Another one of our off the beaten path places to visit was Fort Davis, Texas.  We spent a couple of hours there on our way to a tour of McDonald Observatory, which is about 30 minutes “up the hill.”

Fort Davis is one of the best surviving examples of an Indian Wars’ frontier military post in the Southwest. From 1854 to 1891, Fort Davis was strategically located to protect emigrants, mail coaches, and freight wagons on the Trans-Pecos portion of the San Antonio-El Paso Road and on the Chihuahua Trail.

Many of the buildings have been restored to close to their original condition, and for others only the foundations remain. We’ve enjoyed visiting these different forts, understanding the role they played in American history and in the expansion and settlement of the west.

When people ask us what the highlight of our recent trip was, it is easy to respond that it was the Grand Canyon.  But Big Bend National Park was probably the most unexpected.  It is a beautiful park with rugged mountains, deep valleys and a wide variety of plant and animal life.

Other than the scenery, we were not prepared for how dry it was there.  It’s a desert climate, and we knew that.  And while it was not hot – upper 80s to low 90s during our day there – the dew point was in the teens, and you could practically feel the moisture being sucked out of our bodies.  We had plenty of food and water with us, and we never strayed too far from the car.  But by the end of the day we were thirsty and exhausted.  It just wore us out!

The Rio Grande River runs along the southern border of the park, and it was interesting to look across and realize that it was another country – Mexico – on the other side.  Signs warned against crossing the border illegally, but that didn’t stop people from wading across to the other side for a photo.  The Rio Grande, after all, isn’t all that Grande.  At least for most of the year!

Big Bend is an example of a park where you really need multiple days to truly experience it.  And to do that ideally means staying in the park, either by camping or staying in one of the many privately operated lodges in and near the park.  We stayed in Alpine, TX which is about 1.5 hours away.  That was not a big deal since we only visited one day.  But if you wanted to see more, or photograph sunrise or sunset, it would be worthwhile to be closer.  On a return trip we may decide to do just that.  Although we probably wouldn’t consider camping.  That just isn’t our thing. 😉

Probably because I started to become “world aware” in the mid to late 60s I had always associated Texas with Lyndon Johnson and The Alamo.  I remember hearing references to the “Texas White House” on the news and it conjured up images of a place far away and quite foreign from western Pennsylvania.

We didn’t get to The Alamo this trip, but we did visit the LBJ Ranch, which is a National Historical Park, operated by the National Park Service.  None of the buildings were open, and we got there pretty late in the day, but we did have a chance to drive the loop road, stop at the house and view some of the exhibits, including a former aircraft nicknamed “Air Force One Half” because of its small size.  It was used to shuttle Johnson and company between the LBJ Ranch airport and Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio.

Visiting the ranch gave us a little taste of US history, and made real something I had only heard about and had seen only on television.