Winter to Spring: Utah to Texas and beyond - Arches, Mesa Verde, Big Bend National Parks, and the Creole Nature Trail

Arches National Park in Utah. Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Big Bend National Park in Texas. Each packing a unique selling point: geologic wonders, archeological achievements, and a sprawling biosphere preserve of nature in untold proportions covering vast expanses awaiting discovery. As if that wasn't enough, we'd top it all off with the coastal swamps in the southwest corner of the Louisiana bayou catching the Creole Nature Trail Loop to hopefully push our 'critter count' of different species we'd see along the trip far into triple digits, with individual mammal, reptile, bird, bug, and spider counts into multitudes with no meaning.
Along the way, it would entail traveling over 5,000 miles and covering the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming.
The journey was extensive, and along the way, we'd get to explore a diverse cast of characters: sunset at Utah Lake, UT; sunrise in Socorro, NM; the hidden governmental gem in downtown Marfa, TX; experience the mysterious Marfa Lights of Texas; an up-close and personal moment with the Rio Grande, less than a stone's toss from Mexico; walk along the frontier past in Fort Stockton, TX; spend a glorious number of days breaking culinary cultural bounds eating the foods of the South; an interlude into the lesser traveled paths of Bryan, TX, including a necessary dirt road to Campbells Creek. These would be the more normal Not Another Travel Guide points of interest, and bring the ultimate joys of the journey home. (Well, that and being able to cook the gals dinner while in Texas with my favorite uncle while watching the terror of my aunt as we took over her kitchen.)
Some high points just can't be translated into words - or pictures; but we'll do our best to deliver an experience worthy of any virtual vacation (and hopefully help you avoid any unnecessary trips going off to see what you think will be the marvels of the world, potentially missing the truly important diamonds in the rough just waiting to be discovered.)
Buckle up and get ready for a trip worthy of Not Another Travel Guide: High Octane.