Memories of West Texas heaven

An old bighorn ram overlooks the valley below on Elephant Mountain, Elephant Mt Wildlife Management Area north of Big Bend National Park in West Texas. Photos Copyright (c) 2010 Wendee Holtcamp.

I have finally gotten a spare minute to upload my West Texas photos. Here are a few of my favorites. It was a fantastic trip, made even more fun and special by the presence of my dear friend Laurie. We met at Texas A&M during the "Information Technology in Science" (ITS) 2-year program we participated in, which was a partnership between the College of Science and the College of Education. Each participant was an educator in some way, most middle and high school teachers and a handful, like me, were college instructors. Laurie taught at an inner city school in San Antonio and after this program (where we each earned an ITS Certificate) she went on to earn her Master's degree, and is now working in Administration.

We've traveled together to West Texas before for my Top of Texas cover story for Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, back in 2006, and also to Granbury, west of Dallas-Ft. Worth a couple years ago.She's got the most contagious laughter and is a fantastic traveling companion! And she loves West Texas. It also is my favorite region of Texas. It reminds me of New Mexico, which I also find absolutely magical.

A view of part of Elephant Mountain from below. We went here looking for desert bighorn sheep with the WMA biologist for an article I'm working on.
A shot on top of Elephant Mountain.
Froylan Hernandez, WMA lead biologist, looking for bighorns amidst the clouds that kept rolling in atop the mountain.
Froylan scouting for sheep.
Laurie & I at Balmorhea State Park.
Scott & Jenny Turner, who manage Davis Mountains Lodge & Expeditions. After our Enterprise rental car pooped out on us, we stayed there one night because we worried we could not make it back to the hotel another 40 miles away. They have guided birding and hiking trips in Texas as well as Mexico, and are the friendliest couple! Jenny also cooks delicious food, epecially the sopapilla cheesecake. ZOMG!
Darren Wallis is actually the birding guide who took us out in the field. He was awesome! Very knowledgable about the flora and fauna, and super nice. Turns out, we had a mutual friend from way back when it College Station. (Not a great pic, I know - it's all shaded, but it's the only one I really had of him)
A collared lizard in Davis Mountains State Park, where we went hiking with Darren.
A colorful, gigantic grasshopper!
A canyon tree frog was oon the shelter at the base of the trailhead we took to the top of the trail, overlooking the Davis Mountains and nearby Fort Davis.
Also at the trailhead we saw a flock of lesser goldfinches. This one is a female.
And a male!
At the top of the trailhead in Davis Mountains State Park, we could see Indian Lodge, a pueblo style lodge inside the state park built by the CCC in the 1930s.
A cholla cactus and desert mountain scenery.
These cute little ceramic dolls were inside the Indian Lodge gift shop, which we stopped by on the way out.
We also went birding at Balmorhea State Park and then 4 miles down the road, Lake Balmorhea.
We saw several of these brilliant blue damselflies near the water's edge. We also saw a bunch of Clark's grebes, including a baby one who was trying to hop on its mom's back. I didn't get a good shot of the grebes though. Apparently Darren didn't realize they breed here, and this may be an interesting find.
On the road, we spotted a roadkilled badger. I've never seen a wild badger, dead or not, so this was exciting. I also took this photo for my friend Eliza who is documenting roadkill and writing a book about it!
The town of The water from the San Solomon spring at Balmorhea State Park runs through these aqueducts all through the town of Balmorhea, and then empties into the lake, which is a reservoir rather than a natural lake (Texas has only one natural lake - Caddo Lake in North Texas).
This is the back side of a hotel in Balmorhea. The pic looks pretty cool but Balmorhea is very small and quaint, and the photos may make it look even better than it does in person. :) Nevertheless it has its charm! And the skies are amazing! You don't see "Wild Turkey crossing" signs very often! This is outside Balmorhea.
Recent rains had the land flush with green and color. Sunflowers were everywhere, and the skies are almost always this gorgeous robin's egg blue, with scattered clouds.
This is a shot of historic Wild Rose Pass between Fort Davis and Balmorhea. The cutest little ground squirrel eating a pretzel outside our door, at the San Solomon Court, a lodge built by CCC at Balmorhea State Park.
A crawfish was sitting on the sidewalk, and we rescued him back into the water.
San Solomon Spring- a natural artesian spring that gushes 1 million gallons per HOUR. The spring pool stays at a constant temp of 72 degres F. The visibility is amazing, and the water is emerald. The spring bottom is natural -algae covered rocks, mud, etc and you can see a lot of wild aquatic organisms - turtles, fish, etc. The CCC built this concrete lining around it back in the 1930s, but not on the bottom.
This is a cienega, Spanish for desert wetland. Back in the 1930s, the CCC destroyed the wetland when they created the Balmorhea pool from San Solomon Spring. They restored it in the 1990s, and are working on creating additional cienega habitat.
More of the cienega habitat.
One evening we went to the artsy town of Marfa, and had dinner with my friend Jeff McCoy at the historic Hotel Paisano's Jett Grill. We sat outside - it was a lovely evening! Then we went to see the Marfa Lights, which we did see. I was expecting somethng like the aurora borealis so seeing the little tiny orbs of flickering lights was mildly disappointing. I was surprised there isn't yet a clear scientific explanation. I guess it's some sort of mirage of lights, or something akin to ball lightning or St. Elmo's fire but none of those phenomena precisely match the situation here. Why doesn't some scientist go study it, for crying out loud!
At Elephant Mountain we spotted this desert box turtle. You can tell it's a male by its red eyes. Very colorful, no? It's the same one as in the photo from the previous entry, different view.
Laurie and her awesome laughter, on top of Elephant Mountain!

Ditch your inner perfectionist!

The sky in West Texas is almost always gorgeous. The sky is actually this color, not enhanced by anything! Just deep sky blue, and a smattering of clouds. Copyright (c) 2010 Wendee Holtcamp

A perfectionist? Who me?

Last week's challenge for the Inner Mean Girl Cleanse was a big one for me. Christine & Amy challenged everyone to ditch our inner perfectionists and ahievement junkie. Whoa nelly, this is a big one for me. I can be a Perfectionist with a capital P! Truth be told I consider myself a recovering Type A personality - some of my perfectionism has started to wane. But it's definitely still there, and it manifests in my work (usually a good thing), and sometimes in my parenting and relationships (not so good). The week this email came was the absolute worst one for this challenge for me. Continue reading.

Our Antidote to perfectionism was supposed to be...

1) Under promise. Over deliver.

2) Go for the C. Give 80% instead of 100%. (the reasoning is that for most perfectionists, our C is most people's As!)

So my worst week situ with this challenge: I had a deadline for an article, and of course I can't "Go for the C" with my career! I also had a trip planned to West Texas, and had already waited until the last minute to plan everything. There ya go, maybe that IS my "C." I've been working at breakneck speed the last few months. I have had deadline on top of deadline, week after week, and truth be told I do not work best in that kind of situation. I like deadlines, and even work pretty well under stress generally, but when it's one on top of another with NO break whatsoever I feel like my creativity suffers. As I mentioned before, I like to be able to write something, and let it sit for a few days. With quick deadlines I don't have that luxury.

Interestingly though, I feel like this IMG cleanse is really helping my creativity. Despite my busyness, taking both my morning meditation-prayer-journaling time, and the time to do the Inner Mean Girl Cleanse to work through thoughts and issues, means I've had a lot of insights, and have been in a really good place generally lately. Lots of joy, peace, gratitude and contentedness with life in general and how it's going. Sure, there are day to day stressors, and issues that come up but I just feel happier and more abundant than I have in a while!

What I think I'm realizing is that I need to make sure to keep the balance in my life between work and play. I have a tendency to get overloaded on the work end of things (though I have to say, much of my work - especially the traveling part - is pure joy!). So here's to slowing down, being deliberate in what choices and assignments I take on, and spacing out deadlines a bit more.

I am listening to the audiobook of "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey while in my car and I don't consider it chance that I heard this part of the audiobook right during this week of the IMG Cleanse related to Perfectionism and Overachievement. Covey talks about a quadrant dividing out life's activities based on two criteria: Urgency and Importance. There are items that are urgent & important, urgent & unimportant, not urgent and important, and not urgent and not important. Importance is defined by items in line with your personal mission statement (which can include work related items, family, personal growth) and is of course different for each person.

Covey says we need to spend most of our time in Quadrant 2 activities so we're not driven by the tyranny of the urgent. If we devote more time to Quadrant 2 activities, Quadrant 1 (urgent, important) will diminish because one of the most important Quadrant 2 activities is planning! Other Quadrant 2 activities are developing professional knowledge, implementing systems, and relationship building (so while someone might initially think that talking to a friend, or developing relationships in bible study or even business meetings are unimportant, to the extent you are building relationships, they are very important. Of course, some meetings are totally useless... it all depends on the situation.

I am lucky in that I don't have to sit through a bunch of boring, ineffective business meetings but I have found that sometimes meeting one-on-one is actually an incredibly important means to move a project forward, and to establish trust and emotional bonds between co-workers. I think this is why I make meeting with folks I know and like such a high priority in my travels around the world - whether friends or colleagues. I really like people, and especially the people I like. ;)

I think that I need to become better organized, and spend less time in brain-numb-time-waste activities, like Facebook. As much as I LOVE social networking on Facebook, I need to manage my work time more effectively. So that's my goal. I think that by using my time more wisely, I will spend more time able to let go of the details a bit more.

On another note, I actually did take the advice of "go for the C" in my West Texas travels (mostly due to not enough time to plan more), and we had all kinds of humorous misadventures as a result. It's all good though - everything worked out just fine! With a little prayer and some backup plans in the pocket, we had a total blast despite a rental car breakdown and inability to get a hold of two hotels (get this - when it rains, the phones go down in West Tex - For Realz). A good choice of travel companion and lots of laughter are also key! Laurie is the best! I will post some photos and blog about our trip when I get a chance. I'm off to the store to shop for my son's birthday party this weekend!

And a tease of pics to come...

A herd of bighorn sheep on Elephant Mountain.
Self-portrait on Elephant Mountain. Having a blast!
Slippery steps... The spring pool at Balmorhea State Park that stays 72 degrees or something like that year-round.
Jumpin in!
This is some sort of very colorful turtle - blue head, red eyes, orange arms... I'm not sure what species. Anyone know?
Until next time...

West Texas Adventures ahead!

A Cholla cactus in the Chihuahuan Desert of West Texas.
All photos below from West Texas copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

I fly from Houston tomorrow morning to the booming town of... Midland, Texas! Well I'm not sure how hopping the place really is, but I can say that when my friend Laurie & I drive west from there to our actual destination in West Texas, we will be laughing it up and enjoying the West Texas mountain scenery and desert oases. Laurie was my companion on my last trip to West Texas when I was researching the Top of Texas cover story for Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, which covered the best vantage points from various parts of the Lone Star State! I had so much fun on that trip! Laurie & I hiked up Guadalupe Mountain, the tallest peak in Texas, and had quite the experience as I blogged about in "Wendee Holtcamp EXPOSED!" (There are some fantastic shots in that blog post, if I do say so myself - and not of ME - Ha - of the gorgeous scenery of West Texas!)

Laurie is such a fun person and I love her laugh and I am very much looking forward to this trip. I'm off to report three different stories, and love traveling on a magazine's budget and not my own penny! :) Here's our tentative itinerary.

Saturday after we arrive, we will drive out to Alpine, Texas which is about 3 hours west of Midland where we'll drop in on the Shooting West Texas photography symposium at Ross University (I asked the guy in charge for directions, and a physical address, and he said good luck with that, West of the Pecos!)

Realistically, we will probably only arrive for the book signing part around 5pm, but my friend Laurence Parent, a truly phenomenal photographer, will be there, as will Texas Parks & Wildlife official photographer Earl Nottingham, who has shot for several of my articles for the magazine but I've never met him in person. After the book signing, we are going to dinner somewhere in Alpine. Wyman Meinzer was the keynote speaker but he spoke today not tomorrow. I met him when we both gave guest talks at the University of North Texas Nature Writing Conference in 2007.

After dinner, we'll head to the McDonald Observatory for their Saturday evening "star party." I covered this in my Top of Texas article so Laurie & I visited before but it's awesome! We were there in November last time, and the constellations I learned I still vividly remember now. They have benches outside, and several telescopes and they have a guide who teaches visitors about what to expect in the night sky after dark. Astronomers come here from around the world to study the stars, as it has several powerful telescopes (not for your average visitors - for scientists). Last time we actually stayed overnight at the lodge there.

This time, we will be staying at El Oso Flojo Lodge in Balmorhea Saturday and Sunday(the rooms look pretty nice), and then at the San Solomon Court lodge at Balmorhea State Park on Monday night. Balmorhea State Park is renowned for being an "oasis in the desert" (the Chihuahuan Desert as a matter of fact) with a gorgeous, clear, blue cold spring that you can swim, snorkel and even scuba dive in. I'm actually thinking about diving if I can swing it! Just got off the the phone with Neta, owner of the Toyahvale Desert Oasis and Funky Li'l Dive Shop.

Sunday, a guide from Davis Mountains Education Center (DMEC) is taking us birding in Balmorhea State Park and nearby Lake Balmorhea. We also may go to the Madera Canyon Trail, a property owned by The Nature Conservancy in the Davis Mountains. After that, we'll head to Balmorhea State Park's San Solomon spring to swim, snorkel or dive and lounge about until that evening when Jenny from the DMEC Lodge is making us yummy fish tacos for dinner! They have lodging and food but we're not staying there. Maybe next time!

Monday, we're headed to Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area to traipse around looking for bighorn sheep! I am doing one travel article, and one piece on bighorn sheep. They reintroduced bighorns here in West Texas, after they were basically exterminated from the state many years ago, and they've been going great guns ever since. After a day hiking if we're not completely about to collapse, we're going to drive around some of the scenic routes (it's part of the Texas Mountain Trail) and maybe even get a massage if we can find a good spa!

Tuesday, we're meeting up with Beth Nobles, Director of the Texas Mountain Trail program of the Texas Heritage Trails Association. We met her last time we visited too. We don't leave until around 6pm, and this day is kind of flexible and we may head back to Midland and go to the Museum of the Southwest or we may go to the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute in Fort Davis although that's the opposite direction of Midland!

It's my son's 14th birthday and I'm about to take him out to the Happy Buddha Japanese steakhouse - one of his faves - then over to his dad's. I'll post some pics from the road if I can!