revjim.net

Photographing West Texas: an update

Thanks to a fantastic birthday gift from a good friend, I’ve been wading through pages and pages of information on West Texas, my chosen destination for this weeks Photographic Adventure.

My early mornings and late evenings will be spent at various state parks and scenic overlooks including Monahans Sandhills, Hueco Tanks, the Davis Mountains, the Glass Mountains, the Rio Grande, and Big Bend National Park. The late mornings, mid-days, and early evenings will be spent experiencing culture and exploring backroads and highways. Suggestions of towns, roads, restaurants, hotels, and natural, and cultural places to visit are appreciated.

I’ve yet to decide if I want to take a more outdoors route with a dip into Eastern New Mexico, or if I want to take a more cultural route with a trip along the Texas/Mexico border in and out of both countries. I’ll take any tips or suggestions you might have to offer.

I intend to stay off of Interstates as much as possible, however, for the portions of Texas I’d prefer to skip over, I’ll be taking I-20 on the way in, and I-10/I-35 on the way back. Or the other way around, depending on who and what is available when.

I have a few spots I hope to see in the Hill Country of Texas, as time permits. This includes Enchanted Rock, Fredericksburg, Pedernales Falls, Ink Lake, Colorado Bend, and McKinney Falls. Again, I’ll be doing natural sight seeing in the early mornings and late evenings and spending the rest of the day driving, and sucking up culture.

There’s very little in between Midland and DFW that I want to see, so I’ll make that trip as quickly as possible. I’m hoping for 1 or 2 breaks in that 6 hour stretch, at most. I’d like to spend 2 (or 3) days in the hill country on the way back.

I’m working on a rough estimate of when I’ll be where. I should have it ready in a few hours.

  • http://bluestarliz.livejournal.com liz

    Ah, West Texas. Doesn’t sound like you are heading up to Lubbock; if you were going to be in that neck of the woods, I could point you in a couple of good spots, most notabley my high school is fascinating to photograph (built in 1919, Spanish Style architecture, complete with GARGOYLES!, and if you head down 114 about 45 minutes outside of Lubbock you hit the Caprock, which is absolutely gorgeous and rugged (and hot and dry right now). Post is an interesting small town along the way as well, and surrounded by more of that specifical craggy landscape that West Texas does when it’s not doing flat.

    Enchanted Rock is beautiful, and Fredericksburg has great food.