We went out to Wentworth Ranch after breakfast this morning to see some rocks. We had to wait for a bit as the owner was out on horseback checking on one of his "girls" (cows). He gave us a tour of the house which is attached to the rock shop. The massive fireplace was faced with gorgeous rocks that came from the ranch - including geodes and a small mill stone - it was fascinating. We toured the shop both inside and out and I bought a small red plume agate and Dave bought two chunks of obsidian - he may try his hand at making points. We came back to town and checked out the grocery store - we found that it opens at 7 which is good as Friday morning we want to get a fairly early start and need to stop here for meat and produce before we go into the park. We then decided to go for a drive and took a large loop out through Marfa (very small town) and then down to Presidio (a border town). We then drove along the Rio Grande - this was an amazing ride - beautiful scenery, great colors. The two pictures in the blog were taken along this route. The first one shows the river which separates the US from Mexico and the second is just a scene from the road. We went through two abandoned mining towns along the way. Apparently mercury mining was big for a while here. It comes from the mineral cinnabar which was prevalent in the area. We actually came within four miles of Big Bend, but turned north at that point and headed back to Alpine. The entire trip was about 225 miles - it was a great day - super sights, warm weather (76 this afternoon after a morning low of 39). We stopped at the library shop and donated two books that we finished last night and are now putting our feet up until dinner. We will probably just get a pizza tonight as we have been having too many heavy dinners - can't wait to cook for ourselves!
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