Big Bend National Park Texas

I would stay in Ft. Davis the night before. There is a state park there w/ an old fort that you can visit and Ft. Davis is a family friendly tourist town and Its a lot prettier than Ft. Stockton too. If you were there longer you could go up to McDonald Observatory and maybe catch a star party where they let you look through the telescope. Alpine would also be better than Ft stockton. There is a cool old minor league baseball stadium there that the Yankees played an exhibition game at in the 40s or 50s. The original Reata restaurant is there too which is a must if you are in the area.

In Big bend, "The Window" hike is easy for kids and has a nice view (the window) over the valley floor. Rafting in St. Helena Canyon is incredible.Lots of guides out there you can take a day trip with. Drive River Road along the Rio Grande towards Presidio. Its an spectacular drive with almost no other cars. There is a small slot canyon LINK along River road that is part of Big Bend State Park. If you take a lunch, there are picnic tables at the trail head parking. The trail itself is short, maybe 30 minutes total in and out of the canyon. Presido has some great southwest style mexican food places. I prefer the Oasis but its bare bones and a lot of laborers eat there which may be uncomfortable for some people. El Patio is good too and nicer than Oasis. Fort Leaton State Historic Site is just outside of Presidio. Its an old Trading Post from the mid 1800s and also the main office for Big Bend State Park. Pretty cool to poke around in the old Trading Post structure. They've had a lot of rain out there so a lot of the dirt roads in the State Park are closed. Ii looks like River road is open though.

It may still be very hot in the National park. If thats the case, go to Ft Davis which is at 5000' altitute and hike/camp in the state park there. There is also an easy hiking trail through a small canyon at The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute just outside of Ft Davis. There are some good interpretive exhibits about the desert there too.

Terlingua is worth a visit to go to the ghost town and check out Terlingua Trading Company. I've never been impressed with Terlingua but a lot of people love it.

fort Stockton is the single most depressing place I have ever been
that’s all I got

spent many a night in that la quinta