Carlsbad Caverns (April 11th, 2008)

We finally made it out of Texas. First stop in New Mexico was Carlsbad Caverns. Wasn’t quite sure what to expect, as we have been to some underwhelming caverns in the past. This place was pretty amazing though. We took about 1000 pictures too many.

Big Bend National Park (April 10, 2008)

After leaving Jess’ house in Austin at crack ass a.m. and then a 7 hr. drive, we arrived in Big Bend. West Texas is pretty remote and desolate, lying at the northern reaches of the Chihuhuan desert. The park is huge. We did some hiking down at the Rio Grande river, which could hardly be called grand at all, more like a large creek. John tried to ‘escape‘ to Mexico by wading across it. Highlights included St. Elena Canyon, our sweet campsite in the Chisos Mountains and Victor the singing Mexican.

Wildlife sited: road runners (more like jogger), wild boar, lizards, goats (mexican), horses (mexican)

Austin, TX (April 7-9, 2008)

Who knew? Texas kicks ass. Well, Austin does anyway. Likely a case of an oasis of cool in a sea of suck. Spent 3 nights here visiting Jessica B. and Joey R. Jess just bought a cute little house not far from UT and Joey lives in a sweet apartment complex on the southwest side of town. Binge eating was a frequent activity during our stay. Mexican and BBQ seem to be the cuisines of choice here. Breakfast tacos in the morning, BBQ brisket for lunch and maybe pulled pork for dinner. Feels like we gained about 40 lbs each in 3 days. Between meal activities included drinking, canoeing in the ‘other’ Colorado river, turtle hunting, swimming at Barton Springs, ‘losing’ my credit cards and license, seeing some live tunes and rockin’ out with Joey and Tim Dyer.

Wildlife sited: Armadillo (smashed), turtles (thousands), Longhorn cattle (in the CITY of Dallas), weird sounding birds.