SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Hi, I'm Alexa. And I'm Lori. And together we are married to each other. Right. We are a touring musical duo.

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And our music has taken us to all kinds of places all around the world and keeps us always on the go.

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So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while running around working to keep all your plates spinning.

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And we hope to facilitate your busy lifestyle and feed your inner travel bug.

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Mm-hmm.

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Hi everyone. Today we are highlighting even more of the Big Bend National Park and the Big Bend Branch State Park. And we are hearing it straight from the expert himself, the king of Visit Big Bend, Robert Alvarez.

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You're going to discover why people, well, more reasons people visit Big Ben. And if you haven't already, more reasons that you should visit Big Bend.

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Yes. And before we jump into the interview, we want to hit a few really important points, things we either didn't cover fully, or we just feel that they are so important. They're worth repeating.

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Yep. But we have a special treat for you today. We're going to do this with the help of our Finnish friend.

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We have co-hosts today. Welcome. Welcome, our Finns. All right, y'all. See, the joy of travel is that you get to meet super cool people. And we wouldn't have been able to meet these guys had we not already been traveling to Finland. I just want to encourage you all that like travel enriches your life so much because it you get to meet cool people and they change your life and they make things super fun. And so we're just really glad to have them with us today, co-hosting. So welcome these guys from Finland who came in to the States for the Passion Conference, if you guys have heard of that. And we get to host them, that like is super fun for us.

SPEAKER_02: 1:46

So first, let's have these guys introduce themselves.

SPEAKER_06: 1:51

All right. All right, I'll start in it. All right. So on Jonathan, my name is Jonah. Some Joseph.

SPEAKER_02: 2:00

All right. So first up, we need to correct ourselves on a pronunciation. Well, not a pronunciation, a name thing. We've been saying um Big Bend State Park.

SPEAKER_01: 2:11

In a previous episode or two, we didn't know that we were wrong till now.

SPEAKER_02: 2:16

Yeah. Yeah. If you're more of a foodie.

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And then the other thing that we want to point out is that we are talking about big bend, like, you know, like bend your knee or your elbow or something.

SPEAKER_00: 2:32

You know, like Big Ben.

SPEAKER_01: 2:35

Right, right. We're not going, we're not taking you to London on this series. So just to point out, because sometimes if you're just listening quickly, the the D might not come out on Big Ben D. So it's Big Ben B-E-N-D. So that's where we are. That's where we're talking about today.

SPEAKER_06: 2:51

Yes. Now, Rory, we heard that the first time you guys even heard about the state park was during a very memorable moment on your drive from Waco to Big Bend.

SPEAKER_02: 3:05

Yes. That would be the cop story.

SPEAKER_01: 3:08

Yeah, yeah. So um, you know, we were going through a small town and the speed limit changed. And Rory didn't actually necessarily realize that.

SPEAKER_02: 3:18

I didn't realize the speed limit had changed, but the officer was a really fantastic guy. It turned out instead of writing me a ticket, he gave us vacation tips. He asked where we were going.

SPEAKER_01: 3:27

He gave us a warning and Yeah, we asked he asked where we were going.

SPEAKER_02: 3:30

We told him Big Ben, and he's like, Oh, you're gonna love it.

SPEAKER_01: 3:32

That's not what he said first. He said, Which one?

SPEAKER_02: 3:35

Yeah, which one? Which big bend? What do you mean? There's only one big bend.

SPEAKER_01: 3:39

And so I was I was like, Oh, I don't know. And so I'm like pulling out our itinerary that we had, and I'm like, are we going to the national park or the state park? We just knew we were going to Big Bend. So he was the one who opened our eyes that there's a Big Ben National Park, and right next to it is the Big Ben Ridge State Park. And John and Robert's gonna be talking more about that and like the differences between the two and what you can experience in each park in this upcoming interview. But anyway, that was really fun. And then we we learned another tip from the cop.

SPEAKER_02: 4:09

Oh, make sure you have a tank full of gas when you enter the park, because there's like one gas station, he told us, and there's always a long line.

SPEAKER_01: 4:16

Right.

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If you run out of gas in the park, there's really nowhere to go.

SPEAKER_01: 4:19

And he the way he told the story of like the one gas station, how he described it was super cute. But he loved Big Ben and was like, you guys are gonna have such a great time and blah, blah, blah. I'm not gonna ruin your vacation. You just go.

SPEAKER_02: 4:29

Yes, he ended up giving us great tips instead of like a ticket, just a warning. So kudos to him. Super great guy.

SPEAKER_01: 4:36

And we learned a few things.

SPEAKER_04: 4:37

Yep, yep. Basically, don't ever speed in a small Texas town. No, do not.

SPEAKER_06: 4:42

And before you enter the big man, we uh take two. And before you enter the big man, fill up whenever you can. Do not assume there's endless gas station coming soon because there won't be. Right. That brings us to planning, because planning is absolutely essential here. Distances are vast, trailheads can require long drives, and once within one to two hours of the park entrance and then the park itself, you will likely no longer have any sail coverage. So download your maps ahead of time and make sure you have offline navigation. For example, physical maps, y'all.

SPEAKER_07: 5:22

Woo! You see that yaw.

SPEAKER_02: 5:25

All right.

SPEAKER_01: 5:31

So another little important note like at the time of this recording, the Chesos Basin area of the park where a hike of the lost mine trail. If you haven't heard about that yet, check out our previous episode around that. It is scheduled to begin on May 1st of 2026.

SPEAKER_02: 5:45

So you're gonna close. It's scheduled to close on May 1st.

SPEAKER_01: 5:49

And you will hear Robert mention that in the interview, but it is important because it could affect your plans for when you go. So we'll see, you know, how that timeline sticks. But right now of today, May 1st, 2026, is the time of the closing of certain areas of the park.

SPEAKER_06: 6:06

The closure is for demolition and reconstruction of the restaurant along with renovations to the lodge. Construction is expected to last about two years, and the basin will be inaccessible during that time.

SPEAKER_02: 6:18

Yeah, they're exploring uh that's good, partial reopenings. Partial reopenings as things progress and safety allows. But we really want to stress that this is a very small, though incredibly beautiful portion of the park that they are doing this stuff in where the where the lodge exists. It's it's the basin, it's well, really beautiful.

SPEAKER_04: 6:36

Big Bend as whole remains open and there's still so much to explore.

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So no matter what you're listening, always check visit Big Bend for updates and use your national and state park apps.

SPEAKER_01: 6:49

Yeah.

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And there's one more practical team that can trip every people up. Every people up.

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I like it. I like it. Every people.

SPEAKER_06: 6:57

Today is this finish coming too. Because if nearby nearby cell towers in Mexico, your phone may ultimately switch to mountain time. Big Ben is in the central time zone, so check your settings, turn off auto update, and lock your phone to sh Chicago while you're there.

SPEAKER_02: 7:14

Yeah, you don't want to accidentally miss your tour or show up late for a tour, or uh for that matter, miss the sunset or sunrise. But I'm not sure you'd actually need your phone for that.

SPEAKER_01: 7:22

Well, you might need to be planning.

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So if you want to watch the sunset from a very specific area, you know it's 45 minutes to get there or whatever.

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So you gotta time that out.

SPEAKER_02: 7:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 7:32

All right. So speaking of timing, let's talk about how long to stay.

SPEAKER_04: 7:36

If you're moving fast, you can do big bend in two to three days.

SPEAKER_06: 7:41

Uh, four to six days is really the sweet spot, especially if you want to experience both the Big Bend National Park and the Big Bend Ranch State Park. And honestly, give yourselves time to stop and stare. Big Bend demands slow travel.

SPEAKER_07: 7:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 7:57

All right, y'all.

SPEAKER_02: 8:02

Hey everybody, today we're joined by Robert Alvarez, the executive director of the Brewster County Tourism Council Council and Economic Development.

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He works with Visit Big Bend, and he plays a major role in helping travelers understand the region to plan their experiences and everything Big Ben has to offer. So we're excited to have him with us and just give us some like insider tips and local perspectives and things like that. Welcome, welcome, Robert.

SPEAKER_07: 8:32

We're really glad to have you.

SPEAKER_03: 8:33

Absolutely, guys. The Romy's fantastic. I'm I'm happy to be here. Thanks for letting me on. This is gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_02: 8:41

Yep. We just found out that he's a seasoned broadcaster, so we're expecting this to be extra spectacular. Oh, yeah. No present for Robert.

SPEAKER_03: 8:51

But yeah, for sure. This this should be fun. And I'm so glad that y'all are helping promote the Big Ben Derrier. This is great.

SPEAKER_02: 8:56

Absolutely, man. And I'm excited you're gonna make us look good.

SPEAKER_01: 8:59

So but it's I'll just say it's easy to promote the area because the area is so amazing. And we are just so privileged that we got to go and experience it, and then we get to share it with people. And so we're we're just really excited to talk with you to kind of expand on some of the things we didn't get to experience because we were there like four days or so, and we had our own experiences, right? But there's so much we didn't get to see because the park is so big, there's so much to do. And even if you went and did the exact same things on a future trip, you're gonna have a different experience doing those things because you might be there at a different time of year. The weather might be different. Uh changes in the terrain. It's just always good to just keep coming back and and checking it out, right?

SPEAKER_02: 9:51

Yeah, exactly. How about if we start out before we get too much into it and tell us sort of introduce yourself to everyone from your per, you know, from your perspective, obviously, and share what you do with the Booster County Tourism Council and economic development.

SPEAKER_03: 10:05

There's absolutely but for sure. You know, I've been uh, you know, that that's my business card name, you know, as everybody has these big old long titles or whatever. And in the tourism industry, you can add, you know, TDM, ADA, all this stuff behind you with little initials, kind of like doctors. You know, once you get certified and all this stuff as a certified tourism person, well, you know, it's uh that's just a big, long business card name. Uh honestly, I'm the executive director. I run Visit Big Ben. You know, the Bruce County Tourism Council and Economic Development, that's our our non-sexy name, so to speak. I call it Visit Big Ben, it's catchy, that's what everybody knows. You know, they don't know what the heck Bruce County Tourism Council is. They know Visit Big Ben stuff. Absolutely. I've been here for about 10 years. Actually, at Jan 1, I'll be exactly 10 years. So uh coming up uh in 2026, I'll be doing this 10 years. And the organization is is absolutely incredible. We are a true DMO, a destination marketing organization. All that we do, our core purpose, our existence is to get people to come to Brewster County and enjoy this beautiful part of Texas that we get to call home, but tourists get to come and experience and uh just go back and then share it with all their friends. You know, word of mouth is the biggest marketing piece for us because it's funny, you know. I mean some people say I shouldn't say this, but I'm like, no, I'm honest with folks, I'm a straight shooter. If you come to the Big Ben, you're either, I mean, this is pretty honest, you're either gonna love it, or you're like, well, I'm glad I came once, but I'll probably never come back. And that that's just this is the Chihuahuan Desert. It's the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert in the United States. And I say that meaning the night sky. So even if folks come out and they're like, hey, maybe they come in the summer and it's really hot, or they come and the river's not running good, so I wanted to raft the river and it was too low. It doesn't matter. That night, they look up at those stars and it takes folks' breath away. It doesn't matter if it's January, June, December, or March. Uh it's just gorgeous. Our night skies are incredible. So, you know, I I'm very lucky to be able to do that. Uh, I've been in tourism for for quite a while, about 20 years or so, something like that. And as you mentioned before, my my uh, as you can tell, I'm a kitschy guy. So this should be a lot of fun, but uh, I'll make a lot of jokes and and and probably run over you guys, talk over you guys a lot because that's how how I've been broadcasting for years, you know, since like the 90s when I was in college and stuff. Uh yeah, so anyway, I love doing stuff like this and I love talking about the big big band. From my perspective, you know, I I've lived out here now 20 years. You know, uh I came here in about 06. So again, next year will be 20 years now that I've lived out in this area. So I love it. I'm just uh so happy and excited that I get to call it home. Uh originally I'm just from down the road in the middle of Nodesta, the oil patch area of Texas. So I didn't come too far. Buddhely enough, my my parents are from here. My mother's from Marfa, that's around this area. My father's from Balmoray, that's just a little bit shy of all the mountains out here in Texas. So they retired here. I came here to help them as they got older, and I I never thought I would live here. Uh, but I'm like, you know, this is incredible. You know, 100 miles to the nearest Walmart. Some people would be like, heck no, it's gorgeous out here. You get to deep. You you honestly can come home at night and leave work behind. And it's it's just it's just gorgeous. It's a slower pace of life, but it's really fun out here, and it is uh my true pleasure. It's it's it's really one of the greatest experiences in my life to be able to tell people about this area and and get them to come visit.

SPEAKER_02: 13:33

Yeah, man. I you know, you said something about people visiting the the sort of I'm so glad, I can't wait to come back, or I'm glad I went one time. But that's the thing. No matter what your reaction is, you will be glad you went. Yes, right, exactly. Even if the one time, you will absolutely be glad you went. Mountains in Texas like that. Uh the the beauty, I mean, it's unheard of. I think most Texans don't know it exists.

SPEAKER_03: 13:58

You're absolutely absolutely right. You know, we do uh travel shows. You know, we go out to the public uh and and actually do shows across the state. We do the state fair in Dallas every year with our 24 days. We've done that for since before I was director. They've done that for wow, a long time, I think 18 years. But um we go in there and that's you know, we have a beautiful display and all that stuff. I should have had that in the background behind me, but I didn't I didn't prep enough at this time. You know, uh we go to the state fair and they come by, you know, 100,000 people, 200,000 people, 300,000 people come through our our building that we're at there, and they're like, ah, yeah, I've been there. That's uh that's uh Moab, right? Or oh that's somewhere up north. Uh, where about being in the National Park? I'm like, nope, that's here in Texas. And they're like, no, no, Texas doesn't have mountains. And you're right, they're way over here in the western part of the state. And most folks don't know, but yes, Texas does have mountains. You know, it's debatable. Um, you know, they say that this area down here, right outside of Marathon, Texas, right outside the national park, uh, there's actually an exhibit that we have that shows that's the geologist, it's it is debatable. There's some who say yes, some who say no. But the Rockies and the Appalachians actually begin here and then they spread out, you know, all the way up to the Rocky Mountains and then to the East Coast. So our mountains are little, they're not the Rocky Mountains, but uh hey, you know, seven, eight thousand feet, but still it's a mountain and it's here in Texas. That's significant. Yeah, yeah, man, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 15:22

But the park and the region itself is very vast. Yeah, and that's kind of what's fun about it because it's not only the mountain, there's like all different kinds of terrains and you know, the surrounding towns around it as well. There's just kind of a lot of fun things to explore beyond just like the mountain itself.

SPEAKER_03: 15:44

Exactly. Yeah, you're right. And and the neat thing about Big Ben the National Park, even though it's it's the Chesos Mountain Range, is what it's called, the Chesos uh Basin area. Maybe people are familiar with. That's where the hotel is, the Cheso's Basin Lodge. But the uh the mountain range um exists entirely within the boundaries of Big Ben National Park, and it's the only national park in the country that has and contains an entire mountain range inside of the national park because Big Bend is 800,000 acres. It's just it's huge. But you got the mountains, you got the river and the desert terrain. We are on the border of Mexico, so the Rio Grande that flows through us, and it is uh most of the time it is a Rio Grande. There's a lot of places where the Rio goes dry and it's you can it's just a little mud puddle. Not so much here. We uh always pretty much you know have water in there. Now, it may be at some times if we're in a drought drought, you know, it may be two or three inches, but we have water darn near all the time. And then like recently, boy, we've had a wonderful year. 2025 was was just fantastic. And I'm so glad you guys got to come at this time. But we had rains that we weren't expecting. They came early and they lasted. So basically, from July till oh a few weeks ago, you you could you could get on there and kayak the Rio Grande anytime and the entire stretch, and it was just so much fun. It was it was it's been a great year for river stuff. So river desert activities, hiking. Yeah, you're right. Big Bend is huge, 150 miles of hiking trails, if you can imagine that as well. And that's just in the national park. A lot of folks don't realize right next door is the largest state park in Texas, Big Bend Ranch State Park. More hiking trails. It's it's just incredible to have those two wonderful locations right next to each other. That's uh, I think it's 1.2 million acres combined of uh public lands.

SPEAKER_02: 17:29

That's insane. Uh yeah, I'm glad you mentioned the Rio Grande, too. Of course, you were going to, because I've seen the Rio Grande, but I had never seen the Rio Grande like I saw it in the parks there. Absolutely like gorgeous.

SPEAKER_01: 17:42

It wasn't a little mud puddle when we were there. No, we weren't able to just like step a foot over into Mexico. We would have had to swim.

SPEAKER_02: 17:49

Yeah, yeah, really beautiful. I mean, it was it was, I mean, honestly, it was not totally unexpected for me. I'm from South Louisiana, my dad's from Texas, but I'd never been to Big Bend, and it wow, yeah, absolutely mind-blowing. I'm one of those guys who didn't know. Yeah, now I do. Yeah, I want to go back.

SPEAKER_03: 18:08

Exactly. Yeah, for sure. And it's funny, southern Louisiana. I'll I'll have to, and like I said, I'm I'll probably walk over all this entire podcast, but southern Louisiana. You know what? It's funny, a lot of folks are like, well, where is Big Ben? I want to get there, you know. You have to want to come to Big Ben. You don't happen to cross it because we are not on a major interstate, but the Amtrak does come through us. So that's our one mass transit that comes very close. It comes to Alpine, which is where my offices are. Uh, it's about 80 miles north of the park, but the Amtrak comes here, it's a line that goes from uh California all the way to New Orleans over there in Louisiana. That's why I said I mentioned southern Louisiana. Yeah. The Amtrak is a way you can get here. If if any folks watching are like, I don't really want to drive, that's a long drive. Hey, the train is available, and you rent a car in Alpine, pop down within an hour, you're in the park.

SPEAKER_02: 18:56

Yeah, that is so cool. And trains are such a fun way to travel. We do it overseas all the time. Uh never in the US have I done it, but what a great way to travel.

SPEAKER_01: 19:05

And you mentioned uh renting a car. One of the things that I wanted to talk about at some point in this episode, whether it's in our interview segment with you or just in this episode in general, is you really want a rugged terrain vehicle. And so what you can do and experience there. And again, that's why like a Jeep tour that we took, for example, is a great thing to do because you can utilize their vehicles and their guides to visit all of these terrains and things like that. But we would recommend that if you are renting a car, once you take the train there or however you get there, that you rent a rugged terrain vehicle that will accommodate that. We've got a list of those that we're gonna put in the show notes for your reference so that you can kind of connect with those companies.

SPEAKER_02: 19:56

Yeah, and I and I'll I'll interrupt her and and tag on to the end of this. Uh we drove our Toyota Prius. Not a not a rugged drain vehicle. The roads in the parks are really great.

SPEAKER_01: 20:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 20:09

Really well. I mean, smooth, really smooth.

SPEAKER_01: 20:13

Which is rare for Texas, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02: 20:15

Well, we live in Waco, at least, you know, not the smoothest roads in the other state. But there were places I wanted to go that we couldn't because we were in our Prius. So I would say no matter what car you're driving, you can absolutely enjoy the park because the roads are great and very well maintained. However, if you're like me and you want to explore some.

SPEAKER_01: 20:34

Or if you're gonna rent anyway.

SPEAKER_02: 20:36

Yeah, if you're gonna rent anyway, absolutely get something that can get you uh, you're not gonna have to worry about uh some of the more easy off-road stuff that you might want to take and have the opportunity to do it.

SPEAKER_03: 20:47

And if you are great advice, that really is great advice. High clearance vehicles are much easier. You know, if you got a Prius in the garage and a Hummer, bring the Hummer. But you know, the Prius will take you through the park because it's easier accessible. It's a fully drivable park with blacktop roads and all that. But like you said, if you want to do like balanced rock, that's one of our places that's really well known in the Big Vin. That that's about four miles down a dirt road, a little bit washboardy. So yeah, uh something a little bit higher clearance would would make the drive a little easier.

SPEAKER_01: 21:15

Yeah, that's why, again, doing like a deep tour with these companies we've talked about and then we'll share in our show notes, like that's a great time to use them if you bring your you know Prius type vehicle on the Yeah, no, I was gonna say in relation to this, uh if someone say drives a Prius like we did, or if they have an ATV, an all-terrain, well, not an ATV, uh an SUV that's more all-terrain.

SPEAKER_02: 21:40

What if they have one time to get to go to Big Ben? And they're like, what's the good driving loop to make given the two different vehicles? Uh in your opinion, what would you recommend they hit?

SPEAKER_03: 21:52

You know, for sure, I would say when you get to Big Ben, do the Ross Maxwell scenic drive. That actually is mostly blacktop. Now you can go off the uh uh off of it to some dirt roads and yet sit some other hikes, but uh the Ross Maxwell is easy in any vehicle. Uh, you drive all the way down to San Elena Canyon, which is another iconic spot in the park. It is the 1500-foot high, beautiful walls. The Rio Grande runs through it. One side is Mexico, the other is the United States. And uh you can just drive. Along the way, you're seeing uh Mule Ears, which is a cool little formation. It's rocks that look like the ears of a donkey. And actually, way, way back when, when uh airplanes just first they came about, I believe in the 30s and stuff like that, they use that for navigation. When they see that, those weird Mule Ears, they're like, okay, I know I'm very close to the border, Big Bent, da da da, and they know where to turn. I mean, it's it's kind of it's kind of really cool. Uh down that road, there's so many different exhibits and places to hike and things to see. That's probably the most iconic driving area uh of the uh of the park. And then for sure, the the little uh little road uh that goes up to the Chiso space, and you raise an elevation from the desert floor up to again about 5,000 feet where the hotel is and take some hikes, it'll take you up another couple thousand feet up to uh Emory Peak, the highest point in the park. That road for sure is awesome. Again, it's full blacktop. And then the other area, like I said, it's it's it's mountain, desert, and and also the river. If you go the other way down to the Rio Grande Village, to the other area of the park that's right there on the on the border, there's actually a small crossing that you can cross over into Mexico. You need your passport, you know, you still will need that called Boquillas. But so it's kind of cool. It's a little Mexican town on the other side, you can go over. Honestly, it's it's it's funny. I joke. That uh Mexico is only open from I believe it's 10 to 4. They actually close. Yeah, but but it's you can't really do anything else. You can't drive a car, you go over and it's kitschy. You you you show your passport, you walk to the edge, you wave, and a guy comes up on a rowboat. And I'm not joking, I'd say this that shows people like, nah, you're lying. There's a bridge or something. No, there's no. And he takes you in a rowboat, you get either on the back of a donkey or a pickup and you go one mile, a whole one mile, you could walk it too, into the village of Oquillas. And they just love tourists, uh, they exist on tourism. There's nothing else on the other side except Mexico's version of a national park. It was never developed. So you go over and have a lunch, you know, and it's they have a few curious shops, and then you just tell the guy, okay, I'm ready to come back, and he brings you back on a rowboat. But on that road, now you're talking if you have an uh all-terrain uh vehicle or SUV, something like that, something with a high clearance, there's lots of hikes that'll take you off, including that balanced rock, you know, that you can go off and just almost feel like you're the only person in an 800,000-acre park, even though there's thousands of other people there. There's just it's just so big. Um, so it's so cool. And again, on that road, too, you don't need a high clearance vehicle to get there. But the fossil discovery exhibit. I don't know if y'all got to go there. But uh did you get to go there while while you're here? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 24:50

It's like we have to turn off. You have to see this.

SPEAKER_02: 24:52

Yeah, I love fossils, I love history. Fossils, it was a man, I took my time walking through.

SPEAKER_03: 24:57

I'm so glad, you know, because a lot of people don't realize it here in Texas, in the middle of nowhere, in the Big Bend, of the largest flying creature ever on this earth. The fossils were found right here. It's in the Smithsonian now, but we have a replica in that little fossil discovery exhibit. And it's so neat. The Friends of Big Ben National Park, they raised the funds for that. It was not government money. They raised a million bucks and they made that little exhibit to show all the stuff that's been found in the Big Bend. Because there's just discovery after discovery after discovery. The fossil record here is amazing. And most folks don't realize, you know, that a lot of the stuff when they go to the Smithsonian, you know, the our major museum of the whole country, they're like from Texas. Yeah, it came from Texas, exactly. You don't know, even to the Bullock Museum in Austin, and they have they have the same thing. So it's so neat if you're into history and geology to come down to the Big Ben, also, not just if you like to hike and and see beautiful scenery.

SPEAKER_02: 25:47

That's right. I was blown away when I saw that the largest is from right there. I wanted to go to where they found it. It was absolutely mind-blowing for me. Really cool.

SPEAKER_01: 25:57

That's because everything's big in Texas.

unknown: 25:59

It's just another fixing point.

SPEAKER_02: 26:02

Another check on that box. Yes, indeed. Yeah, you mentioned the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. It was absolutely gorgeous. We got to the top of that rise and looked over and saw the Rio Grande. And the it's the contrast between the desert around you and some of the sheer cliff walls of the desert and the green foliage around the Rio Grande as it flows through that area. You stand up there and it's a it's like looking down into Eden a little bit. It makes you think, wow, okay, that's the Garden of Eden down there, surrounded by this, you know, land that needs to be developed. I mean, it's it was really beautiful.

SPEAKER_03: 26:35

It really is. And that that lookout you're talking about, you know, when you look over the whole Eden thing, yeah, you know, way back when, you know, before it was a national park. I mean, that that's the the the locals, the natives, et cetera, whether it be uh through the uh Indian culture or the Mexican Americans that were there, Mexicans that were there, they uh they farmed that area, you know, that they were they were able to do that. That's that's why, because the Rio was right there, so it would when it would flow. I mean, it's it's just there's so much history to see down here in the Big Bend. I mean, we could do hours on the podcast just on history.

SPEAKER_02: 27:03

Totally. I I just kept imagining that, well, if anybody lived here, they'd have to be near this river. And if they're farming, well, it's got to be near the river. And it's just really cool imagining the history that has taken place there and knowing it goes back so far with the fossils. Really, I really like that stuff. So, a question. My wife was so intrigued by one of the mountain names, she thought about naming a tea after it because she's got a tea line.

SPEAKER_01: 27:29

You know, I name after my travels. Like it's inspired, the different flavors are inspired by places we go. And I had just finished creating a uh white tea with a little bit of pine. But I didn't know about the Christmas Mountains until we got there. And I was like, I had just printed up my labels and everything. I was like, wow.

SPEAKER_02: 27:50

Christmas Mountain would be a cool name. But tell us a little about the Christmas mountains.

SPEAKER_01: 27:53

So we didn't get to go there and we didn't go to the area that you go to to get there. So tell us a little bit about what we missed and where we can see next time.

SPEAKER_03: 28:02

Sure, yeah. The Christmas Mountains are honestly they're most easily accessible by uh tour guides. Like you're saying, some of our tour companies are outfitters that are there uh to take you on tours because it it does take a little bit to get there. It's a little bit difficult. You have to kind of go through Trilingua Ranch to get to the the point and areas that most folks wanna visit. But it is accessible. But contact an outfitter and they can take you up there. The neatest thing about the Christmas Mountains is that the uh the Lucifer hummingbird, you know, it lives there. And if you're a birder, if any of your viewers are birders, it's on everybody's list. It's hard to find. This is really the only place that, and of course, there's never a guarantee with birds. It's not like we have them in cages and release them at certain times of the day. They're wild animals, right? But yeah, you go to the Christmas mountains to find the Lucifer hummingbird and check it off your list. I mean, there are over 450 species of birds that are in Big Ben National Park, more than any other national park in the nation. And we've we've got to be honest, we know we borrow a lot from Mexico because they're migratory, so they come through and hang out. But in the Christmas mountain area, there's some uh water uh areas you know that naturally collects. So they come there and they love it. Uh so that's the big thing about the Christmas Mountains. Uh oddly enough, Santa doesn't live there. I've checked, but um, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a beautiful place to see. Just contact an outfitter and you can get a guided tour. That I would highly rec recommend that because you do have to go through some certain gates and things like that.

SPEAKER_02: 29:27

Yeah, my mom loves birds. And so while I was there, I saw all the pictures of the birds. Well, not all, I saw in this huge display at the um visitor center uh there near Lahidas.

SPEAKER_03: 29:39

Okay, yeah, Barton Warnock Center. Yeah, the Barton Warnock Center, that's the one for the State Park. Yeah, the State Park's visitor center. Yeah, yeah, they got a bit a really nice design.

SPEAKER_02: 29:48

Yeah, I was looking at the birds, and and as a matter of fact, I made a comment to her. We had talked about I all these amazing birds you see in these pictures, and I'm like, where are they? How do we go about seeing them? I mean, I wanted to get some pictures. I there was um we'd first driven into the park, and I saw for me, it looked like a bird of prey of some kind sitting on top of a cactus. And I thought, oh, I should stop and take a picture. But I thought, ah, I'll see a ton of that. Well, guess what? I should have stopped and taken a picture.

unknown: 30:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 30:14

Like I said, we don't keep the pages and release them. They're they're wild, so it's they're they're often hard to find. They really are. That was probably a turkey bullet that you saw, or maybe a uh a peregrine falcon. We have those that are out here that are that are real popular, uh, if it was a prey bird. And yeah, you know, it's funny, Cottonwood Campground in in the uh in the the national park is a great place to go look for birds in there because it's close to the river, but not right on, so you can kind of see them in the trees. Beautiful big trees there, you can find them. And then up in the Chesos Basin, for sure, Mexican J's are all over the place there. It's a great place to go into the Chesos Basin to kind of do some birding that that's out there as well. There's no one great spot, but if you go to the wooded areas, oh yeah, they're more than likely there. And it's it's just kind of patience, I guess you could say. Even outside of the national park, over in uh marathon. I don't know if y'all got to go over there. Locals call it marathon, but it's spelled just like marathon and it's named after marathon, Greece. But yeah, at the post park, it's it's just a little public park that uh actually used to be a frontier uh fort, but none of the remains are left, just essentially the spring that that's why they made the fort there is still there. So tons of birds go there. I mean, herons, ducks, etc., that you wouldn't expect to see out here. So yeah, you can just it's a little drive five miles from Marathon. Uh so that's a great spot, too, as well. Yeah, great.

SPEAKER_02: 31:27

Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Was it Cottonwood Springs where we is that what it was called? Where we took the little walk through there were bridges that went over the river, but there were the reeds were grown so high. You're walking over the road. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This wonderful forest of weaving through the reeds on this beautiful path and the birds. And so I just sat on the bench. She said, What are you doing? I'm like, I'm being quiet and I'm listening and I'm watching these birds. It was it was so cool, man. It was so cool. My own little bird paradise at that point.

SPEAKER_03: 31:57

That's another great spot. I forgot. Yep, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_01: 32:00

No, what about what other wildlife should we keep an eye out for and look like we heard coyotes, but other than that, as far as on my hike in the Lost Mine hike and stuff like that, I didn't really see a lot of wildlife. But what what are some other ones that folks might run into and encounter at Big Bend?

SPEAKER_03: 32:20

Right. And at the Lost Mine, uh, that one there, oddly enough, that's the only place that me personally that I've seen uh the Mexican black bears on that lost mine trail. It's a funny story. I was there several years ago, at least five or six, and we had a TV crew. We were filming our commercial, and we got really lucky because we had just started Lost Mine, and a lot of folks were like, shh, and I'm like, um, I'm I'm sorry to interrupt your your your hike, but I'm the tourism director and we're here to film a commercial. I have a firm on blah blah and they're like shh look and we're like, look at what? And there was a mama in her cubs maybe 50 feet from us. Uh we didn't do the hike, and we just filmed them from away, but yeah, we got it in our commercial, so we got the money shocked. There are some black bear out there, and they during COVID, when we didn't have a lot of visitation there for a while. I don't know, they they the bears just decided, hey, you know, we got nothing else to do. Let's make more bears, I guess. And they've come back across. They have been you can see them pretty often, actually, now in in the national park. And again, I I had never seen one. And this that probably would have been um uh right around 2018-19 that I did see. But uh, yeah, the Mexican black bear are throughout the park. Um, you know, they they are I say they're they're cute bears, they're not grizzlies, ginormous, and stuff like that. You don't want to pet them, of course, or anything, but you know, they look cute, they're smaller. Uh, but if you see one, you know, just give them a broad berth, you know, back away, go the opposite direction. Obviously, um, yeah, they're they're pretty plentiful now in the park. Not so plentiful are a mountain lion. We do have a few of those. Never seen one. They rarely come near humans. But again, with 800,000 acres, they're they're out there somewhere, you know. Uh, but you don't have to worry. Coyotes are around. The one that we get the most questions on, uh, it looks like a little pig, but it is not. It's a javelina, it belongs to the peccary family. Those are around there. They don't really care for dogs, I'll say that, you know. But most national parks are not truly dog friendly, you know, including Big Ben. You can't take them on the trails and stuff. That's one of the reasons. Because if a javelina sees a dog, sometimes they get a little aggressive, you know. But uh yeah, the javelinos, they just they're just kind of there. They're they're kind of cute, but again, yeah, you don't want to mess with them, obviously. But they usually don't do anything, they just scuttle by or get scared when they see humans and run away. But it's especially the little ones are so cute. They're tiny and they're they're just they're cute. But yeah, uh javelinos are are darn near everywhere. Um, there's a few other things that we see, of course. Um, you know, it is Texas, it is the desert, it's a national park. Road drivers on when you're on a hike, be on the lookout for snakes, you know. Um uh oddly enough, I had another goofy story that actually an outfitter, several several years told me is that the majority of snake bite encounters or things of that nature that they have or they see always begins with, hey guys, watch, I'm gonna do this. And they go mess with the snake. You know, it's not like they're gonna attack, it's human interaction that causes them to strike, you know. So but they don't look out for them because he would, of course, just back away. But yeah, it's not like they're out hunting humans or anything like that. They're just they're just out there, you know, part of nature.

SPEAKER_02: 35:27

Yeah, it's one of those dumb hold my beer moments that rarely.

SPEAKER_03: 35:33

Hold my beer moments for sure. Yeah, that's that's usually what when anything happens with any of the animals.

SPEAKER_02: 35:39

Yeah, that's right. That's right. And that's a great, that's a great segue into something we wanted to ask you about. Safety. When people go, what are some common mistakes they make and things they should consider? I mean, you've already mentioned a lot of them.

SPEAKER_03: 35:50

Yeah, for sure. With safety coming out to the big band, uh, it's it's never underestimate the power of water. I mean, if you're going, some of our hikes are very short, one mile, you know, some are uh a mile and a half, but again, you gotta think, oh yeah, I have to come back. So technically that makes it a three-mile hike. You know, there are very few of our hikes that are circular, if you know what I mean. It's like it's in and out, you know. So if it's a two-mile hike up, well, you got to come down, so it's four. And folks will say, I'll take a bottle of water, I'll be good. Um, throw a backpack on, you know, a fanny pack, whatever. Put two or three bottles of water in there. You know what? If you don't need them, oh well, you got a little extra physical uh exercise, you know, how to carry some weight. So yeah, that's no problem. You know, the water is fine, but it's better to have it and uh, you know, not need it than need it and not have it. That's the number one thing that we have. Whenever anyone has to radio in for ranger help, et cetera, it's because they didn't have enough water and they're dehydrated on a trail and they have to call for help because they can't make it back out. So water, water, water, water, water is the number one thing that I would say. And if you're going on any of the backcountry hikes or any of the big long ones, especially an overnighter, because there are several that are just incredible, but they're overnight, you know. So you gotta pack in a lot of water for sure and all that stuff. But for those, let a ranger know. And if you're going to an established campsite, always get a permit and all that stuff so that that way the rangers do know your estimated time back. If you don't come back, they'll they'll send out a rescue crew or a crew to look for you to make sure you're still okay. Because sometimes you know it does take longer than you think. But um, it's always better to check in with the rangers on any of the big uh overnight or out uh into the desert type hikes. Yeah, great tips.

SPEAKER_01: 37:26

Mm-hmm for sure.

SPEAKER_03: 37:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 37:28

Any other like tips you have for first timers?

SPEAKER_03: 37:31

Ah, first first timers is honestly, I like to say uh plan more time. You know, it's it's funny. We're we're close to Middle Odessa, you know, San Angelo, even El Paso is the closest major metro to us right there. And folks may come for the weekend, you know. It takes a little bit to get here, like I said, and then they'll see, okay, I'll I'll do San Elena, I'll go to the Chiso Space and I'll get a raft trip with an outfitter, and uh, you know, then we'll maybe do an ATV ride and then hit home. Yeah, not enough time in the weekend. It's just not enough time. The Bit is huge. So for first timers, I'd say pick one thing that you really want to do. Do you want to do an ATV ride? Do you want to do a horseback ride? We haven't talked about horses. Outfitters, man, seeing our part of Texas on the back of the horse is almost to me a religious experience. I'm not a horseman, but I've done several horseback trips that are either a multi-u-hour or just one-hour quickie, or you know, some that actually go like all day. It's so much fun. It's so, it's so so fantastic. But, you know, pick one I one thing you want to do, if you really want to see Sanalina Canyon, because it's in so many pictures, you know, go in, get a hotel, enjoy it, do that, and do a couple of hikes on Ross Maxwell. Don't try and do too much because it if you rush through Big Ben, you you don't get to see it. Uh you to experience and appreciate the beauty, really, as much if you're just rushing and driving through. So for first timers, I really say pick one thing. Now, if you're gonna be here for a week, you're great, fantastic. Pick two or three things, but you know, pick one thing each day, maybe then for the first timer. Pick one thing each day that you want to do, maybe a horseback ride one day, a TV ride the next day. Heck, you know, um, between the uh Big Ben uh National Park and Big Ben Ranch State Park is a fabulous golf resort, the Lahidas Golf Resort. A landing Watkins EJ design. It's our highest end property out here. It's fantastic. I've had the pleasure of playing that many times. If you're a golfer watching this right here, you need to play Lahidas. You need to. It's in the number one course in Texas now, 12 years running. It's incredible. The Dallas just says it's it's awesome. Because you're in the desert, you're hitting that, you know. So maybe you decide, I'm gonna do a round of golf one day, you know, but pick one activity for first timers, and that'll really make your your time here more uh more fun, more not as rushed. And then after that, you know, like I say, if you're coming in the summer, you know, do maybe an early hike and an activity, and then have a great lunch, sit by the pool with a margarita, and then at night look at the beautiful stars. If you're coming in in uh, you know, NAT God or fall or coming in. Winter, we don't get much of a winner, so we're open year round. We don't we don't close like some national parks have too much snow, so they close. We're open year-round. If you're coming now, have a nice breakfast and everything, you know, fuel up and then take a hike and same same kind of thing, you know. And then at night, after your dinner, just walk outside your hotel and have a beautiful little scenery of the night skies. You don't have to drive anywhere. Where can we see the stars? I get that question a lot. Anywhere, just walk away from the lot of your hotel and you'll see uh the glory and majesty just up there. It's anywhere in the whole region.

SPEAKER_02: 40:31

Yes, but the question is where can't you see them? Well, that's yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 40:36

But do you have a favorite place you like to see the stars? Or is it the star party? Because we got to do the star party marathon. We got to do a bunch of stuff.

SPEAKER_03: 40:46

Yeah, the the the marathon star parties are great. I really love the marathon motel and their star parties, honestly, to look to because they allowed you to look through that beautiful big giant telescope, you know, and you really see a whole lot of stuff. It's not crowded, you know. So it's just kind of neat. But if I'm just me solo and I take out my scope, I really like Soto L Vista in the national park. You just kind of pull off, it's it's just a little pull-off, and it's a beautiful, you see that that's the spot where you see mule ears and see all throughout the park. It's a gorgeous place. But there's nothing, no exterior light there, you know. So if you if you want to go, I I really like going there to look at the stars, to be honest with you. I I like that part in the park. And then if you're outside down south, also over there uh near near Lahidas, anywhere in that area right there, even the Barton Warnock Center, you know, yeah, there's there's areas where you have a few uh historical exhibits and you can kind of pull off of the road and sit there, and they're great. You know, a car may drive by, but you know, you're gonna see great stars right there. And you have to don't have to go way, way off into any uh dirt road or anything like that. It's all easily accessible. I really like those spots there.

SPEAKER_02: 41:47

Yeah, even in the towns, I noticed that people run their lights, have their lighting a certain way, often not white light using colors so they can keep it dark. Standing in the middle of Trilingua, I mean, you can see the arms of the Milky Way clearly. So the light pollution, it's like you said, no matter where you are, it's an amazing place to see and watch stars. And I want to jump into something you said also about taking your time. My experience was everywhere I went, I wanted to like just settle into it and absorb it because it's so unlike anything else in Texas, and and also, you know, we're the swamps and marshes. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, it's the desert, and and you want to like soak it in and experience and kind of become a part of it, if you will.

SPEAKER_03: 42:35

That's my experience. Yeah, without a doubt. Like just take take your time and just soak it all in. You know, it it truly is uh it's a majestic place, it really is. And like I said, uh myself, my my wife, she's a lifer, she's she's living her own life. We we're just so blessed to be able to call this place home and and invite folks, you know, like the folks that are watching right now, uh listening right now, to come out and experience it. It's uh it's it's a little bit hard to get to, like I said, we're not on the way to anywhere. You have to want to come to Big Ben. I I think it is it is well worth coming, uh, like I said, once, uh, twice or a hundred times. You know, we've had folks who come every year. Like we do, I say we do shows all over the place. They'll come up to the booth. Oh, we love Big Ben. Every year we do a trip there because we want to do another hike or whatever. A husband and father, uh husband and wife, father, sons. We've had uh Boy Scout trips that started when they were little and they continued on, and they're they're 30, 40 now. And they're like, you know, they they took us as a troop. I still go back every year. I just to reconnect and decompress and also disconnect. Because uh, yeah, there's a lot of national parks. You your cell phone may not work everywhere out here, but it's a nice reason to not have a cell phone, it's just to sit back and take it only. Yep, that's it. Up so go ahead.

SPEAKER_01: 43:44

I was just gonna say another we we've pointed this out in a previous episode, but just that's another reason to make sure you get to those visitor centers and grab your physical maps. Yeah, because and if you're gonna use Google Maps, for example, get that uploaded before you like at the visitor center because we have Wi-Fi. Yeah, outside town or at the visitor center, get that downloaded. Uh, because you know, if you want to know where you're going, having a map andor yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 44:14

Yeah. So okay, so there's a national park and a state park. So tell us a little bit for those who are considering visiting both. How would you describe the difference in the two experiences to help people be more informed about how they plan their trip?

SPEAKER_03: 44:28

True thing, yeah. Uh the way the easiest way that we describe it is Big Bend National Park has been uh developed. You know, it's been a park since the 40s. It's it's more developed. There are paved roads going through it, it's easily accessible if you have a Prius. If you don't have a high clearance vehicle, you can get into Big Bend uh National Park and still see a lot of the iconic spots with no problems. Big Bent Ranch is more rugged and less developed. So if you want that wild experience, like the the that you're literally in in the middle of nowhere with no one around, no technology, no civilization, the ranch is for you. It's incredible. They have some amazing hikes out there. And the thing that the two that separates the two that we talk about, you know, from the tourism aspect is Big Ben Ranch State Park is fantastic for mountain biking. I mean, it they have trails, it's it's it's wonderful for mountain biking. And uh they do uh actually a lot of mountain bike events there. But uh the national park is uh more for hiking, you know. I mean, you can hike in the in the ranch too as well, but it's kind of like if you're a mountain biker, check out the Big Ben Ranch State Park. And also the state park is high clearance pretty much only to get anywhere. So you really do need a high clearance vehicle. Doesn't have to be a you know like four-wheel drive, but at least a high clearance vehicle to get to the really cool spots in in Big Ben Ranch State Park. And then, of course, like like y'all did, uh, you stop into Barton Warnock Center right there uh between uh actually Charlingua and Lahidas and get your info, you know, then you can pay your fees and all that, and they'll give you all the details. So, you know, to see most of the state park, you can continue on down that highway that is uh known as the river road for us, that goes from uh actually Charlingua to Presidio, passes through Lahidas, and it's most of that is all state park that you're driving through. And that's where a lot of the put-ins for uh if you bring your own kayak, etc. I want to do the Rio Grande, are in the actual state park there. Uh, but that road is beautiful too. I don't know if y'all had a chance to ride it. Motorcyclists love it, it's compared to Highway One in California. I've I've been on Highway One, and a little that that's incredible. Highway one is amazing, you know. So I but it's because there's not a lot of traffic, it's a winding road. The Rio Grande is on one side, Mexico's on this side, you're in the U.S. over here. It's a great drive, you know. But um, that's kind of the difference between the national and state. You know, the the state, uh other than river road, is mostly dirt roads, high clearance. The national is more developed. And a mountain biking, go to the state, national for the hotel and everything else.

SPEAKER_01: 46:50

And you mentioned the park fees, and so there's not like one pass that gets you into both parks. If you're gonna go to Big Ben National Park, you're gonna pay the entrance fee to the National Park Service. And then if you are going to the state park, you will be paying a separate fee because it's a state park, right?

SPEAKER_03: 47:07

Correct. Yeah, to Texas Parks and Wildlife. Yeah, that's right. Two separate uh parks, two separate fees. Yeah, and they're both rather reasonable, you know. I think the the national park I fee, I think it's good for five, seven days. Uh, I I've forgotten at the moment, don't have my notes. But yeah, you know, so it's not just one day, you can yeah, spend several days in the national park, and same with the state, you know, they can walk by a multi-pass.

unknown: 47:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 47:26

Yeah, and it's very affordable.

SPEAKER_01: 47:28

And we've talked about on other episodes that, you know, different ways where you can get yearly passes or days that you can visit national parks for free, or you know, there's little things we talked about with our mom episode. You know, fourth graders can get different passes and things like that. You can buy a state park pass for the year and not only visit the Big Bend Ranch State Park, but lots of other state parks. So there's also ways you can kind of batch your entrance fees, not only, you know, and then utilize that when you're in this area.

SPEAKER_03: 48:03

Right. Correct. That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 48:06

So do you have a personal favorite if you had to pick one spot in Big Ben or experience for you? Like it doesn't have to be a spot, an experience for you, your favorite thing that never gets old. You've been there for 10 years. What do you find yourself going back to again and again?

SPEAKER_03: 48:23

Wow, that's a good one. Um, in the national park, in all honesty, I would probably say um the Chisos Basin area that's actually in there. Uh it's too hard to name one, but when you go into the National Park and then drive up to the Chisos Basin area, that's where the hotel is, and uh I'll I'll put that in real quick. It is about to go uh undergo a two-year renovation. So it will be closing if it was supposed to close in 24, then 25, and now they push it to 26. We'll see. But uh, it's supposed to close sometime in 26. Go to our website, visible.com. We'll have the details on there for that if it actually does close in May. But but after that renovation, the hotel, uh, they're gonna have a brand new restaurant, it's gonna have hotels, it's gonna have a refurbished, it's gonna be great. But going up to the Chisos Basin area, uh doing those hikes there. Uh in the basin, I go there. Uh and I've been there seriously, probably a hundred times. I'll go there and looking at the window and doing the window trail, that that while you walk all the way down to a big pour-off. It looks like a window. It's a it looks like a slice is cut out of the mountain, a V. And I do that as often as I can. I love that trail. Lots of folks prefer the Lost Mine or some of the other ones up there. I like just driving to the basin, you know, having a little lunch at the at the restaurant or the food truck. Right now, the restaurant is like closed, but they got a food truck right there. And then doing that trail, it it it's it's downhill. So going down and seeing it is oh, this is great. But you gotta remember, you're gonna come back uphill. So it's not a big uphill, but it is an incline. So coming back is a lot harder than people think. So that's another one of those things to take extra water and stuff and give yourself plenty of time. But I love I love that window trail. I really love that area of the Chiso space, and I would say that's my number one.

SPEAKER_02: 50:05

Yeah, one thing that struck me about that area is it's so it's so green compared to the other places that we drove through the park. Driving up into it is just so spectacular. And being up there, yeah. Uh yeah, I can I can totally understand that.

SPEAKER_01: 50:18

And the rock colors are very vivid too, like the the peaks. Yeah, it's it's crazy how vivid that but I think one reason too, because you have these beautiful skies, like even during the day, because you don't have a lot of rain, you have just these clear blue skies and they just kind of like accentuate and the mountains just pop. And so the colors, even though you're in the desert, you still feel some vibrancy and some life, and it's really fascinating.

SPEAKER_03: 50:46

For sure. Yeah, it's a gorgeous area, it really is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 50:50

Now, speaking of colors, that makes me think of festivities. And if those of you who are listening are following us as we release this, this is like Christmas week. And Christmas time.

SPEAKER_07: 51:03

I like that.

SPEAKER_01: 51:04

So, so Merry Christmas to those of you who are listening like as we release this, but you might be listening in May. Who knows?

SPEAKER_03: 51:12

But while we're sure Merry Christmas from the Big Ben, too. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 51:18

Do you have some favorite Christmas things, or does Big Ben have any specific Christmas things going on this time of year?

SPEAKER_03: 51:26

You know, nothing on the grand scale of a lot of municipalities. You know, again, we we're none of our areas except for Alpine, where where which is the county seat and where my offices are located, none of the little towns are incorporated. They're all just just towns, uh villages, etc. But uh Trlingua, you know, outside the national park, they do a nice thing for for the kiddos with Santa and stuff. It's really fun. Uh, it's usually right in actually the Trilingua ghost town. That's really neat. But over in Marathon, just uh 38 so or so miles outside north of the National Park, they do a neat little thing called Fiesta No Chewena. It's usually, I believe, gosh, I hope I'm right, the first weekend of December. It's a small town Christmas. You know, they do a little parade. It some years it has 12 little floats, some years it has two. I mean, it's a small town, I think. But the shops open late, they have Santa Coco. It's really like going back in time. You know, it's it's not, you know, laser light shows with Santa and Christmas coming in on a helicopter or anything like that. You know, it's it's it's very known. But that's probably the most known little uh Christmas thing out here.

SPEAKER_01: 52:31

Okay, love it. Yeah, well, we didn't talk about that on our marathon episode, but we do have an episode about marathon and other episodes around our experience in Big Ben. So please make sure to check all of those out. And Robert, thank you so much for joining us on this episode and just kind of helping fill in some of the gaps that our other episodes didn't touch on and giving us some of your insight and perspective. We really, really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03: 52:56

Big time. Absolutely. It was a pleasure being on. Thank y'all so much, and uh, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas since this is gonna come out around that time. Yeah, great uh Memorial Day. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02: 53:07

Fourth of July, Easter. Whenever you're listening, yeah, exactly. Whenever you're listening, have a great one. This has come all the way from Big Ben, Texas. Thank you, man. Appreciate it, tons. All right, now we still have our finished friends with us, so we're going to wrap this up with a few final reminders, maybe in an interesting English version of English.

SPEAKER_01: 53:28

Oh my.

SPEAKER_06: 53:29

That's not your hikes early to avoid the afternoon heat. Check for road closures daily, and download your maps before entering the park. They rely on cell services.

SPEAKER_02: 53:41

Sun protection is absolutely essential.

SPEAKER_04: 53:45

But when the sun goes down, it does when the peak bend really slows off.

SPEAKER_01: 53:50

This is a certified dark sky area. And during our star party in Marathon, two fun facts were drilled into our brains. So I'm gonna share one. What you think of as the Milky Way is actually just one arm of it. And our astronomer there made it very clear that even where you sit and stand, you are in the Milky Way because it's a galaxy and you are in the Milky Way. So when you look at that sky and you see the cool things that we think of the Milky Way, that's the armor.

SPEAKER_02: 54:19

Yeah, you're not looking at the Milky Way, you're looking at an arm of the Milky Way.

SPEAKER_01: 54:24

So that's one thing he drilled into it.

SPEAKER_02: 54:29

So what I recommend is in Marathon, go to the star party and uh let this guy teach you what's really going on in our universe, in our galaxy.

SPEAKER_00: 54:38

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_02: 54:38

It was really interesting. The little differences, though, to help us have a better understanding of what's going on also makes it a little bit cooler, too. So check out the star party in marathon. That's what we did.

SPEAKER_06: 54:48

But let's talk packing because this really matters. More water water than you think. Mornings and evenings get go cold.

SPEAKER_01: 54:58

You need a wide-brimmed hat?

SPEAKER_06: 54:59

Yeah, sunscreen. Snack food options are limited. A physical map, grab him at the visitor centers. A red flashlight or headlamp for stargazing. Bag up batteries.

SPEAKER_02: 55:12

Good hiking shoes. Yeah, and if you're staying remote, you'll need extra warmth, extra stacks, and extra water. Yes.

SPEAKER_04: 55:23

The light here is unreal.

SPEAKER_06: 55:26

Every drive is scenic, even the ones between destinations.

SPEAKER_04: 55:29

True.

SPEAKER_06: 55:30

Binoculars are great for wildlife. Ah nice guy.

SPEAKER_02: 55:35

But I but I don't think wildlife can use binoculars.

SPEAKER_01: 55:38

Rory, let you know.

SPEAKER_02: 55:39

Oh, sorry. Okay. Yeah, it's great for viewing wildlife. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06: 55:42

And if you need groceries or supplies, stuff at cottonwood groceries.

SPEAKER_04: 55:46

Woo! There is a local stable and we always want to super place like that. And oh, did we say you should bring and drink plenty of water?

SPEAKER_01: 55:58

Right, you can bring the water, but if you don't drink it, it's not gonna do you a lot of things. All right, so after we got back from our trip in Big Ben, we learned that like even in out in further surrounding areas, you might catch the Marfa lights. These are mysterious UFO vibe lights, and then there's also some random Prada store display things.

SPEAKER_06: 56:19

Okay. But I would say Big Ben is the main even, but you're really making a treat. You might catch some wonderfully weird things along the way. Just don't speed up. Learn from us.

SPEAKER_02: 56:31

Yes, don't speed.

SPEAKER_01: 56:34

All right, y'all. That's it. Go slow, plan ahead, and soak it all in. And for those of you listening in real time, we want to wish you a happy new year.

SPEAKER_02: 56:43

Happy New Year, right? Up north, meaning like in South Louisiana or, you know, compared to Big Ben, because they're way down south. They're gonna have a nice warm happy new year.

SPEAKER_01: 56:54

And a warm winter season, yep.

SPEAKER_02: 56:55

That's right, warm winter season.

SPEAKER_01: 56:57

So, speaking of seasons, thank y'all so much for joining us in season seven. This is our final episode of the year and of this season, and we are so honored to close out the year with you.

SPEAKER_06: 57:07

Season eight is coming in 2026, and we can't wait to meet you there. Yeah, that's right!

SPEAKER_01: 57:12

And thank you so much to our Finnish friends, Jonathan, Joseph, Jonah and Samu. You guys are so great! Thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_06: 57:22

Muita paljon vettä. Reppu täyttee vettä ja muistetaan myös juoda.

SPEAKER_04: 57:30

Mikä syökä vettä?

SPEAKER_06: 57:32

Muistakaa paljon. Hausamassa olevan pitämällä, ja reippaus ei maksa mitään.

SPEAKER_05: 57:50

And a good attitude costs nothing.

SPEAKER_01: 57:55

Okei, on those awesome closing thoughts, we want to thank you for a wonderful year, and we want to wish you a happy new year!

SPEAKER_02: 58:03

Happy New Year!

SPEAKER_06: 58:17

Biggest obviously.

SPEAKER_01: 58:26

We hope we've inspired you this episode. So if you want to like, please subscribe to Ray and Share Podcast with your friends. And please like and follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.

SPEAKER_02: 58:40

We are at Google D that's T H D R O A N.

SPEAKER_00: 58:46

And our main hub is our website.com. We'll be there until next time. Thanks for listening.