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14 Big Bend National Park and Carlsbad Caverns BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK AND CARLSBAD CAVERNS 9 DAYS • 13 MEALS Featuring the Historic Prude Guest Ranch Meals included: (B) Breakfast, (D) Dinner DAY ONE: Travel to El Paso, TX Your tour director and chartered coach await arrivals at El Paso International Airport to provide transfers to your overnight hotel nearby. Meet your Tour Manager at 6:00 p.m. for a delicious "Welcome to Texas" dinner in the Cattleman's Steak House at the working Indian Cliffs Ranch. (D) DAY TWO: Marfa, Texas Heading southeast through West Texas, you will make a sightseeing stop in picturesque Marfa, home to artists and craftsmen. Your destination today is the magnificent wilderness of Big Bend National Park. The eighth largest national park in the Lower 48, it is located along 118 miles of the Rio Grande, where it makes a big bend roughly 325 miles southeast of El Paso. You will be a guest for the next two nights at the park lodge located in the spectacular Chisos Basin. (B) DAY THREE: Big Bend National Park As the Park Service puts it; "Here, you can explore one of the last remaining wild corners of the United States, and experience unmatched sights, sounds, and solitude." Big Bend is a park for hikers, birders, photographers, for lovers of all things natural. Over 450 birds and numerous desert animal species, plus hardy varieties of cacti, wildflowers and other annual plants inhabit these harsh climes. Your guided tour along Ross Maxwell Drive features the Sam Nall Ranch, Sotol Vista Overlook, historic Castalon and breathtaking Santa Elena Canyon. A delightful barbecue cookout dinner will conclude the day. (B, D) DAY FOUR: Historic Prude Guest Ranch Departing Big Bend, you will travel north into the Davis Mountains for a visit to fascinating Fort Davis National Historical Park, a major frontier military post established in 1854 to protect travelers, freight and mail from Comanche raiders along the San Antonio—El Paso Trail. Nearby, a special treat will be your overnight stay, dinner and a unique evening stargazing party at the famous Historic Prude Guest Ranch. (B, D) DAY FIVE: Pecos Museum and Carlsbad Caverns National Park This morning, you will pause in Pecos to explore the West of the Pecos Museum, occupying the restored 1896 Orient Hotel and Saloon. Today's featured sightseeing is splendid Carlsbad Caverns National Park, where you will descend by elevator for a self-guided tour of the incredible Big Room on a paved trail. This massive, eight-acre chamber has a 255-foot ceiling and is filled with beautiful, delicate formations, as well as huge columns, stalactites and stalagmites. You will overnight in Carlsbad, New Mexico. (B) 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 Overnights Start/End City Visit Tour Route 1 e of Fir alley Valley C O I C W X M E N E W W aso Mesilla Las Cruces Carlsbad Cav Monument National White Sands El P 1 1 R uidoso ecos R ell osw R Carlsbad P ark National P ern Carlsbad Cav 1 1 2 ecos 0 0 oute our R T isit V t/End City tar S ernights Ov 1 T E km Na a Marfa 75 miles 75 a t Davis or F a 2 1 S ark at S at A X t Davis at ational P ig Bend Big ig Bend Bi White Sand National Park