Happy New Year

San Antonio LOVES fireworks



This cavern cannot be captured by the camera!!














NOTE: Typed Wednesday, posted Thursday – no WiFi …….again!!!

The fireworks from the Tower of the Americas WERE spectacular. Well worth tackling the crowds! People were lighting competing fireworks in the street and the entire city was in serious “party mode”. The “friendly city” got even friendlier!! Afterwards, we got lucky and made it out of town in double quick time. But…….our biggest surprise was the drive home. The entire ½ hour drive (think downtown Toronto to Pickering) was through a thick haze of smoke. Everywhere we looked, near and far, fireworks were being launched till well past 1:30 A.M. The resulting veil of smoke blanketed the entire city and surrounding area. Freeway lighting created funnels of hazy yellow glow, creating a bizarrely eerie scene. Almost as unique as the fireworks at the tower.

We bid adieu to Jim & Michelle yesterday and, to San Antonio today. Great friends! Great city! Now on to Las Cruces, New Mexico. We are taking a few days to cross Texas, with a southern detour to the Big Bend National Park on the Rio Grande. No other sight has been so highly and repeatedly recommended by our fellow travelers at any point on our trip. So………I guess we gotta see it.

We are now at Fort Stockton Texas, mid way between San Antonio and El Paso. This is serious “western movie country”. Throughout the day we climbed continuously to our current altitude of 2,900 feet and, along the way the trees grew smaller and fewer in number until the landscape became buttes, bluffs, mesas and gullies, populated by scrub, cactus and yucca. Although the Texans say this area is a “whole lot of nothing”, it has a rugged beauty. Along the route, we detoured 7 miles to the “Caverns at Sonora”. I cannot describe them! The President of the National Speleological Society said “This is the most indescribably beautiful cavern in the world. Its beauty cannot be exaggerated, even by Texans”. Imagine a 1 ½ mile long cave, with 1 mile of it covered in pave diamonds! If you’re driving across Texas on I-10 (and who doesn’t do that a couple of times a year?) don’t even think of passing by these caverns. They are spellbinding!!!

Tomorrow………Big Bend


Postscript: We have just returned from Big bend national Park and, will publish a post in the next day or two. I am afraid that it will once more be filled with superlatives. Readers of this blog DO put up with a lot!!!