Our day at the canyon

For some crazy reason, Orren's been asking to go walk in the desert. I don't know where he even learned the word desert, or got the notion that he would like to walk in one, but he did. I mean, it's not too surprising. We do live in the desert. It was just funny when we were coming back from picking up something at a friend's house the other day, and Orren says, "Mommy, I wanna walk in the desert." and said it at least five times a day from there forward. He asked again while we were on our way home after picking Erin up from school today, so I decided to take them to go walk in the desert.

McKelligon Canyon seemed like a good enough place to go. I sort of know the trails a little, having been there before on a few occasions, and there are always plenty of people out there, mostly soldiers doing PT or road marches, so it's pretty safe. We headed out there right after I got Erin from school, after a brief stop home for her to change clothes, and everyone to go potty. Of course, I didn't think to wear some shoes other than sandals, but oh well... it's good enough for the Bedouins, right? I survived.

So we hiked, and climbed, and even saw all kinds of wildlife like a tarantula, which I did get a picture of, and a bunch of quail, which I did not get a picture of. The kids definitely tired themselves out, but cannot wait to go back.

We also picked up some rocks. I'm going to paint mine with a Texas theme, and put it in our garden, wherever we go after this. I suppose you could say we're beginning to say goodbye to El Paso, which, for all its bad points, has been our home for almost three years now. We don't know where we're going after this, only that we're going, and that our time here is coming to an end very fast.

These images... That's what I'm taking with me. That's how I want to remember this place.