Disneyland: Summer 2015

This summer my parents treated all the girls and their husbands (and kids, if applicable!) to three days and three nights at Disneyland together.  Although we have all never been more exhausted in our lives, it is the best kind of exhausted you can be.  Up way too late, up way too early, and lots.of.walking.  Plenty of adult beverages involved, and lots of fun memories of childhood to relive, reawaken, and remake.  It was Disney.  So naturally, it was awesome.

 First Timer Button!

We drank the kool aide.  He loved it.

 The "brothers from another mother."

 Junior Ranger?  Hey!  That's me!

Very fitting in my Big Bend shirt from our road trip earlier this month.

 Dresden's first time on Dumbo!

 Ceiba's first "Big Boy" ride.

"That was not very fun, Mommy!"

 OMG.  Couple Twins.  Need I say more.

 Cousin Twins!

We stayed at The Grand Californian Hotel which might have been the most brilliant idea ever since we could come and go from the park any time we wanted, didn't have to shuttle back and forth, or wait in yet more lines.  And believe me, we did a lot of back and forth.  Best of all, we got into the park an hour early before it got really crowded.  In the afternoons when we were all hot, stinky, and tired, we cooled off in the pool.  At night while the kids and grandparents were asleep, we hit the roller coasters and screamed our heads off until after midnight.  In short, we could be kids again. And we took full advantage.  I even got to visit Dallas Clayton's mural at Downtown Disney created in celebration of Pixar's "Inside Out," and in collaboration with Amy Poehler's Smart Girls!

#mcgowandisneyvacation2015

Happily Ever After!

2015 Summer Road Trip Part III: Bits & Pieces

2015 Summer Trip Part II: Big Bend Birds (& Bugs!)

Believe it or not, Big Bend has one of the largest concentrations of bird species in all of the National Parks.  We endured temperatures over 105 in scorching sun, and bodies dripping in sweat to make our way through deep snake-paradise grasses, muddy river banks, and bug-infested tree canopies to catch glimpses of birds we'd never seen before.  And when I say bugs, I don't mean little ants or the occasional bee.  I mean the professionals.  Like these tarantula hawk wasps, for example.

Armed with Sybley, water bottles, binoculars, and wildlife lens in hand, (I forgot the bug spray!), we trudged and chased and stalked.  But it was worth it.  We saw close to 50 bird species when it was all said and done.

Turkey Vultures are everywhere!

Greater Roadrunner.  State bird of New Mexico.  Also everywhere!

Summer Tanager (F)

Yellow Billed Cuckoo

Vermillion Flycatcher (M)

Common Black Hawk

Northern Mockingbird.  State Bird of Texas.

Painted Bunting (F)

Varied Bunting (M)

Cactus Wren

Black-Headed Grosbeak

2015 Summer Trip part I: Texas

Texas is an unlikely place for Brian and me to end up on our annual summer trip.  Generally speaking, we crave forests and bears so seek out colder or wetter climates during our coveted time off, but the reality is that we're starting to run out of unexplored places in the West - at least in terms of National Park sites.  For the first time, we were pushed East.

Many times in preparation for this trip we considered dropping it all and just driving to Montana.  It always, inevitably, comes back around to Montana.  It was difficult to stick with the plan, and in the end the only reason we may have stuck to it was due to circumstances outside of our control involving transportation.  We ended up having to take my mom's little VW sedan and it just won't cut it in the rough back country roads of Glacier, so we were stuck.  With Texas.

For what it's worth, Texas did surprise us.  Actually, it was the mountains and Chihuahuan Desert landscape of Texas which changed our minds.  The rest of Texas can go ahead and keep its distance, but the Chisos and the Guadalupes were beautiful.  They ended up being totally worth it.

Our trip to Big Bend was hatched sometime this winter when we watched the movie "Boyhood."  You have to watch the entire movie to get to Big Bend's cameo, which is the very last scene of the movie.  But when it was over we both looked at each other and knew.  We need to go there.  It started literally at that moment.

We endured some pretty insane weather, but stayed dry and standing while others around us flooded or flattened out.  This was our reward.