Big Bend National/State Parks / Lajitas,TX - Part 2

Who knew that a blog must have a limit of space?  I posted a photo and I was suddenly unable to scroll down any more.  So....here we will finish off - part 2.

 This shows you on a map exactly where we are.

Funny story here.... we were just at one of the lookout areas where you can hike as far as you want.  We had gotten way up the side of the mountain, and came across this little "memorial"?  What do you think?  A father?  Grandfather?  I wondered if they might have spread his ashes here and marked this spot.  Anyway, he must have been a lover of Dr. Pepper.  Note the bottle safely tucked in among the rocks.  We thought we were all alone, and Earl suddenly sneezed.  Now for our family and friends who know him, you know he sneezes LOUDLY!  It has been known to scare our grandkids!  Seriously, LOUD, and from way across the canyon (I assume) we heard a faint sound of someone saying "Bless You!"   hahaha  Now that's loud!

 Note what looks like the mule ears....

 After a wonderful day seeing the beauty of Big Bend, we decided to head to the pool for an hour or so to read and relax.  I had gotten about a page read when another couple came, and of course we chatted with them almost the whole time.  RVers are the friendliest people and we shared experiences and places we've been, etc.  Tom and Robin were delightful and we enjoyed it.

We then decided to go eat at Candelilla, the restaurant right here in the resort.

 We left Lajitas this morning....going through what seemed like vast wastelands.  In the mountains of NC you're in the mountains, here, you see the mountains in the distance, but there are thousands of acres of just raw land that stretch as far as you can see!  We saw an occasional cow, or horse, but rarely any sign of life.  Most of the small places, Marfa, Marathon, Alpine, seem so sparsely populated.  They're like 50-100 miles apart and each will only have maybe 2000 people there.  The places seem very "ghetto-like".  I haven't read much about the economy of these areas, but we saw a lot of closed businesses and empty buildings.  We got into Van Horn, and staying tonight at Southern Star RV Park - again, nice enough, but just gravel.  Only $15 though, due to our being members of Passport America.  So.... we walked over to a wonderful restaurant, VanHorn Cattle Company - had a wonderful dinner and we shared an amazing peach cobbler/cinnamon ice cream for dessert.  Yum.
Tomorrow we head for Las Cruces, NM.