Dallas/Fort Worth and Marge

We made reservations at Traders Village RV in Grand Prairie for a few days so we could mainly see my step-mother, Marge Leeton.  The George Bush Presidential Library and Cowboys Stadium are also on the schedule. Plus the weather is still lousy in Tennessee.  First goal--see Marge!  Fail! I had a phone number for Marge and had spoken with her at Christmas.  Terry and I spent the next 5 days looking for her but to no avail.  We did talk to people who have talked to her in the past 10 days and she is OK.  Just moved to live nearer "her son" and where they play more bridge. 

Marge is a great grandmother (post script--Marge died a couple months after we were there--
yet another lesson in life--seize the moment we waited too late to go see her)

A great Lady

She knew mother and daddy when they were in WWII this is after they had reunited after their spouses had died.  This is when they met up with Mitch who was part of the crew on the airplane that Daddy and Ed piloted
 

  With a heavy heart we continued to play tourist and see the George W. Bush Presidential Library which is located on the campus of Southern Methodist University.  Beautiful Library and Campus.  We laughed because the GPS said the library was located on smu drive (rather than S-M-U drive).

The George W. Bush Library is situated in the middle of SMU and we spent Easter there

In the foyer, they have a 360 degree video screen showing various points of achievement

A special display honoring the First Ladies was really nice

Then it moved on to his 8 years in office

This is a beam from the World Trade Center after the terrorist attack

I got to sit at the desk in their mock oval office

Beautiful presidential seal

Next day we went to AT&T Stadium and took the VIP Tour through Jerry"s House/Home of the Dallas Cowboys.  We loved it and want to go back for a football game sometime.  Then we rode into Fort Worth and saw the famous Stockyard and Billy Bob's Bar. 

This is a BIG facility--the largest (in size) in the world

This is the view from the "Party" tickets--10,000 individual game tickets where you stand all the time but can walk around

The 6 ton roof only takes 10 minutes to open--Jerry Jones spared no expense

They love Jason Whitten here

Where the team runs out on the field

The field is sorta spongy to walk on

Carlsbad Cavern and we add another state to our repitoire (New Mexico)

Carlsbad Caverns are huge caves under the Guadalupe Mountain Range in the Chihuahuan Desert  It was totally a hit. Fascinating was the hole in the ground which could house  a gigantic army of bats--it must have been a whale of a big cave. An inscription reading "J White 1898" was discovered deep within Carlsbad Caverns in the 1980s. It provides witness to the presence of a 15- or 16-year-old Jim White--a true explorer. We stayed at White City RV at the gateway (7 miles) to the Caverns.

Carlsbad Caverns was wonderful and yes, it was cold and windy



View out the front of the RV at White City

 

This is pretty basic RV'ing but we had water, electric and sewer and it was as close as you can get

On Thursday the 29^th we hiked the 4 miles throughout the cave down then UP! (the elevator was broken?!)and saw spectacular sites.  We were too late to sign up for guided tours but we got the little information guides on the phones—they helped a lot.  But the views were absolutely unbelievable!

Opening to the Caverns--looked a lot easier than it turned out

Huge Column where stalactites meet stalagmites 

Beautiful

Land of the fairies

Giant column with draperies

Chinese theatre
 

 

Fort Davis and the McDonald Observatory

Fort Davis—great restoration of a fort that housed black forces after the civil war.  The nearby McDonald Observatory had a Star Party that was really great—we looked through the big telescopes at the moon surface and The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42) that is the fuzzy mass beside Orion’s Belt. We stayed at the Fort Davis Inn and RV and ate at Deleon Restaurant that was OK for a couple of days and more importantly centrally located.

McDonald Observatory was out in the middle of nowhere but really interesting

Orion Nebula is the fuzzy star below the 3 bright stars of the belt

Fort Davis had a beautiful courthouse

 

Cow/Horse turnstiles at the entrance of the walks at the courthouse

 

First Presbyterian Church--seems you are either Presbyterian or Catholic

 

Fort Davis had a lot of dress-up tools

 

Big Bend --next 2 days

Big Bend is describe as "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.  We spent 3 days exploring it all. 

Chisos Mountains, Santa Elena Canyon, and Balanced Rock:

Haze in front of Santa Elena Canyon

Mules Ears mountain

Santa Elena Canyon--a 3 mile hike over rocky, rough terrain

We loved Santa Elena the best.

Balanced Rock was really cool

Deer feeding on a tree on his hind legs

Mt. Emory in the Chisos Mountain Range

Visitors Center in Castolon