Camping At Big Bend National Park 2019 - Day 3, Part 2: Second Hike

Todd was up when I got back to camp so we made breakfast on the stove (sandwiches with english muffin, scrambled egg, cheese and Canadian bacon - homemade egg McMuffins).  Afterwards we cleaned up, filled up our water bottles and drove to the Lost Mine Trail trailhead.

The view from the trailhead parking lot

Gaining elevation

Camping At Big Bend National Park 2019 - Day 3, Part 1: First Hike

I was up early, so while Todd slept in I went for a hike - shortly down the Window trail there's a fork that leads up to the lodge.  It was about a 2 mile round trip back to camp.

Much better before the sun's overhead

The moon is still prominent

Camping At Big Bend National Park 2019 - Day 2, Part 2: After The Hike

Back at camp we were at a loss as to how to spend the rest of the day.  After about an hour we grabbed our go bags, piled in the FJ and decided to drive to the showers.  At the other campground.

Which was 29.5 miles away.

Yep, that's right

The only available showers for campers are located at the Rio Grande Village campsite.  For $2.00 in quarters you can take a 5-minute shower and they're open 24-hours a day.

We originally weren't planning on taking showers; we had brought washcloths and towels to sponge off in the bathroom using the sink.  However we were covered in sunscreen and bug spray, had a ton of time to kill, and wanted to take a drive to see more of the park anyway, so why not?

By the way, if that Google satellite photo above looks like the surface of some other planet to you, you'll be interested to know that Big Bend was one of the locations used by NASA as a moon substitute to train astronauts for the Apollo 11 mission.  Per a quote on the Big Bend Book Store webpage:

"[T]he astronauts were brought along in two separate groups... through the field areas on April 2-3, and April 15-16, 1964. The trip continued the basic geology study by requiring interpretation and mapping of well-exposed structural and stratigraphic relationships. Also included was an introduction to volcanic rocks along the Rio Grande River west of Big Bend National Park... On the first day they mapped two folded and faulted structures on aerial photos. On the second day there were four stops, two at road cuts of layered volcanic lavas and ash flows, a third at Bee Mountain to study an igneous intrusion, and a fourth at Santa Elena Canyon to study a large fault scarp." 

But it's a dry heat

Camping At Big Bend National Park 2019 - Day 2, Part 1: The Hike

I'll start with a quick word about our initial impression by the time we had arrived and set up camp.

It was hot (thankfully we were in the hills where it's about 10° cooler than down in the desert - where it reached a high of about 109 while we were there), and bright, with little shade, and a never-ending stream of flies, mosquitos and other flying bugs.  I mean, a ridiculous amount of flying bugs.  When in camp we had to wear insect repellent, which we had brought but hoped we wouldn't have to use much.

Some of the campsites have covered picnic tables, but not all (including ours, which we knew in advance).  We had brought a canopy that attaches to the back of our vehicle or can be set up as a sort of lean-to, but neither application worked:  A.) The campsite was not adjacent to the car - there was a short, curving uphill path to get from the road to the site.  B.)  When not attached to the car the canopy uses two tall poles on one end, with the other end being staked to the ground.  The slightest breeze made this unstable even though we had it staked/tied/secured very well.  In the end we had to pack it up.  Without the canopy I was more worried about the sun than the heat.  As an alternative we moved our camp chairs down by the road under the shade of a tree when we were at camp for any length of time.  The upside of this is that we got to meet the camp hosts as they walked by and who were super-nice.  We had a great conversation with them.

The campsites are non-electric and don't have water.  The bathrooms of course have water and also have a sink area for washing dishes, but they don't have showers (more on this later).  Knowing this in advance, we brought a 5-gallon jerry can and several smaller containers of water.  Turns out we didn't need to worry as about every 5 campsites there was a water spigot for everyone's use with a 5 gallon per-person per-day limit.  This was a definite plus!

Oh, there are also bear lockers at each campsite as black bears call the park home.  We saw plenty of fresh bear scat during our stay, but did not see an actual bear.  We also didn't see any of the other potentially dangerous park wildlife such as tarantulas, scorpions, mountain lions or rattlesnakes.  I felt both relieved and cheated at the same time.

Ok, enough of that.  We got up on this day and planned to hike The Window, a 5.6 mile "moderate" round trip trail.  We had a healthy breakfast of pop tarts, filled up our water bottles and walked to the trailhead which was near our campsite.

Panoramic from the trail leading to the bathroom.  Our blue tent is just visible to the left of center.

Here we go

Camping At Big Bend National Park 2019 - Day 1

In May of this year we went for the first time to Big Bend National Park in West Texas to camp.  As described on the National Park Service website:

"There is a place in Far West Texas where night skies are dark as coal and rivers carve temple-like canyons in ancient limestone.  Here, at the end of the road, hundreds of bird species take refuge in a solitary mountain range surrounded by weather-beaten desert.  Tenacious cactus bloom in sublime southwestern sun, and diversity of species is the best in the country.  This magical place is Big Bend..."

That pretty much sums it up.

We got an early start that morning and drove about 9 hours across Texas to get there around 3:30pm.

Thumbs-up for wind energy!

We packed a lunch and stopped to eat just south of Fort Stockton at a little picnic area on a hill

Couldn't have picked a better spot

Trees Swallowing Tags

Several years ago our city (I guess?) added identification tags to all the trees in the area.  These little metal discs were engraved with a number and nailed to each tree.

On a recent walk I noticed that many of the trees were now growing around the tags, so I took some pictures.

Nothing To See Here

Just a big-ass possum running across the backyard wall.

Camping At Disney World 2018 - Day 9

This was it - our last day on the road.  We got up early, shook off the cold, packed up camp and drove about 10hrs (with stops) to get home.

Blue skies are calling me home

"North 49, Mile 125"
Near Natchitoches (pronounced Nack-a-tish), Louisiana

We had a really great trip and I'm glad we got to go with Mom.  I think my biggest takeaways from this trip were:

• Disney World has become much more crowded.  It's true what they say that there really isn't a slow time or season anymore.  Just plan the best you can and be prepared to make the most of it.
• Camping and going to the park wasn't a problem at all.  True you can't really head back to your tent in the middle of the hot day to rest/take a nap, but if needed you could easily camp out in a comfy chair in the lobby of any of the myriad of hotels around the property.
• The hardest part of the trip, and the hardest to adjust to, was the temperature swing from the traveling phase of the trip to the destination portion.  Planning to camp in 80-90° weather is one thing, planning to camp in 30-40°, then 80-90°, then 30-40° again weather is something else.  It didn't help that our travel days ended up being colder than originally forecast, and our Disney days were hotter than they were predicted to be.  I suppose if we had an unlimited amount of space and could fully pack for both extremes it would have been more comfortable, but as it was we did the best with what we had.
• And that's it.  You can only learn 3 lessons from any given situation - additional enlightenment would just be ridiculous.

I'll circle back around to compare/contrast once we take the next trip with our friends.  Hope you enjoyed.

Camping At Disney World 2018 - Day 8

The next morning we packed up and stopped at a McDonald's for breakfast.  Lunch was also eaten on the road and eight-some-odd hours later we arrived back at Buccaneer State Park in Mississippi.

Camp set-up didn't take too long, then around 5:00pm we headed into Bay St. Louis to eat once more at Cuz's Old Town Oyster Bar & Grill.  Delicious again.

Back at camp we cleaned up and settled in for a last brisk (but thankfully not as bad as on the way to Disney) night.  As we were getting ready to bed down there was a wicked loud drunken verbal fight happening a few campsites down that lasted for over an hour until someone finally came to quiet them down.  Or they wore themselves out - not sure which.

Tents are pitched

Camping At Disney World 2018 - Day 7

This was our last day at Disney World.  We got up, broke camp, cleaned up, and drove to the Reception Outpost to check out.  At checkout we confirmed that we could leave the car in the campground's overflow parking lot, which we did.  Then we caught the bus to Animal Kingdom.

We originally planned to spend a half-day this day at Hollywood Studios to bookend the half-day we had there when we arrived, but the night before we decided to go to Animal Kingdom again instead because we enjoy that park more (particularly the walk-through Maharajah Jungle Trek).  So off we went.

Tree of Life

Dinosaur, my favorite

Camping At Disney World 2018 - Day 6

Picking up where I left off...

We spent the next day at the Magic Kingdom where we had FastPasses for Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Peter Pan, in that order.

It's easiest (in my opinion) to take the boat from campground to the Magic Kingdom, plus the scenery beats a bus ride.  We traveled to the campground boat launch and waited about 15-20 minutes for a boat.

Campground Christmas tree

The pier

New York 2019 - The End (No, Really)

On the evening of our last day we went to Joe Allen for dinner.  This was a "must do again" event from our last trip to New York, so I'm glad we decided to close out this trip with a meal there.

We arrived 15 minutes early for our reservation, but were seated right away.  I had known in advance, but our waiter informed us that they were doing some kitchen repairs and had an abbreviated menu.  Fine by me.

I started with a glass of the Fichet Tradition pinot noir, which was nice, and Todd tried the Bad Seed dry cider which was lived up to its name.  We ordered the guacamole for an appetizer and while it was good, I think it was a bit of a disjointed choice by us.  In hindsight we should have ordered something we don't eat just about every other week - not the restaurant's fault.  Compared to what we're used to it was nothing to write home to Texas about.

For dinner I ordered the roasted chicken with mashed potatoes.  It was so flavorful and amazing - it was the best example of a simple dish done right.  For dessert I tried the banana cream pie with an Irish coffee.  The pie was good and the coffee was excellent - another example of something seemingly basic done to perfection.  Satiated, we headed back to the hotel for the night.

Apparently I've not taken any of my own photos of the restaurant.  The following are from the internet.

New York 2019 - The End

On our last full day of the trip I got up early, went down to the 3rd floor for coffee, then came back up to the room.  I eventually woke Todd and we went down for breakfast at 9am:  andouille sausage, chicken sausage, potatoes, pineapple, banana, Raisin Bran, raisin bagel w/Nutella (I don't really like Nutella, FYI, but for some reason it sounded good this morning), orange juice and another coffee.  We ate then went back to the room to clean up.

At about 11am we left the hotel and walked from 54th down to 34th, then walked on 34th to Hudson Yards and Vessel.  From there we walked the High Line to Chelsea Market which I thought was going to be a big flea market.  I was wrong.

There is a small area with a few stalls for artists and "makers", but the majority of Chelsea Market was eateries and storefronts.  It was not a bad experience, just not what I expected.  Todd was hungry so he had a slice of pizza pugliese and a lemon soda from a place called Filaga which he said was really good.  Then he stopped in Amy's Bread for a black and white cookie which was good, but not as good as the one we'd had earlier in the week.

After Chelsea Market we zigzagged our way north about 2 miles on foot to Grand Central Terminal.  By that time I was hungry so I got a buttermilk fried chicken sandwich at Art Bird & Whiskey Bar.  The sandwich was good with a thick piece of chicken.  If the chicken had been crispy it would have put it over the top for me.

We looked around a bit, went up the steps to the Apple Store, then left to go back to the hotel.  On the way we walked through Bryant Park.

While walking through Chelsea on the High Line, I was fascinated by this old building with barrel-shaped windows.  It was fenced off and there was lots of construction equipment around - it looked like it was being renovated.

New York 2019 - Day 3, Part 2: Moulin Rouge! The Musical

After our Central Park adventure we cleaned up and rested in our hotel room.  At 6:30 we roused, I ironed our shirts, splashed some water on my face and at 7:15 we left the hotel to walk to the theater for Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

Fun fact:  We later found out that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had been in the audience with us that night, but we didn't see her.

Artwork from the Boston preview

Artwork from the Broadway run

Teaser videos from the official website:

Truth!

Beauty!

Freedom!

Love!

Welcome to the Moulin Rouge!

New York 2019 - Day 3, Part 1: Central Park

After breakfast we spent the first part of the day in Central Park.  It was a hot, bright summer day.

Around 10:45 we walked the few blocks from our hotel to the Columbus Circle entrance.  We walked by/through Tavern on the Green, Strawberry Fields, the Ladies Pavilion, The Ramble, Belvedere Castle, the Charles B. Stover Bench, the Shakespeare Garden, the King Jagiello monument, The Ramble again, The Point, the Loeb Boathouse, Bethesda Fountain, the Mall, the Dairy Visitor Center, the Chess & Checkers House, the Victorian Gardens amusements at Wollman Rink, and The Pond.

We exited Central Park at 59th and 5th and walked by the Apple Store.  The iconic glass cube and underground store has been undergoing renovation for 2 years but a temporary store next to it is open for business.  We didn't go in.

We continued down 5th to 53rd and made a right so that we could go by The Halal Guys for lunch/dinner (they're opening storefronts around the country now and there's one coming near us - can't wait!).  We each got a combo platter then stopped in the nearby Hudson Market for drinks, a Crunchie bar (yum! - it'd been so long since I had one), and a black & white cookie (because, NY).  We took our food back to the hotel and ate in our room.  It was all delicious.

After eating we put the leftovers in the fridge then took a shower to clean off the day's sweat - we were soaked.  Then we relaxed in the room until it was time to get ready for our evening:  a night at Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

Near the Ladies Pavilion