Thanks for the grasshopper ID!
EYE CANDY?!?! You want EYE CANDY?!?!
Click here for eye candy. 
DAY 1We got off to a slow start in Del Rio Friday morning. We ate breakfast, packed up, and went to HEB. Our plan was to eat our lunches at the Lodge restaurant and then take picnic dinners each evening somewhere in the park (except for the first day - we'd stop for a picnic lunch along the way to Big Bend and then my wife and I wanted an anniversary dinner at the Starlight).
So, we loaded up on sandwich stuff and snacks, and we finally hit the road about 10am. We cruised west on 90, only stopping briefly for the border patrol checkpoint and the dreaded Pecos River Bridge construction (it wasn't bad at all - we waited about 30 seconds for the light to turn green).
About 10 miles west of Sanderson, we stopped for lunch.
The ants greeted us and cheerfuly carried away our picnic debris. Their display of teamwork was inspiring.
We hung out a little while, stretched our legs, and enjoyed the scenery.
Several dung beetles quietly went about their business nearby. The ground was alive with activity.
The landscape was a sea of green rolling hills. West of Sanderson, I could hardly keep my eyes on the road - it was beautiful.
We gassed up in Marathon and then turned south on 385. The scenery was amazing. The plains and hills of green looked unreal. The mountains ringed the horizon around us. The bright blue sky was dotted with puffy white clouds, their shadows crawled across the expansive landscape.
Somewhere just north of Persimmon Gap, I could no longer stand to pass such sights by. I hit the brakes and pulled over for a little outside time.
My world slowed down as I soaked in the green and blue expanse. No more lawn mowers or leaf blowers. No more tailgaters or people flipping me off because I drive too slow and stop for yellow lights. No more artificial landscapes of hastily-built suburban neighborhoods, carpet grass, and concrete. For the next four days I would be in heaven and my family would share it with me.
I was also very happy that we made it that far. It felt wonderful to be in that spot with them. I was excited, especially since my mom and step-dad would be experiencing Big Bend for the first time.
We passed through the Gap and entered our home for the next several days. The skies were amazing and I had to stop for more photos. I began recalling all of my Big Bend knowledge to the newbies. "This is the landslide, Dog Canyon, Devil's Den...."
Our first real stop was the fossil bone exhibit. The desert was hot, dry, and wonderful. It felt more comfortable stepping into that landscape of rocks and cactus than stepping into my own house. Little Henry took the first of many, many bathroom breaks outside. He now loves to pee on cactus and rocks.
We cruised up to the ridge. Henry took pause (for a microsecond) to scan the landscape.
We skipped the PJ visitor center and headed into the Basin. I rolled up to the registration desk just a few minutes after 4pm, hopeful to get a good cabin. We were assigned #101. I looked in the cubby-holes and saw keys still in the boxes for 102 and 103. I asked for one of those cabins and was told they were reserved.
When we booked the cabin over a year ago, I was told at the time that you cannot book a specific cabin. You're put into a pool, and the actual cabin you get is a first-come, first-serve kinda thing when you check in.
I couldn't remember if 101 had a good view of the Window or not. I knew that 102 and 103 were the premium choices. I was about to raise a stink, but decided to let things go and just focus on enjoying my time in the park. I figured 101 was close and couldn't be all that bad, but I got the feeling that something funny was going on behind the scenes that I wasn't privy too.
I'm not sure what happened, and if anyone knows how to actually reserve a specific cabin, lemme know please, because it was done by whoever got 102 and 103. Maybe I should have slipped the dude a $20 last year when I booked it. Perhaps that's how it works?
We rolled up to #101 and disappointment set in when I realized that a rather large, house-size boulder sat between our cabin and the view towards the Window. I was pretty pissed after seeing and confirming that 102 and 103 were NOT occupied yet.
I'll just skip to the end and say that the boulder turned out to be a wonderful, amazing, awesome thing. The views from atop it are the best in the Basin!
Plus 101 is heavily shaded and stayed quite cool throughout the day.
We parked to the left of the cabin. As my wife was stepping out of the car, she heard a little rattle. There was a 3+ foot long Black Tailed Rattlesnake in the bushes just a few feet from her. Fortunately, my wife is very observant (or maybe she just has a really good "radar" for snakes).
By the time I caught on to what was goin' down, everyone was safely back in the car with the doors shut and yelling, "SNAKE". I grabbed the camera and went to work :-)
I was quite amazed how well my wife and mom took this experience. I figured surely that would be it for them. They'd not set another foot in Big Bend and we'd be spending the night in Marathon or Alpine and then headed home the next day. But they were tough girls and were not about to let a little snake spoil the fun. I was proud of them.
Our reptilian greeting party slid away a few feet and gave us room. We proceeded to unload the car while always keeping one person on "snake duty". We coordinated things as the snake tracked from one end of the cabin to the other, unsure of where it wanted to go. If it was to the left, we walked to the right of the cabin, and vice-versa. Eventually, it wondered off towards the boulder and left us alone.
After unloading, upacking, and enjoying the cool mountain air, we headed to town.
I'll have to cut it short here. Sorry, this story will be continued....
I have to pay attention to Mr. Ike now. I'm at home right now, and things are nuts around here. Walmart ran out of gas, the shelves are getting bare, and the lines at HEB are about 1.5 hours to get checked out. My wife just spent an hour at Walgreens trying to pick up a new prescription. Nuts!
