Thanksgiving Day - Family, Gratitude Balloons & Wonder

Herb and Carol hosted Thanksgiving this year. The timing of our big road trip couldn't have been better getting home the afternoon before Thanksgiving and spending it with the family and having the rest of the weekend at home.

West Texas: Day 6 - Fort Davis & Drive Home (Historic Inn & Balmorhea State Park) & Notes About Trip

Day 6:

We woke up in our cute historical inn room and the kids went down the hall to get us coffee, in real mugs. Breakfast was served at the large dining table in the main room and the kids sat in a small table down one of the main bedroom halls, near our room. They said goodbye to the pig and we were off around 9AM to Balmorhea State Park to jump in the 74 degree natural warm springs, declared the largest spring fed swimming in the world. Carter was the first to jump in while it was 46 degrees outside and Ella led the rest of the older kids and Uncle Mike. The water was much warmer than the air and was super clear. I can see this oasis in the middle of a dessert as pretty cool hot spot in the Summer. On this particular late November day, we were the only crazy ones there.

With that final splash, our awesome West Texas week long vacation was coming to an end as we piled in the car for our 4 hour and 57 minute straight drive down I-10 East, towards home. That drive was super simple and easy as I only think we stopped once for gas.

v v v Our amazing driver who did an exceptional job all 1138 miles! v v v 

MISC: Planning, Preparing, packing, hours in the car - Post 6 page West Texas/Big Bend Travel Itinary. Post mapquest map. After making it to Palo Duro Canyon 7 months ago, I was pretty relaxed about planning for stuff in the car. The kids were filled with excitement on the way there and it was only 4 hours from our last pit stop in Kerrville to Marathon and they are pretty used to 4-5 hour drives. They were passed out after dinner during the 2 hours from Marathon to Teralingua. We brought the whole 9 book series of Little House On The Prairie and only made it through a couple of the books but it was fun to listen those pioneer stories on this trip, particularly. Delaney was REALLY into her Tag Reader for multiple large chunks of time. Addison did a ton of travel journaling and reading of her book, Wonder, that she was determined to finish before we went to see it the following day on Thanksgiving afternoon. Carter played his Nintendo DS a couple of times during the first part of the trip and spent a good chunk of his time memorizing his parts for an upcoming school musical, on the way home.The Perkins and us stayed together in the 2 cars the entire time and Carter and Ella took several opportunities on the shorter stretches to make it “boy” and “girl” cars. 1038 miles in 6 days, not counting any driving in the National park which probably added another 100 miles, much of it gravel roads.

Megan P and I did a lot of planning and prep work but I feel like it payed off big time. Ultimately, we each brought an ice chest worth of food and never made a grocery store stop during the 6 days, besides the Marfa BBQ dinner we purchased. We brought lots of ways breakfast food for the 3 mornings in the casitas - frozen breakfast sandwiches, pre-made egg and sausage muffins & regular muffins as well as cereal and milk. We brought tons of sandwich meat and PB&J for on the go lunches. We had tons of both healthy and non-healthy snacks - cheese sticks, boiled eggs, celery, carrots, apples, oranges, dried fruit, chips, crackers, and bars. So we only ate out at dinner time each night and experienced the local places!

Addison’s favorite memory - She said her favorite was “family time.” Her favorite 3 activities were “rafting down the Rio Grande, Balance Rock and Hot Springs Hike.”

Delaney’s favorite was “spending time with Asher and spending time with my family. I liked the river and being on the boat with that girl (the guide.) I liked spending time with my brother and sister and I am glad that the Perkins were with us.”

Carter said his favorites were, “playing with Easton, the Balanced Rock hike and that I got to climb a lot. I also liked the star party and taking pictures on every hike. And the Santa Elena hike and climbing to the top of the huge rock along the Rio Grande river and how everything echoed. I also liked every single car ride, just playing.... I just liked it.”

Blake’s favorite was the “Santa Elena Canyon and the time on the Rio Grande raft trip, especially the first half watching all the kids in front of us on a separate boat and our adult time.”

Megan’s favorite part of the trip was the overall the entire trip... we saw and experienced SO much and I know these memories will be things we talk about for the rest of our lives. I loved seeing all of us wearing the sweatshirts, an idea that Carter and I thought of and ended up taking SO much effort and time to make happen but seeing everyone it them made it all worth it. I loved seeing all 10 of us just spend so much time in nature. I loved spending time reading and practicing Star Photography with Carter and practicing general photography. I love traveling with The Perkins since we all get along so well and Megan and I love taking picture of everything. I love watching Mike and Blake together too having fun with their famailies. Some of my very favorite specifc memories were walking around the Gage Gardens with our White Buffalo Bar famous margaritas! I loved that the kids were up before sunrise each of our 3 mornings at the casitas itching to get outside in the cold and explore, finding bunnies and just running around like kids should be. I loved every single one of our unique 5 big hikes in Big Bend. I was honestly surprised how well Delaney did. She was a trooper on every single hike and hardly ever needed to be carried. The raft float down the Rio Grande was super cool and the guides made it extra special by taking us by to meet the “Mayor of Lajitas,” the 4 legged beer guzzling goat that I remember meeting 25 years ago!

West Texas: Day 5 - Marfa & Fort Davis (The Fort & McDonald Observatory)

Day 5:

Surprisingly, we didn’t wake up in our tee pee until just before 8AM, when Mike and Ella texted and were already at the famous Marfa Burito, asking us our order. There, Ella had to order in Spanish and the large burritos hit the spot back at our picnic table outside our tee-pee at El Cosmico. It was a very relaxing morning with the kids just playing all around the grounds with other kids. They played a ton of washers, explored and even made up a dance skit on the large stage. Delaney and Asher played so well together all week, but here it was fun to watch them play together with their sticks.... such imagination at work. Somehow, Delaney even managed to get gum stuck in her hair and Uncle Mike used his magic to get it out. The adults just sat out front and relaxed. El Cosmico is such a unique and neat place and sleeping in the large tee-pee was the absolute best experience for our group. We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather this entire week. It really was the most ideal weather conditions imaginable.

Around noon, we were loaded up and headed into downtown Marfa and climbed the 5 fights of stairs to the rotunda of the Marfa city courthouse. Afterwards, we opted to find the Marfa City Park that was filled with 1984 playground equipment, complete with a dilapidated merry-go-round. We spent over 2 hours just relaxing and hanging out in the West Texas breeze. You can’t help but notice how well the 6 kids play together, majority of time off in the sets of pairs.

Around 3PM, we loaded up for the 25 minute drive to Fort Davis and checked into our adorable historic Veranda Inn. Our room was precious and was considered the "big" suite because it came with a dining room and formal sitting area. We met the inn pig - Tipster and the kids learned the saying, “So ugly.. it’s cute!” This whole day had been unplanned and impromptu and the fun just kept continuing. At the inn keepers recommendation, we decided to check out the actual Ft Davis National Historic Site. We got to see the soldier barracks and the commander’s house and the fort’s hospital where we learned what most soldiers died from back in the 1870’s: TB, kicked by house, infections.

Then, it was off to the McDonald Observatory for our big Star Party, after dark. It was bitterly cold, but it was the wind that made it nearly unbearable. We saw a couple of galaxies and M-27, a star that had exploded. Carter and I practiced taking some star photography. But we both decided to head inside for some hot chocolate. I could clearly see why this is many people’s highlights of the trip when it’s nice and pleasant outside.

v v v  Downtown Marfa v v v 

v v v On the road to Fort Davis v v v 

v v v Fort Davis National Historic Site v v v

v v v  McDonald Observatory for Star Party v v v