On the next morning, we drove something like an hour to the other side of the Chisos Mountains to go on a guided geology walk through Tuff Canyon. The Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to get there, was spectacular to say the least!
We underestimated the amount of time it took to get there, so we were a little late for the beginning of the walk. I suppose that the 45 mph speed limit had something to do with the bad planning.

There are a few overlooks above the canyon which helps one to imagine the lava that once flowed through these huge cracks in the earths crust. There's all kind of interesting geology behind Big Bend. It's mostly volcanic and has of course been under water like the rest of the world.

Here's a nice cool little niche that Daniel found. There are what look like air pockets in the walls. It could also have been washed out sentiment.

Here's a lot of volcanic rock that is supposed to be older than the rest we saw before we got here. Do you see the white lines and spots all in this? My first thought was... boy, the birds like these rocks. I saw the spots first. :-) Well, volcanic rock has a lot of air pockets in it. Our guide compared the molten rock to a carbonated drink that solidifies leaving air pockets all through it. Interesting. So, the white you see is actually sentiment that filled in those holes and crystallized.This was the end of the guided tour. The layers of rock here are impressive. I gathered that it was volcanic first, then the area was under water, leaving limestone sentiment which is the lighter rock up top. The creek bottom has beautifully smooth and colorful rocks. There are so many different materials. We particularly enjoyed the green and blue colored rocks.
One of the scout families decided to go further to see what else there was to see. Taylor went along with them. As we got to the top of the canyon, which was a long way back and around, the explorers found a way to get up there from where they were... almost straight up! :-) That was good for them! Time to get in the car, cool off and head for the Chisos Mountain basin. Stay tuned for more...

It's been a while since I've caught up on my blogging. I'm finally ready to post our Big Bend pictures! We went to Big Bend in the middle of April. Our scout troop takes a big camping trip once a year. This was the big trip scheduled for this year.We made it to the park in about 9 hours. You don't realize how huge this park is until you get there and think you're now there. We drove about another hour inside of the park before we finally reached our camp site! Our surroundings were so fantastic though, that we hardly noticed how long it took to get there!

Big Bend National Park is bigger than the state of Rhode Island. Here's a map to get an idea:
http://www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/upload/BIBEmap3.pdf
We entered at the top there called Persimmon Gap Visitor Center. Our campsite was in the lower right-hand corner of the map in the Rio Grande Village.

As soon as we got there, we set up camp and started discussing our plans. Rose, one of our older scouts (and great with kids!) went over some badge work with the girls and played cards with them while we planned our week.

The first hike we decided to take was that afternoon. We wanted to find the sand slide. This is an area where the wind has blown sand up the side of the canyon to slides. Here's the first one we found. We were here a five years ago with a girl scout troop. The canyon has changed a lot since the flooding here. The original sand slide was no longer what it used to be. There are big rocks in it and it's not nearly so steep. But, the kids still had fun.This was the best part for me... the splendid view of Boquillas Canyon. To the left of the Rio Grande there is Texas and to the right, Mexico. We saw some donkeys on the Mexican side there a little more in the woodsie area. Too bad we didn't get a good picture of those guys. The kids were thrilled to hear their loud, obnoxious sounds. :-)

Stay tuned for Big Big: Part 2

The kids and I attended our first ice hockey game last month. As you may be able to tell from the picture, we were in the nose bleed section. This was a scout event. The scouts get a much better seat normally, but our group registration was lost and this was the best that they could do. We were okay with it. Food was included in the registration. We had a hot dog, chips and a soda for each of us. I have to warn you, the hot dogs were like nothing I ever tasted before. They were exceedingly b-a-d! The kids wouldn't even eat them. I was told that if you drench them in jalapenos, you won't be able to taste anything but the burn. :-) Well, we just gave the other two away. The rest was good.

Anyway, not only did we get to watch the game and eat something like food, we got to spend the night in the AT&T Center! Very cool. These scouts were organizing all of their sleeping bags out on the ice. Okay, they did lay out an insulated covering over the ice... but it was still cool!
We actually put up a tent in the fairway and slept out there. They didn't expect this to be such a popular event among the scouts and since our registration was lost, we were at the bottom of the list. I could live with it. I'd rather be in my own tent than laying right next to strangers in my sleeping bag all night.

Now, go back to the first picture. Do you see the huge multi-sided monitor up top? They usually do replays and commercials up there during the game. There are also huge screens all around the interior of the stadium including the fairway. They dropped the huge monitor in the center of the stadium and played a couple of movies through the night. No matter where you were in the stadium, you could watch. It was very cool.

This was a fun experience. I was the only scout mom in our group that attended. :-) Guess that's a guy thing??? BUT, we still enjoy the SA Missions Game and campout on the ball field even better. We love being in scouts!

We arrived in Pagosa Springs, CO last Thursday. We didn't get to sight-see much on the way up because we drove through the night. That worked out great with the kids. They slept all night while Tom and I took turns driving and sleeping.

I drove through a lot of New Mexico. As I drove, I kept noticing these long ears sticking up near the road... jack rabbits! Their unusual form and long ears never cease to amaze me every time I see them. I counted around twenty.

We stopped in Santa Fe. This is a neat city. They had lots of pigeons and house sparrows that we're accustomed to seeing back home. One of the birds that caught our eye as we headed into Colorado were the Black-Billed Magpies. These are very pretty birds. They're quite large... a little larger than the Great-Tailed Grackles in south Texas.

When you get a glimpse of their back and long tail, there is a sheen of blue in the feathers. We've noticed them on the roadsides a lot near dead animals which brought us to the conclusion that they are scavengers, but also learned from our Birds of Colorado book that we picked up, these birds also eat insects, seeds and fruit.

You can learn more about the Black-Billed Magpie here.

Another scavenger we found along the way is the Common Raven. It's hard to tell how huge these birds are. I'd say they are about the size of a chicken! In our bird book, we found that they are somewhat predatory, too! They eat small mammals along with seeds and fruit.

You can learn more about the Common Raven here.
We went for a drive yesterday and spotted this beauty! Here's a Mountain Bluebird. I don't know what it is about blue birds, but I just love to see that color on a bird. This guy is just a little bigger than a House Sparrow. Here's more about the Mountain Bluebird.
We have been studying mammals this year with our Apologia Zoology III book and our Burgess Aminal Book. We love these books and I highly recommend both of them for nature study and science. So, here are some of the mammals we've spotted...

We stopped at Home Depot yesterday so our host (Dave) could pick up some wood. He's building a shed. Anyway, while our wait, we spotted a little guy on the side of the hill leading up to the highway. We got our binoculars out and a camera. Yes, we keep these with us most of the time. They're purse items for me! :-) We realized that this was not an animal we have ever observed. We snuck up closer and closer with our camera until he ran into one of his holes and peeped out of another higher up the hill to observe us.

After a little research and a suggestion from Dave, we discovered that this cute little rodent is a Yellow-Bellied Marmot! I just love the precious little treasures of creation that the Lord provides for us! Don't you just know that He gets a thrill out of our excitement of his creations?

I had a job out in Houston last week. We decided to run out to Galveston to see how things are shaping up. It looks pretty good from the outside. This is part of what's known as "The Strand". There are mostly beautiful old buildings that have been well maintained. They were all closed for clean up and repair.



As for letterboxing, can you believe we didn't get a chance? That was a bummer. We didn't even attempt any in Galveston. All of the ones I looked at had been placed before Ike.

Happy New Year! We had a wonderful day. We traditionally spend the night at my mom's house on New Year's Eve. When they lived in Adkins, we were able to do fireworks. Now that they're in the city, we just watch the countdown on TV. We always work a puzzle which we're normally able to accomplish by the next day. This time, it was much more difficult and it's not complete yet!

This sweet Mockingbird greeted me on the morning of the new year. He put on a nice little show for me and I even had my camera! He has a pecan shell in his mouth here. He would pick it up and drop it on the ground over and over. Oh sure, he was looking for a yummy buggy snack!

Later that morning, Dad had a great idea. Let's hang swings in the trees for the kids! Oh boy, they had so much fun making swings and trying them out.

We went with the scouts on our annual trip to the maze farm. We always enjoy this!
http://www.southtexasmaize.com/

This is what the maze looks like this year. If you want to go, you'd better get out there before the end of them month.
There are other fun activities besides the maze. This is the barrel train. Daniel loved this!This is the corn popper. It's amazing what a big hit this is for the kids. Mom can just relax at the picnic tables neaby under a shady oak.