Carlsbad Caverns National Park

We visited Carlsbad a few trips ago and have returned to enjoy again the amazing formations.  This time we took the King’s Palace Tour to the deepest part of the cave open to the public.  What was unique about this tour was how close we were able to get to the formations (with the caution NOT to touch).  These caverns were not disturbed by humans until the late 1800s.  Native Americans believed caves were the source of life and the place where souls returned.  In 1898, James Larkin White, a teenager, found and descended the caves.  Along with two others, he filed a claim to mine guano.  Miners descended in large buckets and spent their day in the dimly lit caves collecting the fertilizer for the California fruit orchards.  Calvin Coolidge signed the act creating the national park. 

We walked down the winding path stopping 830 feet below the surface to view helictites

 drapery (these were unusual because they were at an angle, the supporting rock having fallen from the ceiling)

columns

stalactites

 and stalagmites.

At dusk we returned to watch bats leaving the cave for their nightly supper.  This is the end of the Mexican bats season at Carlsbad as they are now migrating to Mexico until their spring return.  As they flew overhead, we could hear the rustle of their wings and an occasional squeak.  A red-tailed hawk has been feeding on the bats for the past week.  His catch success rate is about 70%. Photos interfere with the bats navigation so they are not allowed.

Big Bend National Park

One of the wonderful and difficult things about traveling is choices.  We had three choices after leaving Fredericksburg and we, paraphrasing Whitman, took the road we had not traveled.  Big Bend had been recommended by Paul and Carol (previously mentioned for Chinati) and was a new place for us.

The film at the Visitors Center explained the uniqueness of this park.  It has three distinct ecotones (transition areas), the river, the mountains and the desert.  Combined they make this a most unusual park.  The Chisos Mountain Range is entirely within the park.  Its other distinction is that just across the Rio Grande River is Mexico.  The deeds to the park were presented to President Franklin Roosevelt on D’Day 1944 and the park was created six days later.

We spent three days here exploring many of the wonderful trails.

The Homer Wilson Ranch trail leads to the remains of Homer’s cabin.  When it was in operation, he had 4000 sheep and 2500 goats.  It was abandoned in 1945.

 These formations are called Mules Ears.

The trail at Santa Elena Canyon goes down to the Rio Grande, across (on a US arm of the river) and up a slope.   The trail starts out on a narrow sand path hovering over the river and then climbs to provided outstanding views.  This is a popular rafting area.  It is also a great place to photograph the 1500 foot high walls on the Mexican side.  (perhaps Trump should look at them).

Boquillas Canyon is another walk to the sandy shores of the Rio with excellent views.

This horse was grazing on grass in Mexico.

Jerry took a dip in the Hot Springs, a remnant of a former resort.

Road runners seem to enjoy seeing how close they can get to a car and still make it safely across the road.  This one is smart.  He hangs out waiting for handouts near the picnic tables at the store.  We disappointed him.

On our last morning, we drove thirty-five miles for an “easy” walk through the Grapevine Hills to Balanced Rock.  On the last quarter mile we scrambled around rocks and crawled up boulders climbing and climbing, determined to see the rock since we had come so far. 

To return Anna Lee had to scoot on her tush because the steps were too tall for her.  This was our goal.

Big Bend Natl. Park is a place of incomparable beauty.  Its remoteness should not be a deterrent to anyone wanting to see this unique park.  As with almost all places created by nature, photos tell a better story than words.

Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park and State Park.

A few facts of our time here: The campground had 5 and 1/4 inches of rain in two days.  We wished we could send it back to California.  There was a question on the auction: seven people bid from $2000 to $5000 for six items with the money going to the Friends of the LBJ National Historic Park.

We started our tour in the LBJ State Park in Stonewall at the Sauer-Beckman Living History Farm. 

 The Sauer Family started their hill country farm in 1869.  Over the years, they added to rock and log cabins, building with stone as they became more prosperous and as their family grew to ten children.  One of the Saeur daughters was mid-wife for the first child of neighbors Sam Ealie Johnson and Rebeka Baines Johnson.  That child became the thirty-sixth President of the United States.

The home had no electricity until the 1950s.  The farm depicts its operation in the year of LBJ’s birth, 1908.  In the kitchen, the scent of freshly baked cookies filled the air as the docent, spending her day as if it was early 1900s, explained the life of that time. 

 She demonstrated the wood burning stove. 

The kitchen showed the new prosperity of Blue Willow china, though not all the pieces match as some were made in the US, some in China and England.

The smokehouse is filled with squash, sweet potatoes and meat.

Longhorn cattle rest

and turkeys and roosters strut.

The Sauers sold the home to the Beckman’s whose daughter donated  it to the state park service. 

We then drove to the National Park where we saw the Junction Schoolhouse where four-year-old Lyndon, already able to read, climbed in Miss Katy Deadrick’s lap to be closer to what was being taught. 

 Miss Katy sat at his side for the signing of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  The greatest lessons he got here were a deep respect for education and a commitment that all children should have access to good schools.  During his terms he signed sixty education bills.

The next stop was his birthplace.  Someone referred to his birthday as “the day LBJ discovered America.” 

 The home was torn town but has been rebuilt and is furnished in early 20th century style.                                       
Near our parking spot at the Texas White House stands Air Force ½, the small jet plane that flew the Johnson’s from Austin where Air Force One landed to Stonewall.

The introductory video for the Texas White House spoke of the “Big House on the River,” the river being the Pedernales.

 The Johnson’s bought it from his aunt and modernized it, including three televisions in almost any room that had a chair. The monogram  LBJ, representing all four members of the family, is throughout the house.  Both Lyndon and Lady Bird felt most at home on the ranch amid the flora and fauna they had known as children.  They came here to re-energize.  The President spent 490 days of his terms at the ranch.  Heads of States visited and dined; bills were signed and cabinet meetings held.  At no time was Johnson “out-of-touch” with the country with all those TVs. 

In 1967 the family donated part of the ranch to the National Park Service though Lady Bird continued to live there until her death in 2007.  All furnishings in the house are original.  The 8400 square foot  home was designed for comfort not show.  The closets contain some of Lyndon and Lady Bird’s clothing, the dated 1960s and 1970s styles.  They each died in the home and are buried in the family plot near his birthplace.  No photos are allowed in the home. 

We listened to more tapes from the White House.  The call to Frank Stanton of CBS criticized the network’s coverage of the 1968 convention, accusing them of being under the control of the Kennedy family.  Obviously, Johnson was Johnson until the end.  He and Lady Bird are both buried in the family plot on the ranch.

 Our visit to the ranch and to the library confirmed what we see as LBJ’s place in history, as a man who sincerely wanted to make America a better place but had one tragic failure, Vietnam. 

Wine & BBQ

The area between Austin and Fredericksburg is the Texas wine country, second to California in number of wineries, though most of their grapes are California grown.

We decided to test their fare.

 First we went to Mendelbaum Cellars, a name that caught our eyes.  The owner, Nitzan, is an Israeli who imports his grapes from the wonderful wine regions of Israel.  He settled here because of the supportive attitude the locals have for Israel.  We enjoyed his wine and also his motto Our Wine Is-raeli Good.

Next we stopped at Grape Creek Vineyards.  They also have delicious wines which are made from grapes grown in Lodi, Mendocino, and Lake County, all CA wine regions.

Returning to the RV, we hunkered down awaiting the downpour of rain that continued all the next day.  Oh how we wish we could send some home. 

Nitzan gave us a DVD of the Israeli wine industry and it was an informative diversion on this rainy day.  It juxtaposes the biblical history of wine making with the growth of the modern wine industry in Israel.  It did a good job extolling Israeli viticulture, with a plug for UC Davis vintners.

After being inside all day, we were glad to get out and head to the LBJ State Park for Barbeque on the Pedernales, a fundraiser put on by supporters of the park.

 This was the first time we were greeted by “dinner.”

 We parked on what was the runway.

 About five hundred hungry people, many with traditional Texas head covering,  gathered under a giant tent to imbibe of wine, chicken, brisket, spare ribs, cole slaw, beans and potatoes.

 Dessert was a choice of peach or raspberry cobbler.  Like most of the people, we chose both.

 Even the table decorations kept up the LBJ theme.

This BBQ originally started as a tribute to soldiers from nearby Ft. Hood and two dozen soldiers joined in the dinner tonight.  This was also a fund raiser.  Luci Baines Johnson challenged the audience to demonstrate her dad’s “can do” attitude and bid high on the auction.  A stay at the LBJ guest house, a longhorn calf, a two-day stay in Dallas, etc. brought in about $25,000.  

We enjoyed being spectators at this fun event.

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library

The library is on the campus of the University of Texas and next to the LBJ School of Public Affairs (which has a good café).

As you enter the building, you are greeted with LBJ' s car that he ordered after he left office but which he used to drive around his ranch. 

 Our self-guided tour started with a video with commentary by several of the colleagues and historians who have written about the Johnson years, such as Robert Caro and Doris Kearns Goodwin.  He is described as a force of nature, a hard worker and a forceful personality.  Abe Fortas said, “When Lyndon is breathing in your mouth, you are finished.”  His many accomplishments are praised by colleagues and historians, but Vietnam is what destroyed him.  He declined to run again trying to get peace there.

The museum has a pictorial and narrated time line of Johnson’s life in context with historical and cultural events during his sixty-four years.  Jerry found the presentation effective; Anna Lee felt there was more culture than history.                           

We learned that LBJ started his career as a teacher of poor Mexican children and how that influenced his commitment to end racism and poverty in America.  His father and grandfather were in local Texas politics.  Claudia Alta Taylor aka Lady Bird has one of her excellent report cards on display.

There was a temporary side exhibit on the Beatles.

A life-size mannequin of Lyndon tells some of his humorous stories.  Political cartoons are all around the library.

We took the Grand Staircase to the Great Hall where a series of murals shows LBJ with each of the Presidents he served from Roosevelt until himself.

Another video, Force for Change, salutes his many legislative accomplishments in education, the environment, health, poverty, jobs, etc.

Throughout the library are actual tapes of conversations he had with members of the government and influential citizens, ie. Katherine Graham of the Washington Post pressuring her to write about congress being on vacation instead to tending to business, and Congressman Adam Clayton Powell for getting millions for a project in his district but failing to support the legislation Johnson wanted.

The replica of his Oval Office is 7/8 the size of the real one.

 The Lady Bird Gallery has many of her personal items including clothing and jewelry.  This photo was her actual office that she used into her 80s.  Their daughters tell of life as teenagers growing up in the White House.

However, there were a couple discrepancies.  A photo of LBJ and John F. Kennedy before the convention is captioned that JFK was eager to have LBJ as a running mate and that they were good friends, not true.

Vietnam is mentioned mostly as its effect on Johnson and the section about the Gulf of Tonkin incident claims our ship was attacked by the Vietnamese, a discredited  claim. 

Before leaving the museum, we toured a small exhibit featuring people who have been effected by LBJ’s legislation.  Among the better known individuals is Oprah who received part of her education from Upward Bound.  Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild, walked along part of the National Trail System.  George Foreman was in the Jobs Corps.  Johnson signed hundreds of bills during his five-year term most of them having a continuing positive effect on our country.

As a whole this library is a good memory experience for those of us who lived through his administration and a good history lesson for those younger.