Not because you don't want to leave, but a million things always seem to come up when you want to leave work early to catch a flight. I actually had kind of hoped to leave on the 2:00 flight to MAF (Midland/Odessa), but that didn't happen. In fact, I barely made it for the 4:30 flight, which we had originally planned for. But, I digress...
Joe and I decided to take a long weekend to explore Big Bend National Park. It is one of the most remote national parks - especially in the lower 48. A couple of weeks ago, I had tried to get reservations at the Chisos Mountain Lodge, the only hotel in the park, but they were full. So I called the #2 motel in Terlingua - the El Dorado. Judie said they had rooms available, and I opted for the "suite" merely because it has a king-size bed. At $109/night, I figured it wasn't a horrible deal. While I was making my reservation, I could hear her cell phone ring and she asked if I could hold on. When she picked up the other phone, the conversation went something like this: "Hey...Are you driving? Well...I didn't want to tell you if you were driving, but Glenn was murdered last night...I know...Yes, the Rangers have been called...Can you come by tonight? We're definitely going to need each other." Uh, okay... The she picks up the phone with me and all she says is, "Sorry about that - I'm trying to manage 2 phones." I wanted to say - "Yea - I heard every word!!! And who the hell is Glenn?" But, I didn't. I went ahead with my reservation and figured that I had a week to change my mind. I also figured that in a town the size of Terlingua, I could figure out who Glenn was. And, I did. Glenn was the owner of La Kiva Restaurant - a place I had gone to with my parents in the early - mid 90s. I was able to find out who he was that night and by the next day, they had made an arrest. A local river guide is accused in his murder. I'm dying to know the motive - but no newspaper article has said. But, apparently the river guide was well liked, too, so this little community is in quite a state. In light of that, I kept the reservation.
We arrived in Midland about 5:30ish. Getting our bag and the rental car was pretty easy, as it usually is in these small towns. We headed from the airport to Marathon, where we spent the night at the Gage Hotel. Marathon was probably about 2 1/2 hours from Midland. I had hoped to leave early so we could eat in the restaurant there, but alas, this did not happen (see paragraph #1). Instead, we had Dairy Queen in Fort Stockton, which I guess is a good 2nd choice. Ha!
The Gage is absolutely beautiful. It is consistently a top 10 Texas hotel and I can certainly see why. Our room - room #7 - was in the main building and it was awesome! I love the decor and the bed was so comfortable. Everything was just great. Maybe we'll come back some day and have dinner at the 12 Gage Restaurant (pun intended, I'm sure).
February 21, 2014 - "Making our way to Terlingua and River Road"
We weren't really in a hurry to get up and going today. We slept until 9:00ish - or a little after - our usual Sunday time (although it's Friday). Up and showered, we packed up and checked out of our gorgeous room. We had some breakfast next door at Johnny B's before heading out of town. I had a breakfast burrito and Joe had eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and blueberry pancakes (which I must say, were superb!). From there, we decided to head to Alpine and see if we could find a grocery store to get some water. We ended up just getting bottles and some crackers at a convenience store.
From Alpine, we made our way to Terlingua to check in to the El Dorado. I knew it would be a downgrade from the Gage, but I wasn't thinking it would be as bad as it was. Ha! As Joe said though, we've stayed in worse. After the initial shock I realized that the room was clean - in fact, the sheets are some of the cleanest smelling sheets anywhere. The shower was stained and looked kind of gross, but it worked. All in all, it worked just fine in a pinch.
After unloading, we decided to drive the River Road to Presidio. I had read in Texas Highways that it was a beautiful drive. I suppose it did have its moments, but Joe and I both agreed that Presidio will not make the final cut of retirement places for us - that's for sure!!!
Heading back to Terlingua, we decided to have dinner at the Starlight Theatre, another Texas Highways multiple mention. I had quail with blueberry balsamic sauce and Joe had a steak. Our food was quite good and we even had dessert. Oh, and I had - not 1, but 2 - margaritas. A Prickly Pear-ita and a Santa Elena. I liked the Prickly Pear-ita the best.
Back in our room, we read a little and rested and by 9:45, it was lights out.
February 22, 2014 - "Rio Grande Village"
After waking up at 7:30, we read a little and didn't really get in a hurry to get out and about (kind of a mistake). Our first stop was La Posada Milagro for breakfast. We both opted for the English Muffin Breakfast Sandwich and I thought it was really good.
Next - we headed to the park.
I'm not sure how we decided to do Rio Grande Village today instead of the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, but we did. Rio Grande Village is at the far eastern corner of the park and our first stop was the end of the road - Boquillas Canyon. First we stopped at the overlook and then we headed for our first hike. It wasn't too bad. You had to go up and then back down to the river, but it was interesting and we enjoyed it. I will say, though, it is MUCH hotter than I expected it to be. The temps are in the 80s, but it feels warmer than that to me. After our hike, we went to Rio Grande Village, which is mostly an RV park. At the little store, we got a sandwich and some chips to snack on.
Next, we headed back down the road and decided to go to the Hot Springs. We didn't get in, although people did (I haven't replaced my bathing suit that I purposely left in Hawaii). Instead of going straight back to the car, we did the loop trail that takes you up for a nice overlook of the river and springs. Very nice.
After our 2nd hike, we actually went back to Rio Grande Village because the visitor center had been closed and I wanted a stamp. Mission Accomplished and it was back toward Panther Junction.
We were going to do another hike - one I REALLY wanted to do - but hunger won out and we decided to head to the Chisos Mountain Lodge for dinner. The only problem was it was 4:00. When we got there, the visitor center was closed (no stamp) and the dining room at the lodge didn't open for another hour. Back down the mountain we went.
We headed back in to town for dinner and this is where the story takes a turn for the worse. I started feeling quite nauseous. I thought it was either a) I was super hungry or b) whatever it is in the desert that I'm allergic to was really getting the best of me and I had all kinds of drainage going down my throat. It turned out to be neither, although I have yet to figure out what it was.
We stopped at Long Draw Pizza for dinner and it was actually quite tasty. But, by the time we got back to the room, the nausea had returned. I took a shower and lay down on the bed, willing myself to feel better, but it didn't really work out for me. This is probably the closest I've come in a long time to barfing. I never did barf, but what did happen was that I was overcome with - what I would term as - violent diarrhea (Joe called it Kilauea). It was like I had taken a laxative to prep for a colonoscopy. And, it went on and on. I woke up several times during the night having to go and then the nausea turned into indigestion, which also woke me up several times. At one point I told Joe that I thought this might be the worst night of my life - that's how bad I felt.
February 23, 2014 - "Santa Elena Canyon after all..."
So, I woke up at 7:30, but went back to sleep - my last eruption having happened at 3:00AM. I felt quite proud that I had gone 4 hours at this point, but I still didn't feel good. I decided that I would not wake Joe up - again - as I had woken him up many, many times during the night, so we slept until 9:30 or after.
Joe was convinced that we would have to stay in the room all day, but his stomach was growling and I really wanted a Sprite Zero. At about 10:45, we got dressed and headed to the store. I took some Pepto, ate some Tums, and sipped on my Sprite Zero. Joe really wanted to go to the lodge for a meal, so we went up for lunch. I had a turkey sandwich, which came with soup. I gave Joe my soup and ate 1/2 my sandwich. Immediately, I had to go to the bathroom again. I felt so defeated!!! We stayed at the lodge a few minutes and then decided to drive the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. I took another shot of Pepto, and although I had long ago decided I would not be hiking today, I thought I could sit in the car and enjoy a drive.
There are several points of interest along the drive and we stopped at all of them. However, we skipped the hikes, so that will require a re-do. By the time we got to the end - Santa Elena Canyon - I decided that I was feeling okay and would try that one hike. It was only 1.7 miles - although you have to go up, up, up and then down, down, down. It was an absolutely beautiful hike into the canyon (unlike Boquillas Canyon, where you can only see the mouth). It was nice and cool inside, too. I had a brief moment where I thought I might have made a mistake, but all was well in the end. I was really glad we had done the hike. It ended up being my favorite thing at Big Bend so far.
Our late start didn't allow for much else, so we headed back to the room and decided to have dinner at the High Sierra Bar & Grill, right at our hotel. Joe had brisket tacos and I had chicken nachos. I managed to get about half of them down and they were good. By bed time, I felt 1,000 times better than I had that morning.
February 24, 2014 - "Heading Home"
We checked out of the El Dorado and headed back to Midland for our flight home. Breakfast was up the road at a convenience store/diner. I had oatmeal and it was all fine.
We headed back in to the park and turned north at Panther Junction, through Persimmon Gap back to Marathon and Fort Stockton. Not much to see, but we did stop in Fort Stockton for a photo op with Paesano Pete.
So, other than my sudden illness, we had a great time in Big Bend. It was a shame I had gotten sick because we didn't get to do everything we wanted. Of course, even when no one gets sick, that seems to be our travel norm.
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