Today we were supposed to drive down through Big Bend National Park, enjoying plant and bird life and scenery.  However, it rained all night last night in Balmorhea, and was very cold this morning with predictions of rain throughout the day today all over southwest Texas.  We opted to drive the forty-some miles to Fort Stockton, for the promise of a cheap motel.  Camping in this weather is NOT welcome.

We got here, and had a VERY unsatisfactory lunch at a restaurant called Mi Casita.  On the walls inside, there were about 10 plaques from the city calling it the ‘best restaurant’.  If this is the best restaurant…YIKES.  The food wasn’t good, and the service was BAD.  Here’s a photo of the joint.

After that, we went to the Annie Riggs historical museum.  This is a really nice little museum, with a LOT of stories, and a very nice lady curator.  You are able to wander around the house it’s in, and check out LOTS of antiques and historical things.  Her story is very interesting.  Here are a few photos of the museum.  You can probably see some SNOW falling out the windows in some of the photos.  *Mom – Please notice the antique coffee grinders in the third photo.  One is just like yours, only I think yours is nicer!*

Here’s an antiquated CrockPot (NOT a port-a-potty):

We visited the actual Fort Stockton.  It’s only a partial fort, but it has a fairly interesting history on the frontier.  It was built before the Civil War.  Here are some photos of that, too.  They are not great, due to the lack of good lighting outside.  First is the inside of the enlisted men’s barracks, then the outside of them, and then the outsides of the officers’ quarters.

Then, there was the guardhouse, which was one of the only four ‘original’ buildings.  The rest are reproductions.  The guardhouse was pretty cool!

Rich and I are having a good time, despite the crappy weather.  Tonight, we’re enjoying some Lone Star beer (which happened to be the cheapest beer in the store).  We are excited for nice weather tomorrow, though!

Thanks for reading and commenting!

Hi, folks.

We started our day off with a visit to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  We visited CCNP a little over 12 years ago (December of 1999), and really, nothing has changed.  We hiked in through the natural entrance, which I highly  recommend.  The cave is beautiful, and immense.  Here are some photos.  That’s me in the first photo, descending into the natural entrance.

The first one here is Rich in the ‘stand behind it and stick your head through’ photo op, and the second is the obligatory ‘photo with the national park sign’ picture.

After the caverns, we headed for Texas, making a stop at the Pizza Inn in Carlsbad.  The pizza was great.  I am glad we stopped.

We drove to Barstow, TX (just outside Pecos).  It’s a ghost town with people living in it still.  There are some great historic buildings.  We took lots of photos, but the light wasn’t great, and the Ward County Bank was the best building.  Here it is.

Intending to camp, we headed for Balmorhea, TX.  We got there after dark, and it was starting to sprinkle, so we got a room at The Eleven Inn.  It’s cheap, and small…but it’s an adventure, right?!  On the way toward Balmorhea, we stopped to take pictures of the sunset behind the Davis mountains, and while we were parked on the side of the road, some horses came charging across a field to us, and there was no fence.  They came close, but not too close, and looked us over, them galloped off.

We are here right now, and will be visiting the Balmorhea State Park in the morning.  There are birds there, I’ve been told. 

Thanks for visiting and commenting!