Big Bend National Park in Texas

Today we visited Big Bend National Park. This park was so immense; it has over 800,000 open acres. Since we only had one day to explore, we visited the Chisos mountain first and then drove around a bit heading down to the Chihuahuan desert.


It took most of our trip just to do that. It was breathtaking in a way we haven't experienced yet. Once down in the desert, Austin and I went for a bike ride and Nathan and Ace went on a hike.
To say that biking and hiking in the desert is different than other places seems like such a silly, understatement to put here. It is vastly different though in a way we didn't quite expect. We took tons of water and it was not nearly enough. We stopped at the drinking fountain and drank like people who were dying. Twice. Even Ace seemed to be feeling the heat in a way he normally doesn't. It was really cool to experience it and I have a whole new respect for it.We stopped a few places to walk up to places where we had a great view. I had to snap pictures of this thing that I don't understand. The guys doing the thing that guys do-trying to throw each other off a cliff. No, I don't know why they do this which is why I said I don't understand-but they don't seem to know either. It's a guy thing. Sort of like chicks going to the restroom together.

They start out pretending they are hugging and then they try to throw each other or wrestle the other person to the ground. This lasts until I say stop, enough already or why-why-why must you do this every place we visit? They crack up. I remember why it's always important to have people of the same gender in your life.
It is always interesting to me that no matter how much this trip has changed us, we are still so much the same people and the same family that we always have been. Hopefully that means we are growing some, but not losing ourselves in the process. Oh, I really, really hope that is the case.

Living the life in hot and sunny Southwest Texas!