Big Bend, Day 4

Here are some pictures Gabriel took with my camera on our last day.

This is Patrick. He had the neighboring campsite and is quite possibly one of the coolest people I have ever met. It began with Brandon going over to ask him about his motorcycle, Dakar racing motorcycle (used for the races from Paris to Africa). I was very impressed with B's knowledge of this race and the coolness of this bike. Which made B even more cool in my eyes.

Gabriel took that picture of Patrick too...

As conversation progressed we learned quite a lot about Patrick. At age 19 he moved to Alaska where he spent the next 14 years working on fishing and crabbing boats. Six months on, six months off and a big fat paycheck to boot.

Eventually I guess he got tired of working. He saved his money and do you know what he did next? He spent the next 9 years living on his own sailboat in the Caribbean. Yeah, he's awesome-sauce.

Well, even living in the Caribbean gets old, it seems. So he sold his sailboat, bought this uber-cool bike and is traveling our beautiful nation going to each National Park on the map. This is his second round of all the parks. He lives out of this compartment on the back of his bike.

Jealous? I am. But, if I lived that exciting life, I would have missed out my own adventure of being a mom to these brilliant, wild, and good looking boys. I would have missed out on the adventure of being married to a brilliant, wild, good looking man who makes sure my life is NEVER boring. I would have missed out cable tv and all of the ... ok, I will gladly exchange cable for living the high life. But I would have missed out on blogging - and that would be very sad.

Patrick and Brandon went on a long hike together on Thursday, our last day. B and I HAVE to go back sans kiddos. There are so many strenuous hikes I want to do - straight vertical climbs or 15 miles through the dessert. I just can't subject my kids to that until they are at least 6 years old. -my mom will probably have palpitations when she reads that last sentence!

So while daddy was hiking, Gabriel, Ethan and I went to check out the fossil exhibit. Oh yeah, this desert was a swamp thousands and thousands of years ago. I would tell you all about it, but its really not that interesting. Normally I am a big dork and find that sort of useless knowledge fascinating but even I could have skipped that one. Although this video is precious!

Here is a picture and video of Gabriel at the fossil exhibit.

Then we packed up and took off for home. Goodbye Big Bend. The last picture of Big Bend; taken from the passenger seat on the way out of dodge.

Oh but this post isn't over yet!

We stopped off for dinner at a Pizza Hut; after we were pulled over for going less than 5 over the speed limit (give me a break!). Don't worry, even though the policeman seemed to be on a power trip he let us go with a warning. Border patrol was nicer than this guy - and they usually aren't that nice! (in case you didn't know - I mean, I'm sure they are nice in a social setting but on the job they are fairly rough).

Anyway, Gabriel's Pizza Hut placemat had some What If? questions on it and I wrote down his answers -which were so adorable!

What if....

you could have a wild animal for a pet; what would you choose?

...a mouse.

you had a million dollars; how would you spend it?

...I would buy a car and a night light.

you were President for one day; what would you do?

...make everyone be good.

you had a genie that granted one wish per day; how would you use them?

...to have a big plant for big water. (I think he said this because he has two small plants and that's his "garden" that he takes care of)

you could travel back in time; when and where would you go?

...I would go to the Start to meet Towmater.

you were stranded on an island with one possession; what would it be?

...beach toys!