Thanks to Alex for planning a great trip for our Christmas and New Year's break!
Video here or
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1NOEXT8MR58Opbw2jZmzx9DnbUCGn9dPD
To the tune of Grateful Dead's Halfstep Uptown Toodleoo
Day 1: Travel from NYC to Midland, Texas (you can also fly to El Paso)
Day 2: Drive close to Big Bend National Park, stay in a teepee at Terluga
Day 3: Loading up our canoes for our first day on the Rio Grande
Bryson and Scarlet swear in as a junior ranger
A roadrunner!
Entering the Bocadillos (Spanish for snacks) canyon
Don't let this calm water fool you - there are a few Class 2-3 rapids. I barely navigated the first one, but thankfully Scarlet stayed dry (and below - you'll see she conked out from all the excitement!)
We rented some deluxe potties (complete with toilet seat) for our canoe adventure. I decided not to post Scarlet on the potty - wouldn't want that to show up later when she was a teen...
Day 4: Hike in the morning, canoe in the afternoon
Cool fossils everywhere!
We also rented these port-a-pits which allowed us to make smores at each camp site. Yum!
Day 5: Another hike in the morning, then canoe out of Bocadillos
Waking up to frost! It was pretty cold during the night (and day too!)
We survived the rapids - poor guys in front of us fell in and we gathered all of there runaway gear
Here is our after-trip shot
Head to Marfa for some ice cream
Homemade icecream - the kids both got Wedding Cake (vanilla with oatmeal cookie). I got the peppermint (made from candy cane I think).
Day 7: Stay in New Mexico, hike in Guadalupe Mountains
More junior ranger action.
Video here or
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1NOEXT8MR58Opbw2jZmzx9DnbUCGn9dPD
To the tune of Grateful Dead's Halfstep Uptown Toodleoo
Day 1: Travel from NYC to Midland, Texas (you can also fly to El Paso)
Day 2: Drive close to Big Bend National Park, stay in a teepee at Terluga
Day 3: Loading up our canoes for our first day on the Rio Grande
Bryson and Scarlet swear in as a junior ranger
A roadrunner!
Entering the Bocadillos (Spanish for snacks) canyon
Don't let this calm water fool you - there are a few Class 2-3 rapids. I barely navigated the first one, but thankfully Scarlet stayed dry (and below - you'll see she conked out from all the excitement!)
We rented some deluxe potties (complete with toilet seat) for our canoe adventure. I decided not to post Scarlet on the potty - wouldn't want that to show up later when she was a teen...
Day 4: Hike in the morning, canoe in the afternoon
Cool fossils everywhere!
We also rented these port-a-pits which allowed us to make smores at each camp site. Yum!
Day 5: Another hike in the morning, then canoe out of Bocadillos
Day
6: Two more Class 2-3 rapids.... I am relieved that I didn't capsize. I was
worried about Scarlet in particular - it was already freezing out. For the
second rapid, our boat did a 180 and we almost ran into a cliff wall. Thankfully
(??), I had the (smart??) sense to grab onto a tree branch and get the canoe
turned around before we hit another wall. Yikes!
Waking up to frost! It was pretty cold during the night (and day too!)
We survived the rapids - poor guys in front of us fell in and we gathered all of there runaway gear
Here is our after-trip shot
Head to Marfa for some ice cream
Homemade icecream - the kids both got Wedding Cake (vanilla with oatmeal cookie). I got the peppermint (made from candy cane I think).
Day 7: Stay in New Mexico, hike in Guadalupe Mountains
More junior ranger action.
Day
8: Power outage due to night storm, a 4 hour hike in Guadalupe Mountains to
Devil's Hall, this time with heavy wind and even some light snow (poor Scarlie
was freezing), visit to the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, awesome meal at a
local Tex-Mex joint, head back to El Paso
This one is named the Frog King.
Day
9: Fly out of El Paso, then drive to New Paltz for skiing the next day!
