Spring Break Day 2: Driving Pinto Canyon

We woke up and got an early start on Monday morning. CK's partner, Tex, who loaned us his black Jeep grew up in Alpine, still has a home there and knows West Texas inside and out, which means we had a lot of inside knowledge during our trip on what to do and where to go. Tex told us to drive the Pinto Canyon Road from Marfa down to the Mexico-border town of Presidio. Over 20 miles of Pinto Canyon Road is unpaved and on private land but it is open for driving. We loaded up the girls and set the huge bag of books we brought between their car seats so they could both reach books. Just before we left on our trip, we bought the "Original Thomas Train" story book that includes all of the original Rev. W. Awdry stories and drawings. Sofia has recently gotten back into Thomas and devoured the stories as we drove. Olivia, our little princess fan, loves her musical Princess book that her Grandparents got her at Christmas. It plays four little songs and she knows each one of them and loves to sing along. We probably heard each song 100 times as we drove that day! But, both girls love to read and completely entertain themselves during the long time in the car, which is great!

We made it to Pinto Canyon Road and it was an amazing drive! The landscape is breathtaking and I wanted to take another photo every mile! It was beautiful. We drove along the dirt road which was mainly smooth with a few rough spots, and enjoyed the journey. Since arriving on Saturday, Sofia has only wanted to go hiking. Each morning when we climb into the car she asks if we can hike, so we figured we'd stop and stretch our legs. Meanwhile, after driving nearly the entire Pinto Canyon Road, we'd only seen one other car - a white van full of folks that were stopped to take photos. We pulled off the road and CK and Sofia hoped out and headed down the valley. Olivia decided she wanted to join them, so I got her out of her car seat and we headed after them. They already looked so far away on the landscape. Olivia and I picked our way through the arid landscape, avoiding cactus and all the other spiny desert plants. Sofia and CK turned back toward the car to meet up with Olivia and Sofia ended up getting a huge thorn stuck in the side of her leg that CK was able to yank out! We climbed back in the car and continued driving to find another good hiking location.

Breakfast in the Hotel Paisano's restaurant

Girls are loaded up and ready to go!

CK, the cool Jeep in front of the Hotel Paisano

On the road....

Sofia reading her "Original Thomas Train" story book

Olivia relaxing and sucking her thumb

Pinto Canyon begins

Such beautiful scenery

CK and Sofia set off on a hike

cactus

Olivia wants to join them

CK and his girls

Love the views!