas countryside.

*Gayle and Roger are big Chiefs fans, and it was game day.*

Gayle kept us on our toes, so we didn’t have a lot of time at Tuttle. It is a pretty park which could use a little TLC. They are building a new RV area, though. It was odd to be overnighting at a park we had only driven around in our former life here. It was too close to home, back then, to camp in.

*Early morning view from our site at Tuttle Creek SP*

*Turkey vultures getting in a little beach time*

Back here in Denver, Cal and I have been homebodies this fall, enjoying our grandchildren and keeping busy with day to day life. But we did get in a day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. The rumors are true – this park is busy and we had to make an advance reservation. Arriving early morning, the parking lots were already full and we had to use the park shuttle. Sort of makes me miss the days when we would go to a park on a whim and just tool around. We’ve been to Rocky Mountain several times, so on this day we just headed directly for the trail. We took an eight mile hike to “The Loch”, a pretty mountain lake. It was straight uphill all the way with an elevation gain of 950 feet. The Loch was at 10,190 feet. The beauty all around us was incredible.

*An aspen glade, about a week before peak fall color*

*This sign, after we had been steadily climbing. “Really*? *Another 1.3 miles to go???” Needless to say, Boulder Field was out of the question.*

*Cal giving the thumbs up: “We made it, it’s the lake!”*

*This stellar’s jay perched right in front of me as I was eating my lunch. It didn’t seem like it was looking for food as much as it just wanted to say hello.*

*Loch Vale, Rocky Mountain National Park*

Back here in Denver…

I’ve been part of a group of ladies called Wonderful and Witty Women. The forming of this group coincided with my arrival in Denver. We are mostly grandmothers who have moved to Denver in order to be closer to our grandchildren. There is a Monday morning walk at City Park with breakfast on the patio at the golf course, another morning socializing at a community garden, a new book group is forming, and there are other activities depending on whatever someone dreams up. Some days several people might be missing, but then there are always a couple others I haven’t met yet who show up. It’s been a great way to stay connected and I will miss my new friends when we leave town. They know I’m a full time RV’er and there are no rules here, so I can just show up again in the spring.