Everything's bigger in Texas.

You’ve heard the saying, “Everything’s bigger in Texas.”  I believe that.  It took two additional stops in Texas to get out of there.  We stopped at Ft. Stockton, TX about 300 miles and 5 hours west of San Antonio.  Our reason for choosing Ft. Stockton as a two-night stay was that we could travel directly south to Big Bend National Park.  The park is located on the southwestern tip of Texas and borders Mexico. We were stopped going and on the return trip by the US Border Patrol.   As we traveled to the park, the road became straighter with hardly any vegetation on the sides of the road.  We were in a desert.  Land formations were in the distance and became more visible as we traveled south.  

The park offers many activities for young and heathy people.  We are neither, so we did not stay long.  I’ve inserted a video that I found on the Internet, so you can have a good look at the park. To view the video, click the http  URL below.  Then click the link that will appear in the blue box. 
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=big+bend+national+park&&view=detail&mid=34DE6350294922E744EB34DE6350294922E744EB&&

End the link unless you want to watch more videos.  

May 31, we left Ft. Stockton for El Paso, TX which is about 250 miles NW of Ft. Stockton and near the Mexico and New Mexico borders.  The highlight of the El Paso stop was – yet again- to check out another national park, Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.   Buck said this park was on his “Bucket List.”  Please allow me to share an introduction of these caverns that appeared in the park brochure.  

Your encounter with Carlsbad Caverns National Park begins in the Chihuahua Desert of the Guadalupe Mountains. But beyond the somewhat familiar surroundings of rugged mountains and broad plains is another world. Away from sunlight, away from the flowering cactus, away from the songs of the desert birds and the howl of the coyote lies the celebrated underground world of Carlsbad Cavern. It is an incomparable realm of gigantic subterranean chambers, fantastic cave formations, and extraordinary features. The first adventurers entering Carlsbad Cavern had no idea what to expect as they walked, crawled, and climbed down into the darkness. Today many of the wonders of Carlsbad Cavern are well known, yet the experience of exploring its chambers is every bit as exciting.

Carlsbad Cavern is a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats.  During the day they crowd together on the ceiling of Bat Cave, a passageway near the natural entrance of Carlsbad Cavern.  In this darkened home they are seen only by scientific researchers.  At nightfall the bats leave the cave in gigantic swarms.  Silhouetted against the night sky like a dark, swift-moving cloud, the bats make their most dramatic display.  Other extraordinary characteristics of bats—their natural sonar system and their ability to fly—make these creatures of darkness of great interest. 

Bats leave the cave in search of food. 

My favorite activity at El Paso was to go shopping like normal people do.