Today (1/29), we left from our RV spot in Alpine to see a museum of the Big Bend National Park. The entrance opened into the gift shop, and the tour guide started us on our walk through the museum exhibits. At the beginning, there is a map of the surrounding area with push buttons that light up a named area in the park. Above our heads soared a life-size Pterodactyl (flying dinosaur) with 40 foot wingspan! We then toured the whole museum, watching movies about Big Bend and its history. There were movies and set-ups about how Pancho Villa used to come across on his raids from Mexico. They also had a couple of documentaries about how archeolgists excavate dinosaur bones and a huge, 17-foot wall of pictographs (which they had a replica in the museum). After seeing the whole museum, we went back to the gift shop and the exit. I looked in a book about road runners while in the shop. There was some amazing pictures.
After leaving the museum, we ate at an authentic Mexican restaurant called "La Casita" or "Little House," which is what it really looked like. Our bellies full, we started out on our 24 mile drive for Ft. Davis. When we got there, we also entered the gift shop (all these museums start in the gift shop it seems!). While cruising the shop, Joe saw something that he’d like to try out: a jaw harp. I had my eyes on a Monopoly game board with all the National Parks as property. I talked to Mom about it in the museum part, and she said, “I dunno, maybe you can split the price in half with Dad.” I agreed and asked Dad about it. He said he’d think about it, so I paid my attention to the exhibits.
We soon went outside to see the enlisted mens’ quarters and such. Along the way we found two old nails with their tips broken off. The were very old and rusty, so we knew they were authentic. But we had seen a sign in the office that said not to pick up anything we found, so after examining them we put them back where we found them.
After finishing around the grounds, we headed back to the gift shop and bought the Monopoly, with Joe twanging the jaw harp beside me. He is getting quite good at it. (Ed. note: Dad got a book about the fort because it told more about the history. It turns out that the first African-American West Point graduate served here. Also, General Myers ["father of the Army Signal Corps"] was stationsed here and it is believed that it is believed that he learned from the Appache and Commanche Indians how to communicate with fire, smoke signals, and wig-wag flags.]
On our way home, Mom got some great pictures of wild antelope.
(Blogged by Daniel)
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