The Lee Family: Spring Break Day 4: Big Bend's Chaco Canyon

Unfortunately Olivia had a rough night, or rather, she and I had a rough night. She woke up at 3am and I pulled her into bed with me, but she seemed to be wide awake and wouldn't relax and cuddle. Instead of waking up CK and Sofia, I decided to take her into the sitting room to read and cuddle with her. She was awake for a few hours until she finally fell asleep at 6am. I put her on the couch and read my book until CK and Sofia woke up around 9am. We originally decided to get an early start and spend the entire day driving and exploring Big Bend National Park. Aside from the late start, it was also a very windy day which made the visibility terrible, which isn't great for looking at scenic mountains. We got ready and decided to go ahead and drive into the Park, since there really aren't a lot of other options in Marathon and we felt like we'd already explored Marfa and Alpine. So, once we were dressed, we ate, loaded up in the Jeep and headed toward the Big Bend National Park entrance. The girls had their books between them and were happy.

Once in the Park, we headed toward the Chisos Basin and the main Visitor Center, where we planned to have lunch. We had originally hoped to stay in the Chisos Mountain Lodge for a few nights, but it was full by the time we planned our trip a few months ago. Luckily the wind had died down and it was amazingly clear views! The landscape seemed to change dramatically with each mile and as we approached the outside of the Chisos Basin, it was really spectacular! At one point, we pulled over so CK could take a video of the mountains. Both girls got out and stretched their legs and admired the mountains. We loaded up and headed to the Visitors Center. The mountains were beautiful and the views incredible. We parked next to the Visitors Center and went through the gift shop to the restaurant. Lunch was surprisingly very good, especially given that the restaurant/visitor center is easily 100 miles from any normal size town and I wondered how they got their food. All of our food came with fruit and Sofia's cantaloupe was honestly the best I've ever eaten! The girls both ordered pizzas and they were great, too. After lunch, CK got a Big Bend t-shirt, I picked out a Big Bend baseball cap and Sofia picked out a small Mexican-painted cactus with a gecko on it. After taking a few pictures, we got back into the car and headed on our way.

Sofia used the little yellow cosmetic bag (it originally joined us on the trip full of hairbands) given to her by Aunt Shirl and Uncle Steve at Christmas to put all of her "treasures" in, which included crayons from lunch, little rocks, the Big Bend National Park coin CK got her, her lizard off the cactus, a cactus spike, and leaves of plants she liked. We drove and enjoyed the incredible views and tried to pull off at all the lookouts. We stopped at Tuff Canyon, and decided to get out, stretch our legs and take a small hike. Olivia was exhausted and only wanted me to hold her, so CK and Sofia walked down one edge of the canyon almost to the floor. They turned around and walked along the far side of the canyon to take in the view from the lookout. Olivia and I made our way over to join them and Sofia was desperate to go for a hike, so I gave Olivia to CK and Sofia and I headed down the path toward the canyon floor. It was a short hike, but very pretty and only two other people were on the canyon floor. We walked to the area where CK and Sofia originally started and we were able to crawl our way out of the canyon from there. It was a little slippery, but we made it. After, we loaded up and continued on to the Visitor Center near the Rio Grande River. We took bathroom breaks, bought some cold water and continued on to see the Rio Grande River!

She sleeps - finally!