Last week, for Thanksgiving, I went camping with my family, friends of the family, David Wogan (one of my housemates), and his family. My family has been camping in west Texas for Thanksgiving for many years. Each time we camp, there is always something new or challenging. Last Thanksgiving camping trip, the temperatures were around the teens which is bitterly cold for Texans used to temperatures in the 90s.

This Thanksgiving, the excitement started before we even left on the 7 hour drive out west. The night before, my dad calls during dinner and states that he made a huge mistake. My father thought that thanksgiving was the last week of November which is often true except that this year November has five Thursdays instead of four. This meant that we didn’t have campground reservations at Big Bend National Park (you have to get reservations six months before). That night we spent a lot of time scrambling to find an alternate location. We eventually reserved spots at the Davis Mountains State Park. The drive out was fairly uneventful. We did our normal stops at the German Bakery in Fredericksburg (great sausage rolls with chesse) and photo op at the Davy Crockett statue in Ozona.

Some of us went horseback riding on Thursday, the first whole day, at the Prude Ranch. This is the first time I have gone horseback riding except for once when I was very young. I don’t remember it very well. I kinda want a horse now. After horseback riding, we went hiking to the top of the Davis Mountains. The view was amazing. It goes from mountains to flat plains. That night I went with my mom, my brother and his wife, and David to see the famous Marfa Lights. I saw some unusual lights but I couldn’t tell if they were car headlights or the marfa lights.

On Friday, we hiked down from the mountain to Fort Davis. The fort was established in 1850 and was an outpost for the US cavalry. After the visiting the fort, we drove to Marfa and did some shopping and sightseeing. That night we went to a star party at the McDonald Observatory. First, they showed us the constellations and our host was able to explain them better than anyone else. After the tour of the constellations, we were able to see the moon and Jupiter through telescopes. It was awesome except for it being extremely cold and a little windy.

When we got back to our campsite we found my brother and sister-in-law’s tent collapsed. It turned out a pack of javelinas ripped into their tent and ate some of their stuff and in the processes, the tent poles bent. My brother was able to unbend the poles and splint them with duct tape and metal spoons. David and I found that our tent had also been assaulted but the only damage was a rip in the side of our tent. Luckily that was our last night camping. In the morning, we also talked to another camper who had her tent invaded while she was at the star party. I guess the javelinas don’t like people that look at stars. Or they only attacked then.

The drive home was pretty uneventful. I was definitely glad to be home though.

I will add some pictures later when I am able to get all of them.