Crinkly's Good Ole American Family Road Trip Day 31: On top of the world (Texas) and the Super lunar eclipse moon (9/27/15)

Woke up before the sun came out, had breakfast (hotel had decent breakfast), and packed up the car to head to the Guadalupe mountain national park near the New Mexican border. We get to the trail head for the Guadalupe Peak trail (4.2 miles one way with ~3k ft climb in elevation) and me and my daddy head out as my mommy and aunt head up to the caverns in Carlsbad.

View as we look back on where we came from after a good first push up the mountain.

Those rocks are bleeding

Ohhhh those are just a crap ton of ladybugs. Cool!

Crinkly reached the top. Good day for a beautiful hike.

Crinkly and I at the top of the rock.

The O'Brien boys and Crinkly (honorary O'Brien boy) at the top. We did good.

Crinkly with a nice panoramic view on top of the mountain.

Not a bad view.

Alright Crinkly, time to work our way back down.

This trail is immediately challenging with steep climbs via steps for the first 1-2 miles and with minimal shade (so glad we started first thing in the morning). With the quick gain in elevation, you get to start seeing some great vistas early and often. We get near the top of the first mountain and go behind it for some shade; a nice respite from constant sunshine. We keep climbing and eventually get to this spot near the top (about ½ mile from it) where there are ladybugs EVERYWHERE!!!! I first thought they were berries or something, but then looked closer and it is just hordes of these things. Kinda cool. Get to the top and there is a nice little statue on top with a box to sign your name and write notes and also a pad to write what you are grateful for. We enjoy the view for a bit before heading down. The way down is quicker/easier as now we get to climb down that 3k ft of elevation. We get to the trail-head and meet our peeps at the visitor center before heading down to Alpine, where we will stay the night. On the way, we go by Marfa and we expect to stop at the Prada store that is famous for being the smallest Prada store (or something like that). As we drive, we fly by it as it is west of Valentine, which is west of Marfa; the store is inaccurately labeled So we keep going and check into our hotel (Quality inn) and decide to go into Big Bend to see the night sky and to watch the Super-moon lunar eclipse taking place tonight. We go get dinner at Guzzi up, a local Italian joint where we have a decent pizza and some cheap drinks (cans of local beer are 3$). We then drive into the park (it is quite the drive – about 1-1.5h) Get into the park and its getting dark and we get to watch the moon eclipse, turn red, and subsequently brighten the stars (less light pollution from the moon to interfere with star light). Star gazing here is amazing; the milky way spans through the entire swath of the sky with other stars everywhere, it truly is beautiful to see a night sky like that. We then head back to the hotel (tried taking pictures of the full red moon, but our cameras were not of the quality to be able to document that), and upon our return, my dad and I jump into the hot tub for a little bit and plan the next days route of places to see in Big Bend National Park.

Driving into Big Bend National park and this is the moon we see. Going to be a good night.

Beautiful moon starting an eclipse. Lets get it on!

Look at the sky. One of the perks of the park.

Lamps on the hill underneath the night sky.