What a fun Thanksgiving week we had!! This year we decided to knock a couple of things off the "wish list" and take an RV trip to some beautiful spots in West Texas. We rented a 26 foot trailer, packed it to the gills, and hit the road. It took a little getting used to driving the trailer, and with heavy crosswinds the first day I was surprised that Bryan didn't turn around and go home! But thankfully the drive was much easier the second day - so we didn't have to cancel the rest of our vacation! We stopped in Del Rio the first night, and we took a little stroll down memory lane. Bryan's old squadron, my old school, our old house and apartment, the hospital where Spencer was born, etc. It was fun. The next day we headed west toward Alpine. We spent the next two nights in the cute town of Alpine, where our main interest was going to Big Bend National Park. We hit the Marfa Lights on our first night there, and they were underwhelming to say the least. But it was funny to hear all the old people raving about the nonexistent lights! The next morning we got an early start and headed to Big Bend. Bryan had been wanting to take the whole family there, even since he and the boys were there for High Adventure a couple of years ago. It was so beautiful, with real mountains, and the girls were such troopers hiking up to the very top with us - 12 miles roundtrip to the top of Emory Peak! We headed another few hours west the next day toward Guadalupe Mountain National Park. We decided not to scale Guadalupe peak the day after Emory Peak, so we did a fun and pretty hike to Devil's Hall instead. We loved it. We headed another 30 miles north for the night just outside of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. That night we made a valiant attempt to see the bats fly out of the cave, but we evidently missed them by a week - they had migrated. But Bryan and I patiently waited, much to the chagrin of our children. We have a lovely sleep in the parking lot RV park there, and then headed into the Carlsbad Cavern the next morning. It was so cool!! The kids, especially Ruby, loved it. We had a long drive up to Palo Duro Canyon State Park that day, and so by the time we got there it was already dark. We were pleasantly surprised the next morning and happy to see that Palo Duro was beautiful! What a great place to spend Thanksgiving Day. We had an early dinner in Amarillo at the craziest place I've ever seen - The Big Texan. Words cannot even do justice to the size and busy-ness of this place, even at 11:00 in the morning for Thanksgiving dinner! It was packed. But it did leave us with the entire afternoon to hike to the "lighthouse" in Palo Duro. It was fun and super pretty! We had another long drive the next day, with some significant winds again, but we made it safely to Lake Brownwood State Park. We didn't enjoy the lake much, other than to take some pretty pictures of the sunset over it, because Tyler was anxious to get home the next morning. It was an awesome trip, with yummy food, beautiful sights, and great people.
