Calm before the Storm
The week leading up to Christmas has been slow in terms of visitors to Big Bend. It is the normal slump in visitation that is followed by a tidal wave of folks coming in for the week between Christmas and New Year.
On one of our days off Cyndee and I got up one morning and on a whim decided to take a little road trip to Alpine. We have been wanting to see what was out that way and even though we did not have any excuse, like grocery buying, to make the trip, we did it anyway.
Alpine is 100 miles away and there are two routes to go from where we are in Panther Junction. We decided to go out on one route and come back on the other. Just about mid-morning we were passing through Persimmon Gap and getting our way through the Border Patrol checkpoint just south of Marathon. Once we got to Marathon and turned to the west we were on roads that we had not traveled before. The scenery was a little lacking and in just under an hour we were pulling into Alpine.
It was just about lunch time, church would be letting out soon and we figured we better find one of the two or three places that are open and get in before the church rush. Alpine is split right down the middle by two one-way, two lane boulevards. On the west bound side is Sul Ross University, perched up on a hill. On the eastbound side is a collection of shops, art galleries and couple of diners and bakery.
But Cyndee spotted a place on one of the cross-streets and we headed over to find a place to park so we could go in to the Reata. The sign on the wall outside said it was a place for 'cowboy cuisine'. Sounds good to us and it must be because there is slug of people parking and getting out of their trucks and heading our way. We went in and got seated right away.
The restaurant is an old turn-of-the-century house, our table was in what we suspect was a small bedroom. It had its own fireplace and on this chilly day they had it going. This was sizing up to be a right pleasant day.
I couldn't help myself, I ordered the chicken-fried steak, Cyndee got the special, a swiss and mushroom burger with in-house, hand-cut steak fries. Then we ordered a side dish that looked too good to pass up trying; a jalapeño and bacon macaroni and cheese. It came out in a little cast iron skillet that the whole concoction had been baked in the oven. Oh, man was everything good. I thought I was going to have to go out to the truck and sleep it off before continuing our exploring.
But Cyndee spied a True Value store across the street and she made a bee-line for it. This place was amazing, it had a little bit of everything and with it being a couple days before Christmas there was a little more of everything than usual. I think we were in there a solid two hours and still didn't see it all.
We took a couple more laps around town and drove through the campus before starting our drive back using the route through Study-Butte. There is more to Sul Ross than I thought plus they have the Museum of the Big Ben on their campus. With it being Christmas vacation it was all closed. We'll give it a look the next time we go in to town.
The scenery going south out of Alpine towards Study-Butte was fantastic. The speed limit was at least 70 mph but we never got over 60 because we were enjoying taking in the view so much.
A prominent fixture on the horizon is Santiago Peak. It is a big volcano that stands apart from the jumble of geological structures that make up Big Bend.
Most of the space between Alpine and Big Bend is wide open desert dotted with occasional peaks of ancient volcanos. But in-between those occasional peaks is a lot of open space.
Despite it being vast tracts of desert there is plentiful wildlife. On this drive Cyndee and I spotted two bobcats. One was just the briefest of glimpses but the other was a good, long look. He had come out from the brush right alongside the road and was standing there in a pose that would make you think that a taxidermist had put him there. It is strange, after growing up on the breaks of the Canadian River and seeing bobcat signs, tracks and scat, all over the place, not once had either of us seen a live one. But now here was one within feet of us. I was standing on the brake of Big Gulp trying to get his nine thousand pounds of bulk brought to a stop so we could take a picture. The bobcat continued to hold his pose while I got stopped, he stayed frozen while I dug my camera out of the backpack, he didn't twitch as I got the door open, but as soon as I got the camera up to my face, whoosh! he was gone back into the brush in a flash. Not so much as a blurry snapshot to show for our sighting.
But the little bob-tailed cat was not the only wildlife for this day. As we approached Santiago Peak we noticed that the desert was looking more like ranch land than it was desert and as we were looking at a closer view of Santiago Peak we saw what we thought were some paint horses in the distance.
But something didn't look quite right. Their heads were not right for horses. They sure had the body and neck to be a horse but those heads absolutely were not horse. I pulled over and Cyndee got out the binoculars while I got the zoom lens trained in on our quarry.
A little magnification helped a lot. It was instantly clear that we were looking at an exotic game animal. In this case it was an Oryx from North Africa.
Okay, it is pretty much what we expected it to look like but it does not take away from the really great hand-tossed pizzas they make to order. And by the way, that tiny little white sign on the door; it says "No Cell Phones". It is just a hand-printed piece of paper and almost faded to the point it is unreadable, but people are quick to let you know that it is best to leave your phone in the car. The owner, as we have discovered about many people around here, is a serious techno-phobe. She reacts strongly (some say violently) at seeing a or hearing a cell phone being used in her pizza parlor.
The Maverick Station park entrance is only a few miles from Study-Butte. We pulled in just as the ranger on duty was striking the colors for the day and closing the station. She said that there was a distinct uptick in visitors today and that it looked like the Christmas rush was beginning.
We pressed on to cover our last 26 miles to get home but got stopped as the Chisos Mountains came into view. The sun was setting and really intensifying the color in places where the color is usually pretty flat. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some shots Emory Peak and the pour-off of The Window.
We have been pretty busy of late and have not done any decorating for Christmas. While at the True Value store in Alpine, Cyndee scored a little thing that is perfect for our limited space and added virtually no weight.
!
It is a little battery operated Christmas Tree with LED lights. It is so thin it fits between the glass and the pleated shade of our rear picture window.
We'll be working Christmas day and each day after, through Saturday. I probably won't post again until our days off beginning on Sunday.
On one of our days off Cyndee and I got up one morning and on a whim decided to take a little road trip to Alpine. We have been wanting to see what was out that way and even though we did not have any excuse, like grocery buying, to make the trip, we did it anyway.
Alpine is 100 miles away and there are two routes to go from where we are in Panther Junction. We decided to go out on one route and come back on the other. Just about mid-morning we were passing through Persimmon Gap and getting our way through the Border Patrol checkpoint just south of Marathon. Once we got to Marathon and turned to the west we were on roads that we had not traveled before. The scenery was a little lacking and in just under an hour we were pulling into Alpine.
It was just about lunch time, church would be letting out soon and we figured we better find one of the two or three places that are open and get in before the church rush. Alpine is split right down the middle by two one-way, two lane boulevards. On the west bound side is Sul Ross University, perched up on a hill. On the eastbound side is a collection of shops, art galleries and couple of diners and bakery.
But Cyndee spotted a place on one of the cross-streets and we headed over to find a place to park so we could go in to the Reata. The sign on the wall outside said it was a place for 'cowboy cuisine'. Sounds good to us and it must be because there is slug of people parking and getting out of their trucks and heading our way. We went in and got seated right away.
The restaurant is an old turn-of-the-century house, our table was in what we suspect was a small bedroom. It had its own fireplace and on this chilly day they had it going. This was sizing up to be a right pleasant day.
I couldn't help myself, I ordered the chicken-fried steak, Cyndee got the special, a swiss and mushroom burger with in-house, hand-cut steak fries. Then we ordered a side dish that looked too good to pass up trying; a jalapeño and bacon macaroni and cheese. It came out in a little cast iron skillet that the whole concoction had been baked in the oven. Oh, man was everything good. I thought I was going to have to go out to the truck and sleep it off before continuing our exploring.
But Cyndee spied a True Value store across the street and she made a bee-line for it. This place was amazing, it had a little bit of everything and with it being a couple days before Christmas there was a little more of everything than usual. I think we were in there a solid two hours and still didn't see it all.
We took a couple more laps around town and drove through the campus before starting our drive back using the route through Study-Butte. There is more to Sul Ross than I thought plus they have the Museum of the Big Ben on their campus. With it being Christmas vacation it was all closed. We'll give it a look the next time we go in to town.
The scenery going south out of Alpine towards Study-Butte was fantastic. The speed limit was at least 70 mph but we never got over 60 because we were enjoying taking in the view so much.
A prominent fixture on the horizon is Santiago Peak. It is a big volcano that stands apart from the jumble of geological structures that make up Big Bend.
 |
| Creosote Bush and Santiago Peak |
Despite it being vast tracts of desert there is plentiful wildlife. On this drive Cyndee and I spotted two bobcats. One was just the briefest of glimpses but the other was a good, long look. He had come out from the brush right alongside the road and was standing there in a pose that would make you think that a taxidermist had put him there. It is strange, after growing up on the breaks of the Canadian River and seeing bobcat signs, tracks and scat, all over the place, not once had either of us seen a live one. But now here was one within feet of us. I was standing on the brake of Big Gulp trying to get his nine thousand pounds of bulk brought to a stop so we could take a picture. The bobcat continued to hold his pose while I got stopped, he stayed frozen while I dug my camera out of the backpack, he didn't twitch as I got the door open, but as soon as I got the camera up to my face, whoosh! he was gone back into the brush in a flash. Not so much as a blurry snapshot to show for our sighting.
But the little bob-tailed cat was not the only wildlife for this day. As we approached Santiago Peak we noticed that the desert was looking more like ranch land than it was desert and as we were looking at a closer view of Santiago Peak we saw what we thought were some paint horses in the distance.
But something didn't look quite right. Their heads were not right for horses. They sure had the body and neck to be a horse but those heads absolutely were not horse. I pulled over and Cyndee got out the binoculars while I got the zoom lens trained in on our quarry.
A little magnification helped a lot. It was instantly clear that we were looking at an exotic game animal. In this case it was an Oryx from North Africa.
 |
| Check out the rack on the one with his head down. Those things have to be at least 3 feet long. Sorry about the fuzzy image, these guys were about a mile away. To do this picture required lots of enlarging and copious cropping. |
We were closing in on Study-Butte now, the sun was getting low and it will be a close race to see who gets home first, us or the sun. But first we wanted to see a place we had been to in the dark but not seen in the day time. Every Thursday night the volunteers have pizza night together at Long Draw Pizza in Terlingua.
It is named after the place it resides, Long Draw. A huge dry wash with vertical cliffs, and let me tell you that it is seriously dark out here when the sun goes down. The headlights barely do any good, it is as if they are shining into a bag of black felt. We were pretty sure this was a hole-in-the-wall place but wanted to get a look at it while it was still daylight.
Okay, it is pretty much what we expected it to look like but it does not take away from the really great hand-tossed pizzas they make to order. And by the way, that tiny little white sign on the door; it says "No Cell Phones". It is just a hand-printed piece of paper and almost faded to the point it is unreadable, but people are quick to let you know that it is best to leave your phone in the car. The owner, as we have discovered about many people around here, is a serious techno-phobe. She reacts strongly (some say violently) at seeing a or hearing a cell phone being used in her pizza parlor.
The Maverick Station park entrance is only a few miles from Study-Butte. We pulled in just as the ranger on duty was striking the colors for the day and closing the station. She said that there was a distinct uptick in visitors today and that it looked like the Christmas rush was beginning.
We pressed on to cover our last 26 miles to get home but got stopped as the Chisos Mountains came into view. The sun was setting and really intensifying the color in places where the color is usually pretty flat. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some shots Emory Peak and the pour-off of The Window.
We have been pretty busy of late and have not done any decorating for Christmas. While at the True Value store in Alpine, Cyndee scored a little thing that is perfect for our limited space and added virtually no weight.
!It is a little battery operated Christmas Tree with LED lights. It is so thin it fits between the glass and the pleated shade of our rear picture window.
We'll be working Christmas day and each day after, through Saturday. I probably won't post again until our days off beginning on Sunday.
Merry Christmas!
Hope your Christmas was a good one. Happy New Year to you both!
ReplyDeleteTheresa C