Things to do in Texas

We've been without solid internet for the past while, and so I am summarizing up our time in Texas as best I can. As always (and usual) I apparently am incapable of writing less than a small novella, and so have split this into two posts... 

While in Texas we have done a variety of things, such as:

Visit new/ old friends:

After seeing the White Sands of New Mexico, we turned south and west towards El Paso to meet up with the family of a (ex) co-worker of Bob’s. Meeting them was like meeting up with friends we had known forever. They were all so friendly and welcoming, I couldn't help but feel comfortable (and I tend to be pretty shy around unfamiliar people). The Rodriguez’s came over to our camping spot to take a tour of the RV, while I finished up laundry. Then we all headed out for supper at a little gem of a steakhouse in what felt like the middle of nowhere. There were no road signs for the place, but all the locals obviously know about it, as there were plenty of cars in the parking lot (there was even a horse in their horse parking section!). Cattleman’s is not only a steakhouse and working ranch, but it also has a variety of animals, a good sized playground and has acted as a movie set more than once. Lily loved feeding the bunnies & goats and Morgan enjoyed the playground before we headed up to the restaurant. We ate supper a bit later than anticipated, as we neglected to put our name on the list before going to visit the animals, and then had to wait for a table of 8 come open. But the wait was worth the wait. Even Morgan, my picky - often eats like a bird - eater devoured pretty much all the food on his plate.

Before leaving El Paso we stopped at our friend’s acreage for lunch & a visit, a tour of their house (I love their wall colors!) letting the kids get thoroughly drenched with their hose and jump on the trampoline before saying goodbye, with many hugs and promises to come back a visit again someday. It is a promise I hope can be fulfilled sooner rather than later. 

Leave:

Which you kind of have to do if you want to go see Carlsbad Caverns (in NM), and you’re already in Texas. From El Paso we headed east and a little bit north, crossing from Mountain Time (El Paso is on this), to Central, and back to Mountain. How confusing! This was our second cavern visit in just over a week, but the two are so different in appearance and feel that they were completely different experiences. The Big Room at Carlsbad is huge, and is deep underground. The domed ceiling is high overhead, the walls stretch away, and you find yourself in this vast space filled with fantastic shapes above, below and all around.    

 

It’s reached either by descending from the large, natural cave entrance on the surface, or by riding an elevator 700+ft down. Morgan was super excited about the elevator ride, so that’s how we arrived. Bob & Lily picked up audio tour wands (adult one for Bob, and the kids one for Lily), to provide a bit more interest to the 90 min walk. Both the kids quite enjoyed listening to the facts as we came upon the numbers along the trail. Most of the formations at Carlsbad Caverns are no longer growing and have a dull/ flat colored quality, rather than the peculiar glowy/ diffused light look of formations that are active, but that doesn't stop them from being thoroughly impressive.The size of many of them is mind-boggling. 

These caverns made quite an impression on Morgan as he commented that he should write about them in his Today book (school work), and then proceeded to draw a great picture and write sentences about the cave the next day when I handed him the book (he almost never volunteers to do school!!!) 

Pictures were allowed in this cavern, but it’s really hard to take good images in low light (at least with our camera), or get a handle on the sheer size of them. 

Say goodbye to the desert:

We've spent most of the past few months in the desert climate & surroundings. As we traveled south and east through Texas we have left behind the cactus & mesquite and re-entered a land of trees. Northwestern Texas is quite flat, dotted by low brush and pumpjacks. Closer to San Antonio is hill country and trees and in southeastern Texas (nearer Houston), the countryside actually reminds me quite strongly of south central Alberta. The land rolls in a similar way, and although the trees are of different variety, the way they dot the landscape is reminiscent of the pattern of crops & trees at home. I didn't mind the desert, but it's nice to be in familiar(ish) treed countryside. Evidently Mother Nature was feeling generous this week with the reminders of home, which brings me to my next thing to do in Texas. 

Freeze our butts off!:

I cannot believe we've come so far south and are dealing with the coldest temperatures we have encountered so far! Texas and much of the Gulf Coast has experienced some seriously unseasonable weather the past bit. It almost never freezes here and yet last week the area experienced a winter storm with freezing rain that shut down freeways, schools and created all manner of headaches. Hot on the heels of the first storm, storm number two has arrived. The first storm found us just outside of San Antonio, at Medina Lake Thousand Trails.This was our first experience with a membership campground, and the kids loved having access to an activity center where they could play with toys, watch satellite TV, participate in activities and get pretty much all the attention they could desire when the weather would have otherwise kept us stuck in the trailer.

We didn't have a lot of TV, or internet service at our site, but the deer channel was particularly fine.

We missed out on the freezing rain that caused so much trouble on the area roads, but did have to scrape our windshield off the one morning.Oh, the indignity! 

This second storm has found us much more exposed. We've actually traveled into colder weather moving east, and our truck & trailer are presently covered in a layer of ice and sleet sits on the ground outside. Bah! Oh well. Let’s just call this our winter experience for the year. At least, out of all this, we've learned that we can manage just fine in (not too far) below freezing temperatures. That said, hopefully this wintery weather heads back north where it belongs, soon!






We've had two whole nice days in the past week and on one of those days we decided to head into San Antonio…