Bradfield's Hornbill

Judy just did a post on Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe and posted the photo of a Bradfield's hornbill. I did not have such a photo and had her send it to me. We were in the same vehicle, taking pictures of the same animals, so I saw it, I just didn't get a photo of it. We saw lots of hornbills that day and I was having trouble getting my camera to focus on them. That particular bird was obviously one that my camera was giving me problems on. I love the hornbills and I am very excited to add another sighting and photograph to my collection.

Bradfield's hornbill has a relatively small distribution - it is only found in northern Botswana, northeastern Namibia, southeastern Angola, a very small portion of southern Zambia and a very small sliver of western Zimbabwe, which is where we saw it. It is "uncommon" where it is found.

It is pale brown with a white belly and a white tip of tail. It has a black back and wings,  the eyes are yellow, the beak is red and has no casque. Females are smaller than males and have turqoise facial skin.

Canada Travel Map

I have visited 8 of the 13 provinces/territories of Canada.

My first visit to Canada was as a young boy with my family. I must have been about 12 or 13 and in junior high school. We drove up through Glacier National Park in Montana into Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, just the other side of the border, where I recall seeing a lot of deer. Then we drove over to Cardston, a town settled by the Mormons, and saw the Mormon Temple there. I recall driving through Calgary, or at least the outskirts, then up into Banff National Park. I particularly recall the beautiful, cold, Lake Louise. We took canoes out into the cold water. Up until a few minutes ago, I would have guessed the Athabaska Glacier was right next to Lake Louise, but I'm seeing it is 80 miles north. We took a snow cat up onto the Athabaska Glacier and got out and walked around on the glacier. I recall the warnings of not walking too far because of the danger of crevasses. The only other strong memory of the trip is seeing a mother black bear and her cubs up in a pine tree in Jasper National Park. We may have driven through Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, on the way back home - I'm not sure. I would have guessed not, but as I look at the map, I think we may have. 

Jump forward 25 years or so to the summer of 1995 when we took our young family to Washington State and British Columbia. We took a ferry from Port Angeles in Washington to Victoria on Vancouver Island, the capital of British Columbia. We went inside the Parliament Building, visited the Royal Museum of London Wax Museum and the British Columbia Museum. We drove up Hwy 17 and stayed in Saanichton, then visited Butchart Gardens the next day. We took the ferry from Swartz Bay over to Tsawwassen, south of Vancouver. We drove past Horseshoe Bay up to Squamish, where we spent the night, after visiting Shannon Falls and Alice Lake. The next day we drove to Vancouver where Judy and Rachael visited the Gastown area and I took the two boys to the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. From there we took the I-5 back into Washington. 

In April 2003, with Sam and Andrew, we visited Niagara Falls, both in New York and Ontario, Canada. It was very cold and icy.

In December 2015, Judy and I drove from St. Albans, Vermont, to Montreal, Quebec, where we spent the day, then drove back to St. Albans, Vermont. We visited the Notre Dame Basilica, St. Joseph's Oratory, Mount Royal and a wonderful dinner at Au Cinquieme Peche. 

In May 2017, as part of an Alaskan cruise, we rented a car in Skagway, Alaska, and drove up through a sliver of British Columbia, including the town of Fraser, and into Yukon Territory, passing through Conrad, Carcross, and Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon, to the Yukon Wildlife Preserve. Afterwards, we had lunch in Whitehorse at Burnt Toast Cafe before heading back the same way to Skagway. Later in the trip, our cruise ship docked in Vancouver, British Columbia. We visited the Granville Island Public Market, Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, the Capilano River Hatchery, Chinatown, and then had a wonderful dinner at Forage. We flew home the next morning from Vancouver. 

In August 2018 we hooked up with our son, Andrew, in New York, flew to Bangor, Maine, then drove Hwy 9 into New Brunswick where we visited St. Andrews where we took a whale watching voyage out into the Bay of Fundy. We stayed in St. John that night, where we briefly looked at the Reversing Falls Bridge and hunted for mushrooms in Irving Nature Park. The next day we drove up to St. Martins and took the beautiful Fundy Trail Parkway, and a wonderful walk near Flower Pot Rock. We drove down Hwy 114 into Alma in Fundy National Park, then drove to Hopewell Rocks Park, where we walked out among the sea stacks while the tide was out. We stayed the night in Moncton. The next way we headed back to Maine on an inland route on Hwy 2, to Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick, where we visited Christ Church Cathedral. Near Woodstock, we took the Maliseet Trail to Hays Falls and had some wonderful mushroom hunting. We ate in Woodstock, before heading back into Maine. Later, we hooked up with Judy's siblings and their spouses for a cruise, starting in Boston and then back up into Canada. In Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, we visited Citadel Hill, Fairview Cemetery, and Peggy's Cove. In Sydney, Nova Scotia, on Cape Breton Island, I took a boat tour out to Big Bras d'Or to see sea birds and seals and Judy visited Louisbourg. In Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island, we drove through PEI National Park to Cavendish and the Anne of Green Gables home. Then we had a nice tour in Charlottetown which included a visit to Province House, where the Canadian Conference on Confederation was held. In Quebec City, the capital of Quebec, we took a great food tour through Old Quebec. When our cruise docked in Montreal, we rented a car and drove to Ottawa, Ontario, the capital of Canada. The highlight was a tour of the Canadian Parliament Building, as well as a boat cruise on the Ottawa River. We also visited the National Gallery of Canada and Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica. We flew home from Ottawa.

In September 2018, I had a business trip to Toronto, the capital of Ontario. We got a wonderful tour of Trinity College, part of the University of Toronto, then visited the Royal Ontario Museum. Then we drove out to the Bruce Peninsula, which juts into Lake Huron. We got to Tobermory, at the end of the Peninsula, and took a hike in Bruce Peninsula National Park out to the Grotto. We took another drive back into Toronto and visited the Kensington Market, the best market we've been to in any city. We had a wonderful meal at Pow Wow Cafe, before flying back home. 

Mexico Travel Map

I have visited 14 of the 31 Mexican states as well as the capital, Mexico City. 

Updated September 20, 2019.

My first visit to Mexico was as a young boy, age 5 or 6. We visited Southern California and included a stop in Tijuana (Baja California) where I recall wanting to buy a ceramic gorilla piggy bank. I didn't have enough money and when I told the man how much I had, he said he would take that for it. I replied, "I don't want to cheat you" and left it at that. I obviously had a lot to learn. I recall my older brother, David, buying a statue of Venus De Milo.

Years later when we moved to San Diego where I went to law school, we made quite a few trips down to Ensenada where we would go to the fish market and buy shrimp and crab. We also found a wonderful restaurant, El Rey Sol, which we ate at quite a few times. 

When we moved to Redlands we discovered Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Southern Arizona which I have visited quite a few times over the years. On many of those visits we have crossed the border and driven through Sonoyta (Sonora) and down to Puerto Penasco on the Gulf of California where we have had some wonderful seafood meals. On one trip, when the kids were young, we went back to California on Hwy 2 through the extreme desert of northern Sonora, and exited Mexico through Mexicali, the capital of Baja California, to Calexico and up through the Imperial Valley. On two trips, one with Judy and one alone, I drove through El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve. 

In July 1989 we visited Southern Arizona and crossed over into Mexico at Agua Prieta (Sonora) through Douglas and Nogales through Nogales. 

Years later, with business colleagues, both financial advisors, I drove through Nuevo Casas Grandes and Colonia Juarez to Mata Ortiz (Chihuaha), to see the beautiful clay pots made by the artists of Mata Ortiz. We entered Mexico through Agua Prieta and followed Hwy 2 below New Mexico and then down Hwy 10. 

In March 2018 I had my first real trip into the heart of Mexico (Judy lived in Mexico while a college student and did quite a bit of traveling while there). We flew into the Federal District of Mexico City, the capital (the Washington D.C.) of Mexico, and did quite a few activities there, including the National Palace, Chapultepec Park, Coyoacan, Xochimilco and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. We went into the State of Mexico, the Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan being my favorite spot there. We also visited Tlalmanalco and Amecameca as part of our visit up to the Saddle of Cortez between the volcanoes Popo and Izta. We took a day trip into Cuernavaca, the capital of the State of Morelos, then continued on to the white city of Taxco in the State of Guerrero. Another day we visited the State of Puebla and visited Huejotzingo, Cholula and the capital of Puebla. We also took a side trip, a flight from Mexico City to Villahermosa, the capital of the State of Tabasco, to visit some friends that are living there. Aside from time in Villahermosa, we drove to the Mayan ruins in Comalcalco, and traveled in to the State of Chiapas to visit the Mayan ruins and city of Palenque. It was on this trip that I really fell in love with Mexico and made a goal to visit each of the Mexican states. 

In a trip to Western Texas in December 2018, we went into Big Bend National Park and planned to cross over the Rio Grande River there to visit Boquillas, in the State of Coahuila. The U.S. government shutdown prevented that visit. I was right at the edge of the Rio Grande, in Boquillas Canyon, a stone's throw from Coahuila, and met a Mexican man from Boquillas who'd crossed the Rio Grande on his horse to sell trinkets. A considered offering him some money to take me over to the other side of the Rio Grande and back, but decided I didn't want to chance getting on the wrong side of the U.S. Border Patrol if they happened to be watching.

At the end of August, 2019, I went on a four day whirlwind tour through five Mexican states and southern Texas with my nephew, John. John has dual citizenship in Mexico and the U.S. and speaks Spanish. In addition, he has done a lot of traveling in Mexico, and knows much of the food, tradition and history, and is not afraid to do long stints of driving, a perfect companion for this sort of trip. We drove to San Diego and walked across the border to the Tijuana Airport. We flew Volaris to Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon, rented a car, and drove north about 35 miles to Garcia where we had breakfast, then drove to Garcia Caves where we took a tram up into the mountains and toured the main cave. We drove 25 miles back to Monterrey and visited the governor's palace, walked by the cathedral, then ate a fantastic lunch at El Rey Del Cabrito, consisting of roasted goat. We then drove 53 miles to Saltillo, the capital of Coahuilla, where we visited both the governor's palace and the Cathedral of Santiago de Saltillo, which was across the street. We spent the night in Saltillo.

The next morning we left by 6:00 a.m. to drive 234 miles to Zacatecas City, the capital of Zacatecas state. We happened to be there the weekend of La Morisma, where the triumph of the Christians over the Muslims in Spain is commemorated. They parade through the streets in the morning (which we saw), then enact two battle sequences later in the day. It takes place in the historic center of the city which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We visited the Rafael Coronel Museum which is housed in an old monastery of the Santo Domingo church and has thousands of masks made of wood, leather and clay. We also visited the governor's palace and the Cathedral Basilica of Zacatecas which is next to it. After lunch at Tortas Malpaso, we drove 120 miles to the City of San Luis Potosi, capital of the State of San Luis Potosi. There was a protest in front of the governor's palace, but we were let in briefly, just to look around the main hall of the building. Then we spent a few minutes in the Cathedral, across the square and the original viceroy's home, before having a buffet dinner at a restaurant just off the main square.  We spent the night in San Luis Potosi.

Sunday morning we left by 6:45 a.m. to attend church in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of the State of Tamaulipas. It was a 208 mile drive. The times were incorrect for the church we were going to attend, so we crossed the city and caught part of a meeting at a different church. We also found only a buffet at the place we were going to eat, so John found a seafood restaurant near downtown. Then we walked from there to the governor's palace which was closed, and took a quick look inside the Cathedral which was across the street. From there we drove 201 miles to Matamoros, on the border of the U.S. near Brownsville. We stopped at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Refuge, where a mass was going on, then had a very nice dinner at La Cancilleria. From there we headed into Brownsville and ultimately to Port Isabel Texas.

The next afternoon we crossed the border into Mexico again near Reynosa and drive 134 miles to the Monterrey Airport where we'd started.

Food in El Paso, Texas

My prior post was on food near Big Bend National Park. It was not impressive. The food in El Paso was much, much better.

Tabla:

Tabla is the one restaurant I made reservations for ahead of our trip, for the day of our arrival. Tabla focuses on tapas (small plates) and has plenty of vegetarian options, which we were trying to focus on. Tabla has a 4.5 rating on Yelp with 385 reviews and is the number 10 (out of 1,414) restaurant in El Paso on Trip Advisor with a 4.5 rating.  Our reservation was not necessary, but it was one of the best meals of our trip. 

It is in the historic section of El Paso.

Grilled pulpo (octopus) with an olive tapenade (see to the left). The octopus was in very small pieces, but had a nice smoky flavor and was not too chewy. 

Brussels sprouts with sweet and spicy sauce, cilantro and spiced nuts. I don't like cilantro, but did not notice it. The brussels were small, which I like, and a bit firm. Most people like them that way, but I prefer them mushy. However, I still enjoyed them. Lots of restaurants are doing brussels now and I've had quite a few that were better.  

Papas bravas (spicy potatoes) with herbs and aioli. The potato wedges were highly spiced and I preferred them without the aioli (which was strong and covered up the potato taste).  

Roasted cauliflower with cherry tomatoes, garlic butter and herbs. I have grown to love cauliflower, especially when it is well cooked like this was. One of my favorite dishes. 

Mushroom tart with ragu, sherry and cheese. The greens and tomato on top were good. It was okay, but not one of the better dishes. 

Baked goat cheese (in the bowl) with honey, sweet onion jam and grilled bread. We ordered extra bread. The sweet onion jam was too sweet and over-powering. The goat cheese did not have a strong goat taste. One of my least favorite dishes. 

Cold plate called "Simple" with avocado, cherry tomato, cucumber, Parmesan, and herbed vinaigrette. The vinaigrette was very nice. The red items I believe were the tomatoes and were crunchy. I didn't particularly like them, but the rest of it was good.  

Chickpea fries with chipotle curry ketchup and Moroccan spices. The ketchup was too overpowering and I liked them better plain. They are made out of chick pea dough which is cut into the shape of fries and then fried. 

Although I was critical of many of the dishes, I enjoyed it immensely overall. It was creative and had some nice combinations. There were other tapas we would have loved to try, such as pork belly wraps, smoked duck, roasted quail, bruschetta with smoked salmon, short rib, gnocchi with green chile and chorizo, mussels, smoked baby backs and arrachera (flank steak with chimichurri). I love small plates that allow varied food tasting opportunities.  

Kiki's Mexican Restaurant:

Kiki's gets four stars on Yelp with 353 reviews and is rated the #3 restaurant in El Paso by Trip Advisor with a rating of 4.5 and 329 reviews. Their beef machaca was featured on the Food Network as Aaron Sanchez's "Best Thing I Ever Ate."

What pulled me in was the restaurant menu on Trip Advisor (scroll down to the bottom). For machaca, it states, "Take your choice of brisket, chicken or crab, grilled with tomatoes, onions and green chilies, a little egg, then covered with our totally addictive green sauce and cheese..." For green crab enchiladas, it states, "If we ever run out of the green crab, we could have a riot on our hands...Relax, we won't run out. When you need those tender, juicy chunks of crab wrapped in corn tortillas and drowned in that dangerous green sauce of ours and cheese,...We'll have them, we promise." That description of "juicy chunks of crab...drowned in...dangerous green sauce" propelled me to this restaurant.

We got there early, about 5:00 p.m., and I'm glad we did. It got crowded. We got an order of guacamole and it was very good. We had great guacamole in several places on this trip.

I wavered between the machaca and the enchiladas and ultimately decided on the machaca because that was what was featured on the Food Channel, although I picked crab over beef. The menu noted the crab was partially snow crab and fake crab. I think it was mostly fake crab, but that's okay, because it tasted great. The machaca sauce was inundated with green chilies, I think they were probably Anaheims, and lots of cheese. There was lots of it and it was GOOD. If I lived closer, I would eat this regularly. This was my single favorite dish of the trip.

A close-up of the chilies in the sauce.

For dessert, we tried flan. It was good as far as flan goes, but I'm not a flan fan. The cheese cake with strawberries was much better. Thick, rich and sweet.

I would like to go back to Kiki's and try some other items, but I would probably just get the machaca again. It's tough to venture when you know you can order gold.  

Quesadillas Estilo Villa Ahumada #2:

After doing the El Paso Mission Trail amidst a very heavy Mexican influence, I wanted to try a Mexican meal before we went to the airport to go home. I asked Judy to Yelp Mexican restaurants nearby with 5 stars and more than a few ratings. She found one, Quesadillas Estilo Villa Ahumada #2 with ten people giving it 5 stars. It was in a strip mall in Socorro, south east of El Paso. The waitress was very friendly and helpful. 

Sam got a chile relleno burito and caldo camaron chico, soup with shrimp, and some grilled bread. He gave me a piece of bread to dip in the shrimp and it was delicious. The soup was very flavorful and the bread was great at sopping it up. He said the burrito was great too. 

I got a cheese quesadilla, quesadilla sencilla (simple), because it was its namesake. I never get quesadillas and there was nothing about this one that would get me to change my ways, but it had quite a bit of cheese in it, more so than I've seen with other quesadillas I've watched other people eat. 

Quesadilla

I got what I was told was their best seller, the desayuno (breakfast) villa ahumada. It was chile verde (pork) with refried beans, an over-medium egg and tortilla. The refried beans and tortillas were freshly made and good, which I slathered with copious amounts of salsa. Compare these beans with the beans we had in Marathon, Texas in my last post. 

Judy got chilaquiles c/huevo which came with red chilaquiles, quite different than the green chilaquiles we got in Mexico City, not as liquid, crunchy or spicy. It also came with two eggs and refried beans. She enjoyed it. 

They had a thick green salsa with lots of heat, similar to other salsas we'd had in western Texas. The waitress told us it was all jalapenos. I ordered more after going through the bowl we had. Here is a recipe that must be similar (that also has tomatoes in it). I've never had salsa like it anywhere else. 

They had a red salsa which was spicy and much thinner, and a whitish/green salsa which was also quite thin. I preferred the red, but neither was as good as the green which I loaded up on. The food was good and fresh, but it was the salsas that made it. It was a wonderful authentic Mexican meal. 

Food Near Big Bend NP in Texas: Marfa, Marathon and Terlingua

We recently had a number of meals in the vicinity of Big Bend National Park in southwestern Texas - places in Terlingua, Marfa and Marathon. I have to say I was surprised at the poor quality of the food and Marfa and Marathon. Those meals reflected a lack of fresh vegetables and fruit and a reliance on pre-made items. The food was better in Terlingua, perhaps because of the larger reliance on tourism there.

Marfa Burritos - Marfa

Marfa Burritos gets four stars on Yelp with 103 reviews. It gets a rating of 4.5 on Trip Advisor with 111 reviews and is rated no. 4 of 21 restaurants in Marfa. It is featured in an article on Saveur.com, dated May 16, 2017, titled "The Burrito Queen of Texas Deserves a Stop on Your Next Road Trip." From that article, "Ramona Tejada has turned her home into one of the best burrito spots we've ever visited. Everything...is handmade. From the salsas to the tortillas, you can watch everything happen right in front of you...You can peer over the counter to watch as Ramona hand-rolls the tortillas into perfect circles, grills them to a perfectly crispy brown, then slathers them in beans and other fillings." 

I was pretty excited to try this place. Hand made signs are in front of the house on a wood fence and a line was out the door. You order at a window with a view into the kitchen. Next to the window is a hand made neon-pink cardboard sign with seven burritos listed: (i) egg + chorizo; (ii) egg + potato; (iii) egg + cheese; (iv) primo = beans + potatoes + onions + tomatoes + salsa + cheese; (v) bean + cheese; (vi) asado; and (vii) carne. After you order, three people, including Ramona Tejada, make the burritos while you wait. When completed, they bring the burritos to you, you pay in cash, and the next person in line steps to the window. 

Ordering at the window. Menu on the right. 

Ramona Tejada in the kitchen.

Home-made green salsa is in a large bowl near the window and there is a water cooler and free help-yourself coffee. There are a couple of tables in the room where you order, several tables in an adjoining room, and tables outside, both front and back. 

Celebrity photos are on the wall - two of Anthony Bordain with Ramona, Kevin Bacon, Matthew McConaughey and others I didn't recognize. 

Anthony Bourdain with Ramona Tejada.

The tortillas are huge, but the filling inside them is meager. I ordered the egg + cheese and it was almost all tortilla. The egg and cheese were bland, so I loaded up with the green salsa which is very hot. I ended up ripping off big strips of tortilla to reduce the ratio of tortilla to filling and finally just ripped off a piece of tortilla and aggregated all the filling into one spot and ate it that way. I probably tossed half the tortilla. Judy and Sam each got the primo and had the same complaint. Sam mentioned that the beauty of a burrito is you stuff it full of good things. These burritos are not stuffed - they are mostly flat and the majority of the volume is tortilla. If you want to eat large flour tortillas and not much else, this is the place. 

The burrito with the end bit off.

The filling aggregated into a piece of the tortilla, slathered with green salsa. 

Texas Monthly has an article titled "Marfa Burrito," dated April 16, 2018. Their article spoke the reality we found. They mentioned the celebrities on the wall, the place being mobbed, and their potato + egg + cheese burritos which they ordered. Their conclusion: "Though hungry we couldn't finish the giant roll, and didn't really want to: the potatoes were underdone, the cheese not melted at all, and the whole thing lacking in seasoning. Too bad the place does not live up to the hype." Amen. 

Jett's Grill in the Hotel Paisano - Marfa:

The Hotel Paisano is where James Dean and Liz Taylor stayed when they were filming the movie "Giant" in 1956. Dean was nominated for an Academy Award for the film and was killed in a car accident before the film was released. We stopped here for breakfast and found it was buffet only, and the only items were different types of burritos. Given our burritos only Marfa Burritos visit, it felt like we were entering the Twilight Zone. On the positive side, the burritos were already made and sitting in the metal open-up buffet cannisters. They were about a third of the size of the Marfa Burritos, but had about the same amount of filling. The eggs in my burrito were moister and tastier and it had a long green chile which had some spice. However, using Sam's criteria, these burritos were not stuffed, by any standard (except perhaps the Marfa Burritos standard). I liked the tortilla more - it was more moist. Jett's Grill had a smooth red and a smooth green salsa which were pretty good, but they were running out. I asked for more, but by the time it was replenished I was finished. The setting was much nicer and the lack of a wait was nice, but the lack of choice and poor service detracted. Not a great burrito, but twice as good as the other burrito I had in Marfa. 

Oasis Cafe - Marathon:

Oasis Cafe gets 4.5 stars on Yelp out of 27 reviews and a 4.5 rating on Trip Advisor, making it the number 3 restaurant in Marathon out of 8. This particular comment on Trip Advisor, from November 2018, was the reason I decided to stop here: "We stopped at this place on our drive out to Big Bend. Had huevos rancheros and they were delicious! They were so delicious we made it a point to stop there again on the trip back thru. Ordered the same thing - they were that good!! My husband & I both agreed they were the best we’ve ever had. Living in South Texas that’s a big statement to make since we’ve eaten huevos rancheros many, many times at many different places." Huevos rancheros is fried eggs served on fried or charred tortillas topped with a salsa fresca of tomatoes, chili peppers, onion and cilantro. Refried beans, Mexican style rice and avocado slices or guacamole are common accompaniments. 

Oasis drips attitude. A representative sign on the wall behind the cash register reads something to the effect of, "Everyone is entitled to a bad day - well today is mine." They were busy, which I understand, but the waitress was loud and freely expressed her annoyances about people coming up to the cash register to try to get service when they weren't being waited on. While ordering huevos rancheros I requested a side of salsa, and she looked at me and said, why are you ordering something it already comes with? My son suggested I order a side of pica de gallo instead and she abruptly left us during this exchange to wait on some people at the cash register and clear a couple of tables. She did not return for five minutes. So I ordered a side of pico de gallo for $1.75. 

The huevos rancheros came with canned refried beans, a warmed up pre-packaged disk of "hash browns," a couple of eggs on a corn tortilla covered with a meager portion of pretty thin salsa and a side flour tortilla. Oh, and my $1.75 pica de gallo which was a small plastic container filled half-full with a few chunks of onion, carrot and jalapeno. The added pica de gallo made a huge difference, but it needed about three times that amount and did not want to spend another $3.50 or $5.25 to get it. I don't know what kind of huevos rancheros the South Texas couple quoted above has been eating, but this is probably the worst huevos rancheros I've ever had.

My $1.75 pica da gallo is top right. 

High Sierra Bar & Grill - Terlingua:

Our food took a jump in quality closer to Big Bend NP in Terlingua. At High Sierra Bar & Grill we got some very good guacamole with chunks of tomato, onion and green pepper in it which was also seasoned nicely. When the guacamole was gone and we still had chips, we ordered some queso, a liquidy white cheese to finish them off with. The guacamole was much better than the queso. Both Sam and I got a plate with two poblano rellenos, full of white cheese. The coating is more spare than what we typically get in Southern California, but it was good. The green salsa had a nice kick to it and I asked for more without additional charge. The beans even had some cheese on them. Judy got a plate with a poblano relleno and two tacos which she enjoyed. The food here eclipsed the three restaurants above by a mile. 

Poblano relleno and beans.

Poblano relleno, tacos and beans. 

Chili Pepper Cafe - Terlingua:

My favorite of all the restaurants near Big Bend NP was the Chili Pepper Cafe. The proprietor of a local shop suggested it to us. She said, "If they don't have it on the menu, just ask them for it. They'll try to accommodate you." That sealed it for me. I love restaurants that will make an effort to fulfill a wish. We got guacamole as an appetizer and it was even a little bit better than the guac at the High Sierra. We got a large and I liked the seasoning a little more. Some of the best guacamole we've eaten. When we ate the guac, we requested queso for the balance of the chips. Their queso was not as good as High Sierra, less spicy. They had fajitas on the menu, but only with meat, chicken or beef. I asked if they would do vegetable fajitas. She said they would try. The order came back with a plate full of hot cauliflower, broccoli, onions, carrots and squash. I also asked for three different types of salsa and then extra of the green salsa I liked best, all provided without additional charge. I liked the service so much that I provided better than a 30% tip, a thing I have done on only a few occasions. 

We planned to go to Big Bend very close to the time we left and the hotels near the park were all full. Not even taking into consideration the driving distance, the food alone is a reason to try to get nearer the park. 

Golden Eagle

Driving through western Texas, between Marfa and Van Horn, I spotted a golden eagle perched on a telephone pole. It appeared to be a juvenile. As I got out of the car to take a photo, it flew and I only got a few poor flying photos. 

We saw it, or a different one, a little further down the road on another telephone pole. It flew before I could even get out of the car. 

I have no photos of golden eagles and include these and hope for better photos and a more complete post in the future. 

Mexican Jay

The Mexican jay used to be known as the gray-breasted jay. It has a blue head, blue-gray mantle (between the neck and the rump), blue wings and tail, a pale gray breast and underparts and a black bill and legs. It differs from the western scrub jay by its plain (unstreaked) breast and throat and its mantle contrasting less with its head and wings. 

This photo gives a good look at the mantle (the back, or area between the neck and rump) which is blue-gray, compared to the blue of the head and wings. 

This photo gives a good look at the pale gray underparts and breast. 

A more frontal look at the breast. 

There are five subspecies and three major groupings. The western group is found in the Sierra Madre Occidental, a mountain system that runs along the east side of the Gulf of California. This group is also found up through central Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. The eastern group is found in the Sierra Madre Oriental, a mountain range that runs along the Gulf of Mexico and slants upward as far as the Big Bend of Texas, where it is found in the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park. The Central Plateau group, also known as the Mexican Altiplano, is found in the plateau that occupies much of central and northern Mexico between the eastern group and western group. The differences between the groups relate to things like the color of their eggs and bills in juvenile birds. 

A map from Wikipedia showing the Sierra Madre Occidental, Sierra Madre Oriental and Central Plateau (Altiplano). 

These Mexican jays are part of the eastern group which we saw in the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park in southwestern Texas. There are several different jays although we saw them all in the same place.