March 18, 2024
A year ago, we went on a national park adventure with our eldest grandson, Logan. At that time, we made a commitment to his younger brother, Caleb, to make the same journey. Caleb eagerly anticipated the trip for a year and so did we.
Any trip to west Texas involves a long drive on Interstate 10 so we set off before sunrise and made it through downtown Houston with the goal of spending the night in Ozona. We bought a premium geocaching membership for Caleb so he would not be limited to logging only basic caches.
Bluebonnets, the Texas state flower, appeared about an hour west of Houston.
Brian and Caleb - The Coming King Sculpture Prayer Garden in Kerrville
This child of the coastal prairie was a bit nervous as we drove up to the top of the hill,
a preview of the changing topography to come.
We left prayer rocks in memory of my sister who passed away in December.
In Ozona, the county seat of Crockett County, Caleb learned about Davy Crockett. We learned that the town of Crockett in east Texas did not accept the monument at the time of the Texas Centennial because it did not have a "suitable location" for it so it ended up in west Texas. Anyway, "Remember the Alamo!"
And the only town in Crockett County
Upon reaching Fort Stockton, we made the obligatory stop for photos with "Paisano Pete."
Traveling deeper into west Texas, we began to see mesas, buttes, and mountains. The landscape was brown with desert scrub vegetation. At Van Horn, we exited I-10 and headed north to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We camped for two nights there and explored the historic Frijole Ranch and nearby Manzanita Spring. Caleb earned the first of his three Junior Ranger badges.
As the visitor center was closing for the day, Caleb helped the ranger fold
the flag. He knew how to do it because he is on Safety Patrol at his school
and one of their duties is to raise and lower the flag each day.
sunrise from our campsite
Frijole Ranch house
Frijole Ranch school built in 1925
crystal clear water of Manzanita Spring
The trailhead for the Guadalupe Peak trail is at the campground.
Brian and Caleb hiked a short bit of it to see what the campground looks
like from up there. Brian and I hiked to the peak with our youngest son
in 2006 when we were MUCH younger. It is 8.4 miles roundtrip
and about 3,000 feet of elevation gain. I hope Caleb returns someday
and makes the trek to the highest point in Texas.
Caleb had great fun with two other campers and helped them with their Junior Ranger
booklets. He also wore out his shoes while bouldering.
Next up was Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. We learned our lesson from last year that we needed to make reservations just to enter the caverns well in advance. This time we were on the website one month in advance when the reservation window opened to avoid the disappointment experienced by Logan. It took us three hours to reach the elevator from the time we headed down the switchbacks at the Natural Entrance.
Natural Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns
showing another completed Junior Ranger booklet to a ranger
Caleb really wanted to see snow as his brother had last year. While we could make no promises, we did encounter snow at the same Lincoln National Forest picnic area at elevation 8,400 feet near Cloudcroft. The snow was too icy and crunchy to make a snowman, but snowballs were thrown.
(not Caleb, but a bystander)
The "golden hour" from our campsite near Alamogordo, NM
Our third national park to visit was White Sands National Park. We purchased a sand sled and headed out into the world's largest gypsum dune field to play. Caleb figured out that he could slide faster if he put sand in the sled to make it heavier. It was quite windy causing sand in the air to obscure the view of surrounding mountains. When the wind became too strong, we retreated to the picnic area. When we were ready to leave the park, we gave away the sand sled to another family and asked them to pass it along to others.
Caleb took a nice photo of this sunset from our campsite.
Before leaving the Tularosa Basin and exploring more of New Mexico, we stopped to view some local art.
Pistachioland
Near Carrizozo, we stopped to walk around the lava fields at Valley of Fires Recreation Area. Caleb has been fascinated with volcanos since he was in preschool so this was a great opportunity for him to see the basalt up close.
400 year old juniper tree
One more important stop in New Mexico was Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan. Smokey was found as a cub after a wildfire in nearby Lincoln National Forest and after living out his natural life at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, was buried in Capitan. (Note to geocachers - we brought a Smokey Bear trackable from Houston with the express purpose of leaving it in Capitan.)
We LOVE Smokey Bear! (mwah)
Our first night back in Texas was in Caprock Canyons State Park (our favorite state park in Texas) for the scenery and wildlife. We saw members of the state bison herd and Caleb got some good photos of a prairie dog through the side window of the van.
white layers of gypsum exposed by erosion
On the last day of this eight-day adventure, our route took us through Wichita Falls where this year's annual statewide geocaching event was in progress so we made a short visit.
Jes' Fine (AKA Caleb) and zoothornrollo (his grandparents)
signed the official event log
Looking at Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Museum exhibit ...
... we found the one we signed in 2009
https://truckyardthecolony.com/toilet-seat-museum
The last segment of the trip was the drive through north Texas to Lake Hawkins to return Caleb to his parents where they were visiting friends. His siblings were very glad to see him! We are grateful for the quality time we spent with Caleb one-on-one and the opportunity to see the natural world through his eyes. If our health permits, we are committed to repeating the trip one more time with our granddaughter in two years. The goal of these trips is to inculcate an appreciation for natural parks and travel in our grandchildren. Perhaps they will pass it along to the next generation.
