West Texas

We’ve been talking about going on a West Texas trip for a while and finally decided to just do it. It was amazing. I can’t believe it was my first time seeing Texas mountains. The hills here in the hill country are beautiful, but nothing beats the mountains.

It started out with a 6 hour drive to Fort Davis, which went smoothly without stops (shocking). We camped in tents for the first two days (pack-in-play included). The days were hot but the nights were cool, which made sleeping comfortable. And only ONE bug crawled on my face while sleeping in the tent. Then we headed to the Indian Lodge just up the mountain for the next 2 days. I was obsessed with the simplicity of it. I’m a sucker for white stucco & cactus. While staying there we made short trips around the area. We swam at San Solomon Springs in Balmorhea. It was ice cold & filled with fish. Then we made a day trip to Marfa. “Worst word to roll off your tongue; best place far from the B.S.” I see why so many people love it there. We found an awesome bar called Capri. It had hammocks for the girls, stumps and wood for Hunt to play with and good drinks for us grownups. The trip ended with a stop at Devil’s River. We stayed in the barrocks and had to walked a mile with a lot of gear in order to get to the river. It was worth it though. We were the only ones there minus 2 older guys whom we rarely saw. It reminded me a lot of New Braunfels but more remote & private. We were the first ones to stay there with kids, so the ranger was excited. I guess no other parents have wanted to brave the treacherous hike to get to the river. Our girls are pretty tough though so it wasn’t bad.

Hunt made the campsite feel like home right away with his truck collection.

Then soon forgot all about his trucks and moved on to nature collections.

We all made sure to keep our sanity with plenty of exercise.

The only shots of me in them are blurry of course 🙁 (life of a photographer).

Hunt’s first smore.

His smore faces CRACKED.US.UP!

We drove up to the top of the mountain every night at sunset.

As they were looking down at the Indian Lodge, Matt asked Hunt what he thought they were doing down there and Hunt said “Choppin wood”. This is Matt laughing about it. 🙂 This kid cracks us up.

San Solomon Springs in Balmorhea.

Mimi wasn’t gettin’ in the water!

Here’s why.

She compromised with a tube float.

Watching Daddy jump.

Indian Lodge, Ft. Davis.

My only forced shot. 🙂 The girls standing over their ages.

 Wish I could have shot this photo below before the “Spaces & Places” deadline on Minted. 🙁 I’ll have to enter it next year.

The girls with the Ranger after he gave them their badges for completing the nature booklet.