Staycation / Vacation

We’ve had our property for three years now and have had two guests. Michael was our first ever; he helped Scott move us from the RV Park in Terlingua out to the property the first year while I was away on a work trip. This past week we hosted Michael again along with Eric, both friends who live in Portland. It was a visit packed with lots outdoor adventures and was a lovely staycation for us (vacation for them). They flew in to Midland and rented a car which they drove out to our property on Wednesday, arriving after sunset. We drove down our dirt road to meet them at the highway to make sure they didn’t miss our turnoff and to escort them the last 7 miles. It was cozy with all the air mattresses but we didn’t spend much time inside. Thanks to Big Dog (aka Eric) for many of these photos!

Thursday we headed to Big Bend National Park for lots of hiking. Michael and Eric hiked Emory Peak, a 10.5 mile round trip with an elevation change of 2,500 feet. It’s the third highest peak in Texas and the most prominent because of the elevation change and surrounding peaks.

Scott and I didn’t think we were up for that so we did the Window Trail hike, a 5 mile round trip with 800 ft elevation change. We took our time on the hike (since our hike was half as long as the one Michael and Eric were on) and had fun taking photos with our new camera.

We met back up for lunch at the visitor center then drove down the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to Santa Elena Canyon. I was very excited when we stumbled across a Havard’s Fiddleleaf bush (the same type of plant that attracts all of the pollinators on the property).

We headed home after Santa Elena Canyon for dinner at the property. We had a small unexpected grease fire on the grill, so Michael’s impossible burgers got a little extra smoke (or burnt grease) flavoring. Before our guests arrived, Scott and I purchased a picnic table so we could eat outside as a group and it got a lot of use over the weekend. The moon was super full and bright that night so, despite eating after sunset, there was plenty of light to see by.

Friday we left super early (4:30am) to do a sunrise hike at the Lost Mine Trail. We planned a stop at a spot called “the saddle” just as the sun was rising. It was very peaceful watching the sun come up while listening to the birds sing.

After taking in the sunrise we continued up the trail and made it to the top where we passed a couple who had champaign and roses, celebrating a sunrise proposal (she said yes).

After the hike, we headed back to Terlingua to drive through the ghost town and visit the cemetery. We grabbed a quick lunch at Venga then headed to Far Flung for a half-day canoe trip.

After our ~3 mile float down the Rio Grande (in Big Bend Ranch State Park) we headed over to the Starlight Theater for dinner where (in a bizarre coincidence) Michael’s friends were playing a show. At dinner Eric and I both had the quail, though I’m not sure if the quail were local or not.

Back at home we did some star gazing then headed to bed. Saturday morning Scott, Michael, and Eric went on a short hike around the area over to to an section about a mile from our property that we call “Mini-Canyonlands”.

Then we all took a half-day trip up to Marfa and toured the town and the art.

Back at the property we grilled dinner again (this time with less grease-fire flavoring) and told stories under the stars.

Sunday morning we took another hike around the property and saw some planes fly over us (a very rare occasion out there).

Then Michael and Eric drove back to Midland to catch their flight back to Portland while Scott and I quickly switched gears from hosting to travel prep (our scheduled departure date was just five days away). We weren’t able to get our water guy out to fill up the tank before we left so we secured the tank as best we could so it doesn’t blow away this summer. Our water guy said he’d be able to get out there sometime later this spring, but even if he doesn’t we think the tank will stay in place.

We had some clouds blow in that made for some gorgeous sunrises and sunsets for our sendoff.

We’ll be back in October and hopefully some of the seeds I’ve scattered will have sprouted and given us a bit more flowers and grasses around here.

And now we’re off to our summer adventures!