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We escaped winter for a few days by sneaking off to Big Bend National Park after Thanksgiving. It was still a little chilly there--highs in the 60s, lows in the 30s, but that's a lot warmer than it's been in Iowa lately. Plus we just love spending time in the desert and in the mountains and it gave the boys a chance to run around outdoors without having to bundle up.
There were a lot fewer birds around than our last visit to Big Bend, which was in May of '05. We did see a Vermilion Flycatcher, Black-Throated Sparrows, Rock Wrens, Loggerhead Shrikes, Mexican Jays, Band-Tailed Pigeons, Mexican Mallards, Say's Phoebes, Red-Naped Sapsuckers, Golden-Fronted Woodpeckers, and Ladder-Backed Woodpeckers, to name a few. But that's a pretty short bird list for Big Bend. We did get to see some other cool wildlife, including a couple of Javelinas that Henry accidentally chased away from our campsite. And out on the road one afternoon, we saw several tarantulas!
Big Bend is a huge park, and we definitely haven't seen all of it yet. Some of the mountain areas require a great deal of hiking to get to. We hiked up one of the mountain trails about 2 miles or so before the boys started to get tired, so then we stopped for lunch, then hiked back down to the trailhead.
We also visited the Rio Grande Hot Springs area down by the border. It was very satisfying to soak my feet in 105-degree water after the freezing temperatures at night. Mexico was just a few yards away, across the river.
The boys found more cool stuff along the hot springs trail: lots of fossils! Since the area used to be a shallow sea, there are tons of little fossilized seashells in the rocks. Benton and Henry had a blast being paleontologists for the day.
 
Well, now we're back at home, with 3 inches of snow and 1/2 an inch of ice on the ground. Weather like this really makes you appreciate places like Big Bend. Until next time...
Happy Trails!
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| | Posted 12/7/2007 4:59 PM - 34 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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