Greetings from Big Bend!

We arrived in El Paso late Sunday, and after a tussle with the lady in our rental car's navigation system arrived at the Camino Real Hotel (see the glass dome over the bar by Tiffany above). Woke early Monday with the intention of zipping down to Big Bend to be sure we arrived before sunset. What's that bit about the road to hell...? As it turned out, we didn't make it out of town until after 1 because we found the Tony Lama outlets along I-10 and had to stop in 2 of them for mom (!) to buy not one but two pairs of boots. (OK, I bought some, too.) And once we saw the signs for the Mission Trail, we had to make a detour to see those, too. Found this fantastic restaurant near the 2nd one and ate the best Mexican Food I've had since I don't know when. You could tell it was a good place because the parking lot was full and most of the other patrons were Mexican.



Once we had eaten all we could, we hopped back in the car and did make it back to the freeway and out toward Big Bend via Marfa. We saw the Prada boutique on the way into town, and we weren't even looking for it! It's the funniest sight I've seen in ages. Naturally, we took a zillion pictures before moving on.



We drove into Big Bend just as sun set. The sky was beautiful with very drammatic storm clouds hovering over the hills providing a light show for us. Of course we had to drive straight toward the storm which really opened up on us as soon as it got good and dark out. It was one of those storms where wipers are irrelevant. It was nothing short of a miracle that we were able to find the Chisos Mountain Lodge where we spent last night.

Now feeling a bit naughty for pulling out a laptop in this place. It's one of those 1950's era lodges, with "cabins" that look more like old motor court motels on the state highways. No TV, no in-room phones even. Very back to nature. I feel like that guy who takes his electric razor and portable TV with him when he wants to get back to nature. But, hey! There's free wi-fi, so someone thinks this is OK.

If Mom gets up and moving, we'll have the big bacon breakfast at the lodge and then spend the day hiking around the park.

Saw this sign at a restaurant near our hotel in El Paso. Classic.