Thursday January 31, 2008

Our plans for a quick dinner went awry last night. We walked across to the pizza house and after a half hour, we found that they had lost the ticket and hadn't put it in the oven yet. We left, hungry, and drove into town to a burger place. Again, we waited for a long time - the waitress kept coming back and apologizing - we thinks the first order got burned or something. We finally got our dinner and left the waitress an extra tip as she did not charge us for our drinks because we had to wait so long. Came back to the hotel and caught the end of "A Few Good Men" on TV.

After breakfast this morning, we got the cooler out of the car and emptied it in preparation for our stop at the grocery store tomorrow. We also found a number of things that we have picked up along the trip that we don't need with us - we sent them to Amy in a box and stopped at the Post Office in town to mail it off. We drove up to Fort Davis which is just north of here and visited the Fort Davis National Historical site. It was an army fort which was occupied from 1854 to 1891 with a small hiatus during the Civil War. Some of the buildings were in ruins (adobe), but many were in fairly good shape (brick). Some of the buildings have been restored and furnished to the period. Most of the work was done by graduate students in historical preservation from the University of Vermont! We spent quite a while there tromping around the grounds and viewing the museum. We ate our mini-lunch in the car as the wind is still howling day and the temp is only 40. From here, we could see the large buildings on top of a mountain that are the Mc Donald Observatory. We didn't go up however as they are only open to the public on Friday and Saturday nights. We will try to make a special trip for that. On the way back to Alpine, we stopped at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center. We walked their extensive botanical gardens and visited the greenhouse. They have an amazing number of trees, shrubs, and cacti growing in the gardens and it was interesting to look at the various types of cacti some of which we are sure to see in Big Bend. We are now back in Alpine and will go out in a while for dinner. This will probably be the last blog posting for a bit as I am sure we will not be able to access the Internet in the park. Our plan is to continue to blog each day and then post them all at once when we come back to town to re-supply (probably in a week or so). We saw a sign that the Mc Donald's in town has wireless sevice available so we will probably be using their service.

Wednesday January 30, 2008

We went out to Wentworth Ranch after breakfast this morning to see some rocks. We had to wait for a bit as the owner was out on horseback checking on one of his "girls" (cows). He gave us a tour of the house which is attached to the rock shop. The massive fireplace was faced with gorgeous rocks that came from the ranch - including geodes and a small mill stone - it was fascinating. We toured the shop both inside and out and I bought a small red plume agate and Dave bought two chunks of obsidian - he may try his hand at making points. We came back to town and checked out the grocery store - we found that it opens at 7 which is good as Friday morning we want to get a fairly early start and need to stop here for meat and produce before we go into the park. We then decided to go for a drive and took a large loop out through Marfa (very small town) and then down to Presidio (a border town). We then drove along the Rio Grande - this was an amazing ride - beautiful scenery, great colors. The two pictures in the blog were taken along this route. The first one shows the river which separates the US from Mexico and the second is just a scene from the road. We went through two abandoned mining towns along the way. Apparently mercury mining was big for a while here. It comes from the mineral cinnabar which was prevalent in the area. We actually came within four miles of Big Bend, but turned north at that point and headed back to Alpine. The entire trip was about 225 miles - it was a great day - super sights, warm weather (76 this afternoon after a morning low of 39). We stopped at the library shop and donated two books that we finished last night and are now putting our feet up until dinner. We will probably just get a pizza tonight as we have been having too many heavy dinners - can't wait to cook for ourselves!

Tuesday January 29, 2008

We went to the grocery store after breakfast this morning and bought our dry goods for camping - we figured they would be cheaper in Del Rio than one of the smaller towns closer to Big Bend. We also filled up with gas at $2.83. We stopped at the Amistad Recreation Area Park headquarters and chatted with one of the rangers about Big Bend - he gave us a heads-up on some of his favorite hikes in the park. We drove partway out across the dam, but didn't continue as there was a border crossing and we didn't intend to go into Mexico. We found a turn around and got out of the car to enjoy the view: Amistad Resevoir on one side of the dam and Rio Grande on the other. We heard loud noises and looked down where we discovered the US Border Patrol was conducting rifle practice on their range. We drove on and soon we were in new territory (beyond Langtry). This area reminded us of the Badlands in South Dakota - rolling, barren hills. It was quite windy and we saw some tumbleweeds blowing about. As we got closer to Marathon, the landscape changed - the hills were steeper and were reddish in color. We stopped in at visitor information in Sanderson to change drivers and chatted with a disabled man from Quebec City, Canada who was on a bicycle! His bike had fallen over due to the wind while he was in the visitor center and Dave helped him right it. He had been on the road since July - as far north as Alaska and was now heading to Brownsville, TX to cross over into Mexico - his final destination is Cancun - what an amazing person! We continued on to Marathon where one of the entrances to the park is and were glad that we had decided to stop in Alpine (30 miles further down the road). Alpine is a much larger town. The gas price here is $3.02 as opposed to $3.25 in Marathon. We found a motel for the next three nights and will have a good time exploring the area before we head into the park. We went to the Museum of the Big Bend which is located on the campus of Sul Ross State University (about 2000 students) and enjoyed the displays. We chatted with a fellow there who told us about a ranch where you can dig for fossils, opals, and agates - we will go out there tomorrow, although I'm not sure how many more rocks we can fit in the car! We walked around downtown and checked out a few stores and then stopped into a used book store run by the local library where we found a few more books to take with us. The woman running the shop was lovely and she said they came to this area to retire and her husband found a job teaching at Sul Ross. We came back to the motel and did a load of laundry - we want to have all clean clothes before we head in. We went to a local eatery for dinner - very good and then drove about 15 miles out of town to see the Marfa lights. These are a weird phenomenon that occur sporadically in this area. Apparently we were very lucky to see them. They looked light glowing balls being juggled way out in the distance. We were able to see three separate sets of them - white and then occasionally turning red or green for brief intervals. They have been studied by scientists quite often, but no one can positively explain what makes them appear and what is causing them. It was all very interesting - we will have to check the research when we have time.

Monday January 28, 2008

Just wanted to finish our time in San Antonio with a night time shot of the Alamo.

We got up this morning to a misty drizzle. We looked out the window of the motel and there was a steady stream of cars heading into the base. Fortunately, when it was time to go to Cookie and Ron's house, we turned in the opposite direction of the gate. We chatted for a bit and then went for breakfast at a little home cookin' restaurant. The walls were covered with pictures and posters of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and other movie stars. Dave, Ron, and I had pancakes, while Cookie, Trey, and Lettie had Mexican fare. We stopped back at the house and Ron showed us his music room. He was in a number of bands (mostly played lead guitar) - he showed us an album with photos of the different bands - cowboy outfits and all. He then showed us a contraption he built to provide a backup beat for his guitar. It attached to a keyboard and was quite ingenious - we told him he should apply for a patent. He then showed us a jukebox that he bought when a Mexican bar/restaurant closed. He put some of his own collection of 45's in the jukebox and she played a few songs for us - really cool! Finally, it was time to get on the road. We have had a great time visiting with them, it was hard to leave. We hope that soon they will come to Connecticut so we can show them our neck of the woods. Trey and Lettie may have a conference in Boston in late Fall, so we are hoping they have time to come to Mystic - we know they would love to meet our kids and get to know his Yankee cousins! We got on Route 90 and stopped for a break in Alamo Village. This was a Hollywood set town that was built on a ranch complete with the Alamo a frontier town and a deserted Mexican village. The original movie with John Wayne was filmed here as well as many other Westerns - Gunsmoke, Texas, Arrowhead - over 100 movies, documentaries, music videos, and commercials. We especially enjoyed chatting with a couple of local cowpokes in the cantina. Apparently, during the height of the tourist season, they have do gun battles on the main street of town. We decided to stay over in Del Rio (we stayed here before we went to San Antonio) and then slowly make our way to Big Bend. We can't get into the park until Friday (we have reservations) so we will just poke along and stop when the spirit moves. We may go back to Cripple Creek tonight for dinner - it was so good the last time we were here and we are getting hungry as we skipped lunch due to our huge breakfast (thanks Ron and Cookie).

Sunday January 27, 2008

We are including some up close and personal pix we took at the Wildlife Ranch. The ostrich is very interested in what Dave is holding and actually stuck his whole head and neck into the car to reach the food. As you can see, the zebra is getting a bit too close to Sandie (I was practically sitting on Dave's lap to get away from it!). We did laugh ourselves silly though!!!

We had an earlier breakfast this morning and then drove Justine to the airport. We were sad to see her go as we had a great time with her here. We came back and packed up a few more odds and ends and then headed out to my cousin's house. Their house is very near the back gate to Lackland Air Force Base and Ron had faxed us a wonderful map which got us there with no problems. Technically they live in San Antonio, but it is quite a way out of the city center. We had a lovely lunch with Cookie, Ron, their son Trey and his wife, Lettie (from Ogden, Utah) and a cousin Karen and her son Chris who is four. After lunch, we went around to the next block where Uncle GC and Aunt Lib lived. They took us out the the shop where GC used to do his lapidary work and Cookie gave us some fossils, polished slabs, petrified wood, a geode, and bags of polished stones for the grand kids - we are totally overwhelmed by their generosity. Chris kept himself busy by "washing " his polished stones in water and then arranging them on the patio table. He started bring some of the larger stones to the table, but Ron told him they were "lever" stones (as in lever where she was). We went back to the house and watch home movies for a while - some were from old family reunions and it was fun to see some of the cousins we haven't seen in a while - we also saw some photos of ourselves at one reunion and didn't recognize ourselves at first because of the dark hair - when did we turn gray??? We went out to dinner at a local burger restaurant - again, these are Texas size burgers - with cheddar cheese soup and sweet onion rings. We couldn't finish everything and we were stuffed to the gills. We took our leave and stayed at a motel just around the corner from their house where Cookie and Ron had arranged a room for us (pay back time when you get up North!).

Saturday Januray 26, 2008

We have are adding two more images to the blog today. One is of the Texas White House on LBJ's ranch and the others is of the bells at the San Jose Mission.

We woke up to warm air and clear skies this morning - this the the weather we were expecting in Texas! By the afternoon, the temps were in the 70's - hallelujah! We had a wonderful day - we started by going to the Natural Bridge Caverns and taking a walking tour through a wonderful series of large caves. The most amazing part of this cavern system is the temperature. Despite being 180 feet below ground, the temperature was a constant 70 degrees and 99% humidity! Usually caves are much cooler one you get below ground, but not here. Many of the formations were weirdly shaped so that it was a bit like cloud watching on a summer's day: we "saw" a meercat, a gnome, several skulls, a wizard, etc. It was great fun to imagine what one saw in the formations. We then drove through a nearby Wildlife Ranch. For a fee, you get some animal pellets and you drive your car through the ranch and feed the animals who come up to your car for food. All of the animals were gentle and well behaved until we got to the zebras! They stuffed their whole heads inside the car trying to get to the food. Justine almost lost her whole bag to one greedy fellow! I was busy taking pictures of Dave and Justine feeding the animals when a zebra snorted in my ear and then tried chewing on my shirt until I gave him some food. We were laughing so hard, it is a wonder we got any pictures at all!! Just as our sides stopped hurting from the laughter, we came upon the ostriches: they were as persistent as the zebras - putting there long necks into the car trying to get to the food! We had a wonderful time and when we got back to the beginning, we gave our leftover (it is amazing there was any) food to some children who were in the petting zoo so that they could feed the little goats. We all went into the shop to wash up and our hands were quite spooged. We headed back toward the highway and stopped for lunch at a Whataburger - yup! that is the name of a Texas hamburger joint that we have been seeing all over the place. They were huge and we were stuffed when we had finished. We came back to the city and took a walk down to the Alamo so Justine could get her National Park passport stamped and so that Dave could take a picture of it in the sunlight. They were having a street festival in front of the plaza and we walked through - pony rides, BBQ, funnel cakes, Mexican food, country singers, etc. Dave got up on a long horned bull and I took his picture. We then took a walkabout around the city - part of it on the Riverwalk and part on the streets. We came back to the Alamo for a sit down in the plaza and a cold drink. We decided we were not terribly hungry so we eventually made our way to the food court and had a small bite and then walked back to the Alamo. We passed by the horse carriages which were all lit up for evening rides - they were very colorful. We took a night picture of the Alamo which looked great against the dark sky. We have walked back to the hotel and will do a bit of packing tonight so that it won't be such a chore tomorrow.

Friday January 25, 2008

It was another drizzly day when we woke up this morning so we packed our umbrellas when we were picked up by Cookie and Ron. We did a tour of the missions today - we visited the four missions and found each one a little different. Cookie discovered that a friend of hers, Brother Jerome, was at San Jose so we got to visit with him. Again we have someone who should have his own comedy act. He told us a bit about the church, his life as a monk, and entertained us with a variety of stories. I know I haven't laughed out loud in church as much as I did today! There was a statue of Saint Francis behind the altar. It used to have a crucifix in one hand, but this was stolen one night so it was replaced with another crucifix which was also stolen. The statue now holds nothing in its upraised hand - but, Brother Jerome said that one feast days they are considering having Saint Francis hold a bingo card! We had to battle some light rain throughout the morning, but didn't get totally wet. We went for a typical Texas lunch at a local restaurant: chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, cornbread, and salad. The pieces of steak were so large that one could feed a family of six! Needless to say, Cookie and Ron have enough leftovers for a few meals. We then went to the SAS shoe factory which was a shoe store as well as a general store. We had a lovely time walking around and checking out the wares. They had 5 cent coke and coffee, but we were too full to partake. There were also quite a number of antique and classic cars which Ron and Dave loved! We had a contest to see who could pack the most loose candy of every sort into a small bag ($2 for the bag) - Dave won - his bag weighed just over a pound and a half. We hope we will be camped next to a family with children as we don't intend to eat all of that candy! We then visited the King William section of town and stopped at the Guenther House which is now a restaurant and museum. Their daughter was married here two years ago. It is a lovely house - we met the chef who was a friend of Cookie's from when she used to work at USAA. We got to go up to the roof garden (covered) which was set up for a bridal party which will take place tomorrow - very fancy! We then went downtown and visited the cathedral and walked by the Spanish Governor's Mansion (which was closed by this time). We got back to the hotel and Justine, Dave and I sat around chatting (I also managed to do 2 loads of laundry) for a while. We then gathered all of our leftovers and granola bars and had a snacky supper as none of us were particularly hungry. It seems hard to believe that the week is almost gone, but we do have one more day here before Justine leaves us. It has been a busy and wonderful week.