Fall Getaway - Monahans State Park

We have a few more pictures from our parents' recent weekend getaway to share with you.  You WILL get to actually see them in this post . . . you will NOT see us as we weren't invited to join them.  [sigh]  Close to Big Bend National Park is Monahans Sandhills State Park.  We say close, but it's all relative.  Remember Texas is the second largest state in the Union and you could drive from some places in the state to California quicker than you could drive across the state!

Mommy is all about spotting wildlife (perhaps because she lives with wildlife??), but she and Daddy both thought this sign was funny.  Is this a cow/heifer or bull????  Inquiring minds want to know . . . Either way, no bovines were seen at the sandhills.

Monahans Sandhills has over 3800 acres of sand dunes that you can explore by foot or by hiney (with the rental of a sand disc).  The dunes are beautiful and change with the wind daily.

There weren't many people there on the day our parents went.  It was chilly, windy, and looked like it was going to rain.  That meant our parents could roam wherever their legs wanted to take them.  And their legs took them slowly in this sand which was deep in places.  They were told it was a good day to sand surf since the sand wasn't hot.  Apparently the discs don't go very fast when the sand is hot.  Who knew?  (The park ranger, that's who!)

Mommy just had to take this picture even though as Daddy pointed out, they don't have kids and didn't have us with them.  She didn't care; she said it was a cute picture anyway.  You might think Mommy is a sucker for all kids and dawgs, but that's not true at all.  She's a sucker for cute kids and cute dawgs and trust us, not all are created equal!

Mommy was in hopes this might be her chance to see a rattlesnake in the wild, but she was once again disappointed.  Who knows what she would actually do if she really saw one . . . scream her head off probably!  But the signs at the park warned about all kinds of wildlife: snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, etc.  Instead, she had to settle for wildflowers.  These were pretty cool since they were sprouting up in what looked like the middle of the desert!  (Animal tracks were present even though the actual animals themselves weren't.)  Daddy tried his best to convince Mommy she was looking at tarantula holes in the sand at one point, but she finally realized it was a man's walking stick making the holes!  DUH!

The highlight of their trip to Monahans was riding down the dunes.  Both Mommy and Daddy each had wipeouts, but we can only show you one!

This next picture will give you an idea of how high the sand dunes were.  Our parents chose the tallest dunes for their sledding!  (That's kind of surprising to us.)  That's Mommy in the center of the picture way down at the bottom of the hill.

And, as promised, here's the one and only picture we're allowed to show you that actually shows the faces of both parents. 

They had so much fun at the sand dunes.  Why, oh why, couldn't we go too???  We would have had so much fun!  They finished their time at the dunes with a race to see who could slide the longest.  We'll let you decide who won . . .

Until next time,
Dixie, Jenna & Ruger