Grand Tour of Texas: Day 5 Fort Davis to Big Bend

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December 21st 2010

Published: March 8th 2013

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Waffles

Fort Davis

Day 5 of the Grand Tour of Texas!!!!

I bid farewell to my brother and niece. I'll see them in Laredo soon. This morning I headed over to Historic Fort Davis and took a quick look around of the barracks. I like the setting against the mountains rising in the back. Its a great place for a fort.

I took a wonderful winding drive through the Davis Mountains afterwards on my way up to the McDonald Observatory. There is a marker mentioning the fact that you are currently on the highest road in Texas. Makes one feel proud. The Observatory is nice. You get to see both telescopes but unfortunately you don't get to use them during the day. One must return for one of their star parties at night.

I made my way down to Big Bend after that. I headed south to the Rio Grande by way of Presidio and the most scenic highway in Texas EVER: Highway 170. The views along this highway are the best I've ever seen. It takes you meandering alongside the Rio Grande between the mountains with the grandeur of Texas on one side the splendor of Mexico on the other.

Barracks at Fort Davis

This was totally a surprising experience for me. I'd recommend it for anyone who likes scenic, lonely drives.

The road takes you directly to Big Bend National Park. I hurried to get myself to the Santa Elena Canyon for a quick photo op. I made it as the sun was going down. I kept kicking myself for making this Grand Tour be just a drive by of places I've always wanted to see. Its occurred to me that I've seen so much in the last 5 days that I could of easily of spread out into 2 weeks. Well might as well keep enjoying the trip and the sights!

I headed out of Big Bend at night after watching the moonrise above the mountains. On my way out I nearly ran over a super huge deer with the antlers of a king. It was probably the king of deer or something. I am not kidding, the antlers were numerous and HUGE. I took it as a sign to slow down along this loneliest of roads. I made it to Fort Stockton late at night.

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