Two years ago, we bought a sand toy set because we wanted to take photos with it in Big Bend National Park and on the coast. But clever as we are, we always forgot the set at home. And since we had nothing planned for Father’s Day weekend, we decided to go looking for a sandbox.
So we set off at around 10:00 a.m. towards western Texas, or more precisely towards Odessa, TX. There is supposed to be a particularly large sandbox here, and with the current warm temperatures, there shouldn’t be too many children digging and playing there. The perfect place to take some funny photos.
After about 6 hours driving through the countryside (no idea why the navigation system didn’t take us on the interstate), we finally reached our destination… the Monahans Sandhills.
After fooling around for a while, we trudged through the sandy landscape to the surrounding hilltops to get an overview of the size of this remarkable area. Yes, there is a whole lot of sand to play with here. And so we decided to enjoy the sunset here.
The next day, the Sandhills were once again on the agenda, and on the way there we documented some fascinating relics from a bygone, more glorious era in Monahans (the place where we spent the night).
Once we arrived at the sand dunes, we tested out the pop slide we had rented and realized that it was quite exhausting to constantly climb the hills. It was still fun, even though the temperatures were rising noticeably.
And because it was steadily getting warmer, we decided to start the planned photo session so that we could get the pictures in the can before the midday sun.
As noon approached, we set off for Odessa to pay a quick visit to Stonehenge. Built in the summer of 2004 from limestone slabs, the replica of England’s Stonehenge, known as the “University of Texas of the Permian Basin Stonehenge,” is slightly shorter than the original, but it is astronomically accurate.
Now we had another long drive home ahead of us. This time, our navigation system kindly guided us along the interstate so that we could reach our destination before dark. Very nice of you, dear navigation system…