The Rest of the Story

In answer to my Dad's question about the previous post: Brex was great in the car. It helped that Muttola was with us so he could throw his food at her and giggle hysterically watching her eating it. People ask if he's talking yet. We answer no, but as we were reminded during the car ride, he talks ALL the time, we just have no idea what he's saying.

His consistent list of words thus far:
"No.No.No."
"Yeah"
"[Dog's Name]!"
"Wow"
"Ap-Pa!" (figured it out during the trip. Evolved from Da-da, to Ba-ba, to Appa)
"...llo?" (Hello)


Enough of words, here are the promised photos:

First hike: The Window. Many of the trails in Big Bend were built courtesy of the WPA during FDR's presidency. This one had lovely sets of stone stairs along the wash.

Brex at the bottom of the wash (after lunch). The women at daycare keep commenting how much he loves being outside. This trip just confirmed it.

Why yes, yes. That's attitude. Already. (He saw an 11-year old trying to rock climb and launched himself at every cliff the rest of the trip. That's my boy!)

The end of hike 1. Don't you just want to eat those cheeks?!

After moving to California (and now Texas) and being exposed to desert flora, I discovered that Dr. Seuss was a realist.

Hike 2: Lost Mine Trail. The view from the top.

Do NOT try to tell him he's a baby. If you ask him, whatever we can do, he can do better. No need to bring a bottle on the hikes, he loved drinking our water.

Along the trail.

Our home sweet home. A mere 45-minute drive from the main road.

The crazy coot who built the original cabin blasted dynamite in the valley to create a pond. See the green? In the summer, when it rains, there's water here.

Perhaps not the best toy for a kid, but he loved our trekking poles.

Two of the huge windows on all three sides of the living area.

Desert dog having her day.

Click to enlarge. The land across the river in this photo is Mexico (the Rio Grande, shallow enough here to walk across). See the tracks on the other side? Not wild animals.

Well, the other prints were human, but here on the USA side we found a nice fresh mountain lion print.

Evidence of geekdom. We commented that Peter Jackson wouldn't have needed CGI if he'd filmed Mordor in Big Bend instead of Texas. Look, the Gates of Mordor straight ahead! (Locally known by the profoundly evocative name of Mule Ear Peak)

If I can't get a husband to be a climbing partner, I'll just have to raise one from scratch.

Not so impressive if you think it's a sunset. Is it better if I tell you that's the moon?

Here comes the sun. 

Big Bend? Definitely worth the trip.