We woke in in Van Horn, Texas on the fifth day of our trip and it was COLD! Even the dog refused to leave the cozy RV for his morning potty break. Cold or not, we were headed to Big Bend National Park today and we were excited! It would be a 3.5 hour drive to get to Big Bend. But on the way, we were keeping our eyes peeled for this famous site:
First let’s address the fact that one of us in these pictures is dressed completely inappropriately… who do you think it was? Haha, our little Florida boy Trent typically refuses to wear anything besides shorts and flip-flops. He was definitely regretting it at this moment. Dax refused to even get out of the RV because it was so freezing and windy! Anyway, Prada Marfa is an art installation just outside of Marfa, Texas (actually much closer to Valentine, Texas, but really, it’s in the middle of nowhere). It’s such a strange sight to see as you’re driving along and a really fun little spot to get out and take some pics.
The next bit of excitement we came across was… SNOW! The crazy thing is, before we left home, snow was not in the forecast AT ALL. We did not bring snow pants or boots, we barely brought hats and gloves. Nevertheless, snow is always exciting for my Florida kids!
Yup, those little white spots are SNOW! So exciting! Just a little while later, we arrived in Big Bend. We stopped at the Visitor Center to get our stamp and official patches, and we chatted with a Ranger about which trails/sections of the Park we should make a priority. Sometimes being in an RV is really inconvenient, as in, when some National Park roads are not made for large vehicles. Turns out we would not be able to do the hike we most wanted to do because the RV just wouldn’t fit down the road to get to the trailhead. Instead we headed south and drove to Santa Elena Canyon Trail.
The landscape of Big Bend is hugely diverse; mostly desert, but with huge mountains, giant ridges, cliffs, canyons, and of course the Rio Grande… it’s all just really cool. We made our way down to the trail, as as you’re approaching, all you can see is a giant crack in the mountain ridge in front of you. As you get closer, you realize that is where the Rio Grande cuts through. It’s pretty surreal.
Right here, the Rio Grande is the natural border between the United States and Mexico. In fact, the wall we are looking at right across the river is Mexico.
This trail is just 1.7 miles long and the boys had a blast exploring, hiding, climbing, and just getting their energy out. And check out the Rio Grande! Pretty neat, right?!
This is where the trail ended and we had to turn around. I feel like it would be really fun to swim in the river if it was summer.
As soon as we got back to the RV, we noticed more snowflakes! The only place we were able to get an RV spot for the night was in the town of Terlingua, which is about 30 minutes outside the park entrance. We started driving and the weather started getting worse. Luckily we made it just as it became dark, because we were out in the boonies! No cell signal, nothing out there except one lone RV Park/Motel (with a restaurant, thank goodness!). We found a spot to park and headed into the Mexican restaurant, which was the most authentic Mexican food I have ever had (I mean, except for in Mexico, lol). Everything was made from scratch and it was amazing. If you ever find yourself in Terlingua, make sure you eat at Tivo’s at Longhorn Ranch.
Here’s a picture of us as we were getting ready to walk to dinner:
And this is what it looked like when we came out! It was basically a blizzard! Yes, I realize everyone from anywhere besides Florida is laughing, but it seemed like a blizzard to us! Just a reminder, we are in Southwest Texas, just a stone’s throw from Mexico. Is it even allowed to snow here?! Please note, Trent finally put on a coat and real shoes.
And THIS is what we woke up to the next morning! We spent a few hours watching and waiting for any other RV’s to leave, and watching for plows to pass by on the road out in front of us. We didn’t have any cell signal or wifi, so we had no idea about the weather for the day or road conditions.
Since we had no desire to sit in our 240 square feet of space and stare at each other, we bravely (maybe stupidly) decided to just go for it. We had to get the RV back to San Antonio by the next day, and that would never happen if we spent the day in Terlingua. We knew what areas of Big Bend we wanted to explore next, so we headed back, even though the roads seemed pretty bad (for us Florida drivers, at least).
We figured we would head back to the Visitor Center and see what hikes would be possible for the day. Turns out, we couldn’t even get into the Visitor Center (it hadn’t been plowed) and the roads inside the Park were awful. We really had no choice but to leave Big Bend without accomplishing most of our wish list. I really wanted to see the Hot Springs (closed for the time being), take the rowboat over into Mexico at Boquillas del Carmen (closed due to COVID), check out Rio Grande Village, and so much more. But, it is what it is and I guess we’ll just have to come back someday!
We promised the boys we would give them a chance to play in the snow, so we found a spot to pull over and off they went!
They would have stayed out there playing for hours, so we lured them back into the RV with hot chocolate. It was time to hit the road because driving was definitely slow-going!
Not sure what’s up with the weird face I’m making in this cactus pic?! However I think it sums up 2020 pretty perfectly… last day of the year, a snow-covered cactus in the Chihuahuan Desert. I would say it’s par for the course for 2020!
Really though, it’s definitely rare for it to snow this much in Big Bend and I’m glad we got to see it, it truly was beautiful. We even saw a fox running across the snow at one point!
We were headed out of the Park, towards Marathon, Texas when we finally got some cell signal. The first thing we saw was this:
Okay, so that explains why we hardly saw any other vehicles out on the road! Oops! Luckily we had made it out and were headed to I-10 so we could make our way back to San Antonio. However the road to I-10 was completely unplowed. We were slipping all over the place and it was SCARY! Somehow, we turned around then found a different road that was a little bit more manageable. We noticed that all the 18-wheelers were on that road as well. We drove about 1.5 hours (going 20 mph) then searched for an RV park because we wanted to stop driving before it got dark and even icier. We ended up at Canyons RV Park in Sanderson, Texas. As I am sure not many people have spent the night in Sanderson, Texas, I will tell you that it is a VERY small town and NOTHING was open except for one gas station (if you’re picturing Wawa, it definitely was not that). So there we were on New Year’s Eve, with hardly any real food left and zero beer and wine. Guess it would have to be a gas station dinner for us that night! All of the 18 wheeler trucks were parked in the gas station’s parking lot for the night, and it looked like they were all enjoying a gas station dinner as well. We were in good company! (And now I know that Dax enjoys Banquet-brand frozen mac-n-cheese!)
The sunset was pretty and we had gas station drinks. What more could we want out of a New Year’s Eve?! Oh, and we brought confetti poppers (which made a giant mess, oops)! Dax was kind enough to help clean it up.
Trent claimed he was going to stay up until midnight, but he was asleep by 8:30pm. Dax outlasted him by staying up until 9pm. It was a wild and crazy night for our crew!
Looking forward to leaving 2020 behind and welcoming in a New Year! Happy 2021 friends!
