Big Bend Balloon Bash and Balmorhea!!

Well, it was time to get away from Andrews again for some more adventure! This time we chose to explore down south a little into the Fort Davis Mountain area about 3 hours away. We loaded up our camping gear, grabbed a camera, and took off after church on Sunday for a lovely road trip :)

Our first event was the Big Bend Balloon Bash! Every Labor Day weekend, hot air ballooners from around Texas gather in the small town of Alpine, Texas. They take flight every morning and come back in the evening to perform what they call a Fire Concert. Boy, was that a fun experience! They all line up their baskets and wait til the sun goes down. Then the extravaganza begins! The pilots play their "fire" to rock and roll music! Check out the video!

We had almost front row seats, and I tell ya! When every flame went off at the same time, you felt the heat!!! So cool! After the concert, we drove about 10 miles out of town to check out what is called the Marfa Lights. These are lights that mysteriously appear off in the horizon next to the little town of Marfa. They don't always appear, but we were lucky enough to choose a good night, cuz they were good and bright...and very mysterious! Dodododododo :)

The next morning, after a beautiful night of camping under the stars, we went to go see the balloons take off. Unfortunately, it was too windy :( So, that just meant we got an early start on mountain biking and hiking! We drove up to Fort Davis State Park, after a little breakfast, and hit the trails. Shanam biked while I hiked and I actually ended up hiking the entire 4.2 miles up and over into the Fort Davis National Historic Site. The view was neat at the top of the mountain and the climb down through huge molten rock boulders was definitely a fun experience!

We decided to cool off a bit afterward by hitting up "The Caboose" for an ice cream treat :)

Then, our last stop as we made our way back up to Andrews was Balmorhea State Park. A gorgeous natural spring that has been made into a 2 acre swimming pool! It's the oasis of West Texas! The water was a cold 75 degrees and little fish swam around you the entire time. In some spots, it goes down 30 feet and people come to scuba dive and see the much cooler fish that live down there. About 1 million gallons of water is naturally fed in and out of the pool every hour! It's a pretty neat place and we will definitely be coming back with snorkeling gear!

We had such a nice weekend! We just love being able to get out and explore! And we look forward to the very near future when Annabelle can come on our adventures, too!