Fort Davis is a beautiful state park about 500 miles from Dallas; just north of Big Bend Natl. Park.

The city of Fort Davis is "built among the craggy lava rocks of the Davis Mts."  The city of Fort Davis, at an elevation of 5050 ft., is just a few miles south of the state park. The city was founded in 1854 and a fort was established which was named after Sec. of War, Jefferson Davis. "Fort Davis was active from 1854-1891 except for the Civil War years."  The ruins of the fort belong to the Natl. Park Svc. and are very well preserved.  We didn't visit as we had been there before.
 

From a vista at the state park. The fort and town are to the left and the state park is behind where we were standing taking the picture.

From the same vista but behind where the above was taken. The state park is below and to the left. Notice the color of the rocks, ground.

This area is just 30 min. from where we went to visit McDonald Observatory.  This is touted as being the highest paved public road east of the Rockies.
 

A picture of the area where we were camped. Our rig is actually the one to the far right and in the bottom right.

Al standing at the Pecos River just before it enters the Rio Grande.

This area is alive with various species of birds which migrate here in the winter.  One of the experts showed us apprx. 14 species while we were there.  It was very interesting watching the acorn woodpeckers take some of the suet from the feeder and then go to one of their NUMEROUS holes and pouding it in for later use.  Some of the phone poles looked like swiss  cheese!

The last morning we were there we went to a bird banding.  They only caught 2 birds while we were there but it certainly was interesting.  She wanted me to take the female cardinal from her and turn it loose  - wrong...that was one mad bird and she was looking to remove a part of my finger.  The only good picture we got was of this one - a cactus wren.  He wasn't particularly happy about being there either!!
 
 

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Our daytrip from Del Rio to Seminole Canyon continued to Langtry, TX, which was the home of Judge Roy Bean. He was known as the law west of the Pecos in the last decades of the 19th century. Railroads were being built and joined and along with the workers came thieves. "By 1882 the situation was so bad that the railroad asked help from the Texas Rangers." Because the closest "law" was 100 miles away, a Justice of the Peace was appointed--Roy Bean.

   He claimed he named the town after Lilly Langtry who was an English actress, however,  railroad historians say Langtry was named after one of their construction foremen. You can see her picture above the bar.

If you are ever here, don't worry about having to pay a fee to visit.  The area is a Texas Information Center, so everything is free!!  It is a good stop along the way.  Although we do not have any pictures of it here, they also have a desert botanical area with samples of many local cacti and other plants.
 

These first four pictures are from Langtry.  Here, Al bellys up to the bar in the "Jersey Lilly."  It was Bean's combination saloon, courtroom and billiard hall.

 

This is the actual (second) building which housed Judge Bean's courtroom - his first burned down.

This white building was Roy Bean's house.  He called it Roy Bean's Opera House, Town Hall and Seat of Justice.

Judge Bean hoped Lilly Langtry would visit Langtry since it had an opera house; however, she did not goto Langtry until after his death.
 

This is just another shot of the bar.  The notice on the front says  "no shooting, cutting, or loud cussing allowed, and absolutely no spitting on the floor."

Some say Bean was the hanging judge but there is no record that shows he
ever hanged anyone.

Most of the cactus were not in bloom, but there was one at the visitor center, and it was pretty spectacular.
 

In our March 2001 tour of Southwest Texas, after Fort Davis we went to San Angelo.  There was a state park there we had never visited, and this seemed like a good opportunity.  It was really an amazing drive from Fort Davis to San Angelo because of all the yellow flowers.  The wet spring in this part of Texas had created a bumper crop of yellow flowers and all the hills were covered; usually there are just a few, but not this year.  San Angelo itself is pretty interesting and had more historic sites than we would have thought beforehand.  It is also the home of the Concho pearl, which is a freshwater pearl with a pinkish or purplish color, found only in the rivers within 90 miles of San Angelo.  We went into one jewelry shop and saw many wonderful creations which used this local jewel.

The State Park was also unique in some ways, particularly its herd of Longhorn cattle.  

These Longhorns roam free inside San Angelo State Park.  We encountered the herd on one of the roads in the park.  We pulled up next to them and took the pictures.  They are apparently pretty calm, though, and we probably could have gotten out of the truck and walked around.  We certainly did not bother them very much - these were some of the larger bulls, and they just watched us for awhile when we were next to them.

Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas - March 18, 2001

This park was just a day visit on March 18 but it would be fun to go back and do a little more hiking and looking. It is located to the west of Del Rio, Texas, near the intersection of the Pecos and Rio Grande Rivers.
 

The yellow field is wildflowers in Seminole Canyon Park.  We took this from one of the campsites.  This was just the most highly visible of the many wild flowers at this park.

A few days after this, we had travelled on to Fort Davis and then to San Angelo and the wildflowers were this thick from Fort Stockton to San Angelo which is about 160 miles. We have never seen anything like this.  Usually there is just a field here and there with wild flowers.  The temperatures and humidity must have been perfect this year.  The park where we are staying in tonite is blanketed just like this.  Although it does not really fit with this state park, here is a picture of our RV at San Angelo State Park.
 

Al standing above Seminole Canyon.  You will notice there is a cavelike area and on the shelf there is a blacktopped path.  On the walls beneath the overhang are colored pictographs.

Baking oven used for the Southern Pacific Railroad constructions workers in 1882. It is just sitting out in the middle of no where within the park boundaries.  They have also marked some of the roadbeds used for the train...I much prefer my microwave and propane oven/stove!

These are some of the birds we saw this year (2001) in the S. Padre area.

Roseate Spoonbill--we saw several of them but they seem to feed farther from the bird blinds than some of the birds we have seen.  They aren't particularly "good looking" but their plummage is such a beautiful color. If you look very closely you can see the bill...it looks like a spoon.  It is wider at the far end.  "They feed in shallow water swinging their bills side to side."
 

Black skimmers are the ones with the black and red bill. "No other bird has a lower mandible longer than the upper." Note the red legs. The other birds in the picture are sea gulls.  The skimmers feed in the shallows. It is really interesting to watch it feed because it flies just above the water and the lower bill SKIMS the water for food.
 

Tricolored heron.  We were watching this guy (or gal) feed on small minnows in this stream which flowed into the Laguna Madre near the SPI Convention Center.
 

One of the unique birds in the south Texas area is the Green Jay.  This picture was taken at the National Wildlife Refuge just north of Port Isabel.
 

During January and February 2000 the weather on the island was excellent - we wore shorts almost all the time, and frequently had to use the air conditioner.  So far (as of Jan 20, 2001)  the weather has not been as cooperative.  We have only had parts of a couple of days when we could wear shorts, and have not been in the surf at all.

	This picture is from January 2000 - Al standing in the warm surf.  It was not as warm during January 2001, although we had some nice days, the surf temperature was in the 50's.
From Feb 2000.  Al and Donna went on the "Fins and Feathers" tour of Laguna Madre.  This tour is aboard a houseboat with no more than 12 tourists conducted by a couple who are experts in the wildlife of the South Padre area.  On our tour we learned a lot about the birds of the Laguna Madre.
	Here we are on a cool day (unusual) in Feb 2000.  We are standing at entry to the Laguna Madre.  The two pieces of land in the background are the jetties which protect the ship channel as it enters Laguna Madre from the Gulf.
Another picture from 2000.  The whale aquarium behind Donna is really a wonderful painting on the South Padre Island Convention Center.  I think that in pictures, in particular, this looks very realistic.  This picture is one of a series of whale paintings on the outside of buildings by one artist, This one was completed in 1996.
I do not take credit for this picture, but unfortunately have lost the credit line for it.  It does show the RV park we have been at both during 2000 and 2001 in the foreground.  The pier in the foreground is out into the Laguna Madre while the opposite side of the island (not very wide) is where the hotels you can see are mostly located is on the Gulf of Mexico.  The island is connected to the Texas mainland by a causeway about two miles long which goes to Port Isabel, TX.
	This is a picture from January 2001.  We were visiting a model house located on the gulf beach side.  Quite a nice house with a wonderful view.  Anyone with a one and a quarter million dollars can be the proud owner.