Sizzlin' at the Cool Springs

Location: Balmorhea State Park, Texas

We were treated to an amazing lighting storm last night. We never did hear the thunder but fell asleep to bright flashes lighting up the interior of clouds and being flashed across the sky. Quite impressive over the vast desert landscape. This morning we drove throught the deserts of New Mexico into the vast arid Texas oil fields. The road we were traveling on was so remote it didn't even have one of those "Welcome to Texas" signs. I had a couple of little adventures planned, but we were so excited about getting to Balmorhea and playing in the cool springs that we decided to forge ahead.

This is our 3rd trip to Balmorhea and definitely one of our favorite places. Well to qualify that, one of our favorite places in west Texas. It never ceases to amaze us that this little oasis is situated in the middle of extremely dry country, in the middle of nowhere. Here's poor little Winnie baking in the sun while we go play in the water.

To give a little history, the Civilian Conservation Corps built Balmorhea State Park in the 1930's. They created a system of canals that feed the pool.

Balmorhea has the world's largest spring-fed swimming pool. More than 15 million gallons of water flow through the pool each day, gushing from the San Solomon Springs. The pool is up to 25 feet deep, covers 1.75 acres, and holds 3.5 million gallons of water. The temperature stays between 72 to 76 degrees. Several scuba divers were practicing in the natural area of the pool. One half of the pool has a conventional bottom and the other half is natural. There are tons of fish and turtles swimming around. It's so cool to swim between the fish and over the scuba divers.

Ned and I bought an underwater camera and some snorkeling gear for this trip. This was our first opportunity to test them out. Yes, we tested them by doing selfies in the water and goofing around taking pictures of each other rather than capturing too much of the wildlife.

 

 

 

 

I haven't quite figured out the underwater camera with my limited eyesight. But I'll keep working on it. Hopefully by the time we reach the Gulf we'll see Ned at his finest.

I loved that the fish were just swimming all around us, through our legs and under our arms. One of the fish was even nibbling on Ned. Who would have thought this little oasis existed in West Texas!

 

 

 

 

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