Took my kid (orange shirt) and our neighbor's boy to Big Bend a couple of weeks ago. Neighbor said it was his first time in the mountains, first time hiking, and first time in the desert. Got 'em matching Junior Ranger hats and hiked them around 8 miles in the 48 hours we were there. It was great. Got them a couple of walking sticks from a Mexican on an overlook while the boys were asleep. You're not supposed to do that, and I hid them in the car until we got home. Cool surprise at the end cuz I rock.
This was just going to be a dad/son trip, but the neighbor's dad, who is a POS who left his mom when the boy was about 6 months old, took his older sisters on a trip and left him behind. I didn't want him alone at home with his mom with everybody else gone, so we all went.
Only problem on the trip was
>>168245, which hasn't healed completely and will leave an interesting scar.
One quick story from the trip: We were started on the first hike (out to a pretty cool stone window at Grapevine Hills) when he asked me if he really was going to get to keep the hat I had bought at the park headquarters when I got the permits. TFW.
