Dinosaur Valley State Park

I'm taking some time tonight to play catch-up on a few of our family events. Back in October after visiting family in McKinney & Ft. Worth, we drove over to Glen Rose, Texas before heading home. Brenna had been studying dinosaurs in her 2nd grade class, and I thought it would be neat to pop over to Dinosaur Valley State Park and see some actual dinosaur tracks.

However, when we arrived at the Park Entrance, a handwritten sign told us the tracks were not visible because of high water caused by recent heavy rains.

Bummer.

Since we had some leftovers for a picnic lunch, we decided to go ahead and enter the park, walk around for a bit, eat, and then hit the road for the six hour drive home. We really enjoyed our side trip. It turned out to be a beautiful, perfect day to walk around the Paluxy river.

We started in the Visitor Center looking at maps and replicas of the preserved tracks found in the riverbed. We all found it hard to believe that Glen Rose used to be the "beach" on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico.

We drove over to the river and got out to see if anything at all was visible. But all of the tracks were under about two or three feet of rushing water.

Since we couldn't see any of the tracks, we still enjoyed the beautiful day strolling along the river and following the trails up to an overlook.

After some walking, we ate our leftovers at the picnic area, let the girls play on the playground, and bought a souvenir. Before we left, we walked over to get a closer look at the two fiberglass dinosaur models built by the Sinclair Oil Company for the New York World's Fair 1964-65.

Things to do at Cibolo

As long as our Spring Break trip was, it seems incredible that I can't find time to finish blogging about it. To catch you up from the previous posts, we spent Saturday driving to Marathon, Sunday and Monday hiking in Big Bend, before arriving in Cibolo Creek via the River Road. (I still have five days left to blog about!)

Monday night we arrived in Cibolo Creek, checked in, and went to dinner. After dinner, the family gathered outside at the fire pit, where our hosts had provided all of the fixings for S'mores. Despite the fire, it was cool enough to need jackets. While the kids (and some grownups) focused on toasting marshmellows, I couldn't get enough of that vast Texas sky with billions of stars. It's so easy to lose focus on the universe with all the light pollution across the Earth today, but the night sky at Cibolo offered a brief respite. Amazing.Tuesday morning we split up. While the Jones went paddleboating and the Henleys went fishing, we walked around getting ready for a hike to the Indian Cave. Armed with drinks, hats, walkie-talkies and a topographical map we set out.

The trail wasn't very hard to follow and the managers had given us directions on which gates we would go through. We crossed small streams, met other hikers, and aside from birds we saw no "wildlife." Our family really enjoyed the quiet and peacefulness that comes with hiking together. We pointed out blooming cactus, various geological rocks, and views to each other. We talked, laughed, teased.

After some time we found the first of two Indian pictographs. We wouldn't find out until tomorrow that experts from Sul Ross estimated that the pictographs are at least 2500 years old!

We followed the trail father and round the one moutain and eventually came to the cave. We had been cautioned to throw a rock inside to make sure nothing "alive" was resting in there. Every time Brenna came across a good-sized rock. she picked it up and carried it to use for this purpose until her pockets and arms were full. Bryan had us stay back while he approached the entrance and looked around before calling the all clear.

Very well hidden from the outside, the cave appeared to be a large overhang with large rocks in front. Other rocks had been stacked up to create a short protective wall with an opening. Smoke soot blackened various portions of the ceiling. The angle of the opening allowed in plenty of morning sun, which made it difficult to take photos of the interior.
We later learned that the caves were most likely used by Jumano Indians and archeologists uncovered numerous artifacts and arrowheads dating back at least 10,000 years. On the way back to the Fort, we passed Dad, Lisa, Brian, David, and the kids on their way. We had been talking to them on the walkie-talkies, giving them clues about where things were. After passing them, we sidetracked to explore an area around a little creek.

When we first walked up to the creekbed, a Killdeer (we looked it up later) started chattering and strutting around trying to lead us away. We're not birders, but you couldn't help watching and pointing out all of the different varieties of birds found all over Cibolo Creek Ranch.

Upon returning to Fort Cibolo, we had a delicious lunch in the main dining area with other guests. I peeked into the various museum rooms, including the chapel on the way back to the lake where we took our turn paddleboating and fishing.

The lake offered catch and release fishing and I think Cameron was the first (and only?) one to catch a fish. A storeroom on the edge of the lake housed mountain bikes, life jackets, fishing poles, lures, and anything else you needed. We saw other guests who fished from their paddleboats.

Brian, Lisa, David, Mom, Dad, and Bryan had an appointment for wine tasting in the early afternoon.

Leah kept the three youngers and I took the four olders to the swimming pool. Ashley and Daniel are fantastic swimmers and Cameron is improving, but Brenna still struggles when the water is over her head. I sat on the steps for a while watching them and then we got into the hot tub for some splashing. When they went back into the pool, I put a life jacket on Brenna so she could keep up with the others and I could sit in a lounge chair on the side. At 4 p.m. Bryan came out to tell me it was "time" and I brought everyone inside to change. They were so well behaved! No one whined about getting out and all did a great job getting dressed.

At 5 p.m. Dad, Brian, Bryan and I had an appointment to do a little target shooting. David and Leah went mountain biking and Mom and Lisa took a turn watching all seven of the kids.

The guys and I went out in the Humvee to the designated pistol range. All manner of targets dotted the landscape like a lifesize arcade game - metal deer, little round targets that flip, and boards at all distances. Each of us fired six shots per turn using three different guns following all of the rules. We shot a compact .40, a 9mm, and a .44 western style revolver with a hair trigger. Bryan shot the best of all of us, then Dad, and Brian and I vied for third depending on the gun. (I shot better with the .40; he did better with the 9mm).

Mom and Lisa took the kids for a walk all around El Fortin Cibolo, stopping for photos in various places, including this assembly of wagons and stone walls on the outskirts of the paddock.

After everyone returned from activities, it was time to freshen up and go to happy hour and dinner again. Brenna and Ashley decided they were quite grown up with their virgin daquiris and toasted each other every single time they took a drink. (Really, every time.)Dinner is quite an event and a bit lengthy when the ranch is at capacity. After our exciting day is it any surprise that this happened near the end?

Wednesday morning we attended a Cowboy Breakfast beautifully hosted at the Wagon location just outside the paddock. The staff fired up an outdoor fire pit and cooked coffee, eggs and tortillas outside. Wool blankets covered hay bales for seats, and stone walls for positioning the orange juice carafe, biscuit basket, and fresh fruit trays. Two horses and the official ranch dog rounded out the ensemble.

After breakfast we were signed up for a Mountain Tour in the Humvees. What fun with all of us piled high in the back of two Humvees driving up a steep dirt trail into the mountains above the Fort. Our drivers also played guide, with various stops along the way to point out native and introduced plants, the effects of all the rain forcing the agave plants to bloom...and then die.

From this view, you can follow the road back to the Fort in the far distance, which gives you some idea of the elevation covered during the tour.

The second tallest waterfall in the state is on Cibolo Creek property. We stopped to look at it three times, the first from this angle.

Next, we pulled alongside of the dam funneling water to the falls. Last we viewed it from above. At this height you can see the road we were on below.

When we reached the highest elevation on the ranch - 5300 ft.- we climbed out of the humvees to enjoy the view. From here you could see Shafter and Presidio, Texas and Ojinaga, Mexico.

Of course, when you go up, you must come down... Here is the view from the back of the Humvee as we approach "Coronary Hill."

Coronary Hill is a very steep decline from mountain. We braced ourselves with our feet against the center storage piece and the girls hung onto the back of their seat laughing and squealing all the way down. Mom is afraid of heights and we were joking how glad we were not to be in the Humvee with her because while one side of the narrow road faced the mountain, the other had a dizzying drop off. I'm pretty sure our driver didn't actually have the Humvee in drive and I know he never took his foot off the brake. For the rest of the tour we went down into the lowest elevation of the Ranch and explored the old Squatters Cabins. During the 1880s, many families arrived to work in the mines at Shafter, Texas and several families squatted on Faver's land, building stone cabins.

Everyone spent a little time poking around looking for broken shards of old glass bottles and pottery. The guides were helpful in showing us various areas where they had found some. They had a few tales about about Tommy Lee Jones and the movie crew using these cabins for location shooting of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada . We still need to watch that movie....

The tour swung by and stopped at the Indian Pictographs, but not the cave, and returned to the Fort just in time for lunch. After lunch we rushed to pack the car and check out of our rooms. That night's occupants had already arrived and were wanting to check in!

On our drive to the main gate, we saw this family of antelope saying "farewell".

We can't wait until we see this sign welcoming us again. Maybe next year?

Quick trip

The first weekend after our week of sickies (Feb 10) we decided that it was too beautiful of a day to stay cooped up in the house. We had originally planned to go to the Sabine River that weekend, but Brenna and I were still not well; in fact I found out at Monday's Dr. appt that I was harboring a nasty sinus infection.

We spent an hour at the San Jacinto Monument and Museum. It's very close, but Brenna has never been and Cameron was too young the last time to remember it. First we went through the museum. We chose to use our limited time to go for a hike on one of the marshlands boardwalk trails instead of taking the elevator to the top. We wanted to spend as much time outside as possible.

While on the hike we saw many birds, including a roseate spoonbill, egrets, herons, and many red-winged blackbirds, who were very vocal this evening. But the best was when Brenna and I saw an alligator! Bryan and Cameron had walked ahead and they didn't see it. Brenna, who was frightened, ran to catch up with Daddy, who promptly made her turn around and show him where she saw it. Disappointingly for him, the alligator had already turned the corner into another area.

This was the view we had of the monument as we returned. At 570 feet, the San Jacinto monument is the world's tallest memorial column. (Oh yeah, it towers a whole 15 feet above the Washington Monument.)

The girls at the base of the monument. If you're not familiar with the Battle of San Jacinto, take a moment and read about it at their website. In this photo, the reflection pool is behind the girls, with the six flags that flew over Texas, and though you can't see it, the Battleship Texas is a little farther back - at the sight of the Texian Army camp.