Spring Break, Whooooo!

Greg and I have been planning a Spring Break trip to the beach for several months now. We made reservations for a campsite on a beach in South Texas, bought flip-flops and sand buckets, and packed all of our beach accoutrements in anticipation of our departure. Unfortunately, 24 hours before we were to leave, the Weather Channel predicted 70% chance of rain and 60 degree weather, so we decided to chuck the beach trip and go to Big Bend National Park instead.
It goes without saying that I am thoroughly in love and obsessed with Big Bend. I LOVE it. My sister Wendy and I went there a year ago, and I have been dying to get back. We simply didn't want to do it for Spring Break because the place is usually filled to capacity with college students during the month of March. Sure enough, there were no reservations to be had, but we drove out there anyway in hopes of finding a place.

Fortunately for us, the weather had been horrid all week, and had run most of the college students off, so we had our choice of campsites in the park. We chose one right by the Rio Grande, which of course is the border between the U.S. and Mexico. (The Rio Not So Grande, as Greg calls it)

Unfortunately for us, the weather continued to be horrid for the first night that we were there, and we nearly froze our booties off. I don't know how strong the winds were that first night, but it was exactly like sleeping under a kite that has been nailed to the ground. Just like it.

After that first night, the weather turned sunny and warm, and we were able to enjoy lots of hiking and sightseeing.
Here we are hiking the Lost Mine Trail. The kids were very excited about potentially finding the Lost Mine. Like it was an episode of Dora or something.
This is the view from an overlook one mile into the trail, which is where we turned around. Tommy was insistent that he could hike the full five miles, but we wouldn't take his word for it.

This is the Window, which is in an area called the Basin where Wendy and I camped on the last trip. Wendy and I actually hiked to the edge of the V, which ends at the top of a waterfall, which is the location of my header photo up there.
This is Casa Grande Peak, one of my favorites in the park.
After we were finished hiking, we got into the car for the 30 mile scenic drive through the park back to our campsite. We had a beautiful view of these mountains, called the Sierra Madres.
The kids were really excited that we got to go through this tunnel every time we came back to the campground.

This is our very sturdy tent and campsite, with dinner cooking. The car behind us belongs to some college students. I'm not trendy enough to drive an X-terra. Speaking of college student trends, I saw a lot of male college students wearing skinny jeans. What is up with that? I wanted to just take them aside and shake my head and say, "No, honey, just no. Girls do not like toothpick legs on you. Trust me. The fauxhawk is okay, but not the skinny jeans." But I didn't. They'll have to learn on their own, I guess.

Another side story about the campsite: the metal box on the right is a Bear Box, meant for storing food and cooking items that need to be kept away from wildlife. When we pulled up to the campsite, Katie asked what it was, and I replied, "It's a bear box." With perfect dry comedic timing, Grace responded, "That's where you keep your bears." The reason it made me laugh so hard is because it sounded exactly like something my dad would say, and it tickles me to death that she has inherited his sense of humor.

Well this has gotten quite long. I have harrowing tales of coyotes and encounters with illegal aliens crossing the border, but I will wait and share them with you tomorrow.