Big Bend National Park (I'm tired I can't think of anything good)

"Guys give me something to write about. What do I miss about Texas?"
"The grass!"
"The dirt!"

For this post I was honestly thinking about going down the easy Buzzfeed-esque route I like so much.
"Huh, maybe today I will make a list where I rank all my family members in order of how much I like them. But that also makes no sense."
Nah, I'll spare you that awful blog post that might make an appearance in the future if I absolutely run out of things from Texas I miss.
Let's get down to nature.
I don't know if you guys know this place, but it's called Big Bend National Park. Yes, I too thought this was the clock in England the first time I heard it. But alas, it is not the big clock from England.

Thanks

So Big Bend National Park is this super large, protected area of land that covers about 801,163 acres in South Texas. Like South-west Texas (think Rio Grande and Mexico!!) Anyway it's super beautiful and it's also super fun to go camping there.

Santa Elena Canyon

I've been camping here about four times. I came the first time with my dad and a bunch of his friends when I was about ten years old. It was super boring because I was the only kid there and I was too young to appreciate the raw beauty of it. Plus we only stayed like three days.

That is a picture of me and my dad chilling in some sleeping bags because it gets super freaking cold in November, which is also the month we go camping in. So anyway, the first time was sort of lame and I was like, I guess it's okay because I can climb rocks but all this sitting around the fire by myself stuff is kind of butt.

We went again a year later. This time my dad's best friend since elementary school came with us. He brought his daughter, Ashley, with him. Ashely was usually my friend out of proximity. She was a year and a half older than me but we still got along and talked. We also brought my cousin, Jamey, with us. Jamey was four years older and also a boy. So naturally Ashley had a crush on him almost instantaneously. And he of course was naturally uninterested and also a little embarrassed. My job was to relay messages between them.

There we are again. I have almost the same haircut. It is slightly better. But only slightly. Whatever, this trip proved way more fun, also I was older, so therefore more wiser and able to enjoy the hiking and nature stuff. Plus this was the year I learned the art of rock stacking. Which is just where you get a bunch of little rocks and try and balance them on top of each other. It's crazy fun and looks super cool. Like a message an alien would send.

Not as cool as I remember it looking

We went again two years later. 

By then I was a teenager. This type of camping was fun, but I wanted more independence and time on my own. I started hiking the trails by myself more. The easy stuff, nothing too dangerous or too long. I just wanted time to think and to take in the landscape. It's not a lot of color, and everything looks dry. But I always liked how untouched by man it was. 

We went one last time a few years ago. My junior year. I remember that time because my dad had brought my step-mom with us. We also brought my other cousin, Jayla, with us. She's a year younger than me but we're super close. William came along too, but he brought his wife and Ashley and her boyfriend. 

There was a lot of tension that trip. I think I remember something along the lines of William smoking pot with his wife and Ashley and her boyfriend, and I don't think my step-mom approved. I honestly don't know the full story. All I know is that trip was my absolute favorite one. Even though I was way older and I had missed most of my Thanksgiving break to come do this camping trip, I didn't really mind it. Even though there was weird tension and we brought way too much stuff with us, I'm glad I went. 

My dad and I had been not as close as of late and I felt that coming on this trip was a really nice way to connect with him. We hiked together and we talked, not argued, which at that point, we had been doing a lot of. It was really nice to have my cousin there also, because she's great and also because I almost fell off a giant rock and she caught me before I felt to a certain broken-arm future

Last Picture

So I guess this week, considering how groovy the weather has been, I'm just missing the vibes of hiking. Of eating chili that tastes like heaven because it's super duper cold and you haven't eaten since that bologna sandwich. And I especially miss all the funny stories that I come home with. Because something funny always happens. 

I'm not sure when I'll get to go hiking here again. I'm sure soon since I don't like to go too many years between Big Bend visits. Camping is good for the soul. Especially Texan camping.