Big Bend National Park covers some of the most rugged country in west Texas where the Rio Grande makes a sharp turn -- the Big Bend. It is a meeting place of many things: Texas land and culture meets Mexico land and culture, desert meets mountains; north flora, fauna and birds meet south; east flora, fauna and birds meet west. Big Bend includes rivers, massive canyons, vast desert expanses, and the entire Chisos Mountain range.

Settled by the Tigua Pueblo Indians, El Paso is in the far west tip of Texas, nestled in the Franklin Mountains between New Mexico and Cuidad Juarez, the fourth largest city in Mexico. It's the largest border city on the American side, and one of the largest cities in Texas.

Containing the southern end of the Guadalupe Mountain range, the 86,000-acre Guadalupe Mountains National Park is surrounded by the Chihuahuan desert, in a barren, mostly isolated region of west Texas. In the fall, a spectacular display of fall colors rival those in New England, here where steep-sided canyons with lush vegetation mark the transition from desert to mountains.