We’ve celebrated some big milestones on our year long adventure. Over 25,000 miles traveled. Over 800 pieces of artwork created. But more importantly, finding peace, joy and gratitude each and every single day. We’re up to Part 7 of our route map now, but if you missed any earlier segments or highlight blogs (lots of pictures!), catch up with any of the links here:
- Part 1 looped us from Ohio to Maine and back to Ohio.
- Part 2 carried us across the country from Ohio to Montana and to our adventures in and around Glacier National Park.
- Part 3 circled the Olympic Peninsula in and around Olympic National Park.
- Part 4 took us to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon and Redwood National and State Parks in California
- We also included our extended stay on the Oregon Coast over the holidays in Part 4, as we filled holiday orders for Destination Tree
- Part 5 traversed us through California including Napa Valley, Yosemite, King’s Canyon and Sequoia National Parks
- Part 6 brought us through the Southwest as we explored Joshua Tree National Park, Sedona, The Apache Trail outside of Phoenix, Tombstone and Bisbee.
And now…on to TEXAS!
Part VII
February 9 – March 7, 2016
Our desert exploration continued as we left Arizona and headed to Texas, through El Paso and on to Marfa, TX. We actually wanted to spend some time in New Mexico, but due to freezing temperatures (weather is always a factor for our travel trailer), we decided we would circle back to NM at a later point.
Marfa, TX was our stopping point from Arizona to Big Bend National Park, and home to “The Marfa Lights”. A strange and unexplained phenomena of bouncing lights on the horizon, although to us, they looked like they could very likely be headlights in the distance. Regardless, Texas is home to possibly the darkest skies we’ve seen yet. You haven’t seen the stars or the milky way until you’ve seen them on a clear night in the middle of nowhere Texas.
From there we continued on to Big Bend National Park. Located in southwest Texas, Big Bend was a biggie on our bucket list. It’s a long way from anything but it’s absolutely beautiful. Our awe of desert beauty continued here and included exploration of ancient petroglyphs and major gawking at the impressive canyons the Rio Grande carves into the mountains.
We left the bright lights of the stars in Big Bend for the bright lights of some city life in San Antonio and Austin. (Texas BBQ? Yes, please!) And took care of some “work” (it’s not really work when you love what you do!) by visiting the Texas Gulf Coast for some driftwood sourcing! Because no matter where we go, we’re creating and shipping driftwood artwork, and the driftwood supply in the desert is hard to come by…
Our driving route is below, and of course you can check out highlights and pictures from Big Bend National Park, The Alamo and the Texas Gulf Coast in our detailed blog posts. Thanks for following along!
Tips: Zoom in and out on the map, and move the map around to get a better look at the route. Or click “View Larger Map” below to get an even better view.
Stubs says
Texas is a Grand place to explore!