Family Vacation

• Eight Days+
• Three minivans+
• Fifteen people+
• Seven children+
• ...three in diapers...+
• 1700 miles
• = one Supersized Family Vacation

For Spring Break we took an extended family vacation to West Texas. To understand how we can do this, you have know Mom. She can plan anything. She took charge of all the planning, the reservations, etc. She even put together this great book (one per car) with phone numbers, addresses, confirmation numbers, directions, schedules, list of places to eat per town - anything you could need to know before heading out.

Bryan had to work on the first weekend of our trip, so he missed the drive out and hiking in Big Bend. I took off on Friday, did the laundry, cleaned the house, packed the suitcases and the car and we left for SBR about an hour after the kids got out of school.

Saturday morning we began our caravan west on Hwy 90 to Del Rio, where we planned to stop for lunch.

Dad had this fantastic idea to use walkie talkies to communicate between the vans, but on the way we discovered that our WT could receive but not transmit. If you know me, then you know what torture it was to hear everything but not to be able to comment back! After a greasy Mexican lunch in Del Rio we stopped at their Walmart (the last one we saw for a week) to pick up another set.

About 90 minutes after lunch we pulled into Langtry, Texas where Judge Roy Bean dispensed whiskey and the law in his saloon/courthouse.

The last time David, Lisa and I were here was in the summer 1978 about a month before David's first birthday. Mom has a photo of us on this same porch, so we took another photo together. The Texas Information stop there had a lovely walking area with a cactus garden.

We drove another few hours before arriving in Marathon, Texas. Population 455. For a comparison, our neighborhood has a higher population. Our rooms were in little cabins at the Marathon Motel.

The kids really enjoyed the courtyard area with a fireplace and fountain.

We ate dinner that night at the Famous Burro. I love the look that flits across the hostess (or owners) face when we walk into a small place and say we need seating for 14: 7 adults, 6 children's menus, 3 booster seats and a high chair. At the Famous Burro we sat outside while we waited for a few tables to open up. Although they had a very limited, yet tasty, menu, they did have a full bar.

The next morning I fed the girls (and Laurie, who ended up in our room while the grownups got ready) some poptarts. Aren't they cute sitting around the vanity stool?

We drove "into town" to get some breakfast. Dad immediately suggested Marathon Coffee, because the parking lot was empty (another key to finding places that don't freak out when 14 people walk in), but Mom was concerned because it wasn't in "the book". They served a sufficient breakfast taco, though their coffee was decidedly weak.

After breakfast we gathered our supplies and headed south into Big Bend National Park! We drove in through the north entrance at Persimmon Gap and stopped at Panther Junction park headquarters.

The kids enjoyed playing with hands-on exhibits while the adults spoke with rangers, picked up maps, browsed the gift shop, and bought postcards. Then we drove into the Basin area, passing the trailhead for "Lost Mine Trail" noticing that there were no more parking spaces. Inside the Basin, we unloaded for a hastily put together picnic lunch.

Alex and Laurie entertained themselves by placing lots of little pebbles on this big rock. Brenna enjoyed looking at the surrounding mountains with her binoculars.

After lunch we walked around the "Window View Trail" a short walk to an overlook highlighting the Window.

Mom volunteered to stay in the Basin with Megan and Laurie, allowing the rest of us to hike the 2.8 miles (one way) down to the window itself.

Once we were at the window, it was very crowded and we had to wait "our turn" to take a photo at the opening where the water runs over the slippery rock to a 500+ foot drop on the other side. We rested and drank a little water before making the return hike - another 2.8 miles going uphill the entire way.

Some of us *cough-me-cough* found the climb up and out to be quite exhausting, but I made it. On the drive back to Marathon we had to go through another U.S. Border Inspection Station. We saw one driving into Del Rio, were stopped at our first exiting Del Rio, and now were stopped again exiting Big Bend.

It's quite simple. You pull over and one of the two officers asks you "Are you all U.S. citizens?" to which you answer "Yes." I think both stops also asked us how many people we had in the car and where we were going and why we were in the area. I also remember a K-9 unit, but don't remember if there was one for both of the stops. I do remember that the young officer who spoke to us at this particular stop was really handsome. Lisa noticed too.

Sunday night in Marathon - and nothing is open. For dinner we took advantage of the sign in the Marathon Motel office stating that they would cook us "pizza" for a fee. Frozen pizza. I think we ended up with six of them. They were very delicious after our long day.