Texas Hill Country

Krause Springs, Spicewood, TX

We took an early morning bike ride along the high cliffs of Seminole Canyon to see where it merges with the Rio Grande.  Ironically, we did this same ride 3 years ago, to the date.  It was just as gorgeous as we remembered it.  Besides seeing epic view and the petroglyphs we also saw several white tailed deer, lots of bunny rabbits and a skunk. What a great way to begin our day.

This past week we’ve experienced the desert thru 4 states.  We’ve enjoyed the dry heat, surreal looking cacti, the wide expanse of the open sky and especially no bugs.  As we entered Texas Hill County the topology changed to rolling green hills and wildflowers as far as the eye could see.  And yes the humidity has begun, along with a few insects. 

The largest German community is situated around Fredericksburg, in the heart of Hill Country.  It’s a charming small town with several German restaurants, bakeries and typical tourist shops.  Seeing that we pulled in around lunch time we thought it was a great excuse to try out some German food.  Brats, red cabbage and sauerkraut.  Who could say no?  We were also planning on stoping by a beer hall in the nearby town of Luckenbach, but when we got there a motorcycle rally/timed trials was happening.  The one main road in town was closed and we just weren’t feeling hundreds of motorcycles in the Texas heat.

Time to take a dip in a cold spring! I had read about Krause Springs last year and that’s what started this whole crazy idea about visiting cold or natural springs across the U.S.    Unlike almost every place we stay, this is not a State or National Park.  It’s privately owned and you never know what you’ll find when you show up.  Interesting enough, we never encountered any signs advertising this place or giving directions.  It seems pretty much a local spot. 

It didn’t disappoint in that it is incredibly beautiful, although very crowded.  As the springs come out of the ground they are capured into a man made pool, which cascades into a natural pool below.  The grounds have several gardens and lots of beautiful shade trees.  The natural pool tho is not clear at all.  We couldn’t tell if it was because there were so many people kicking up all the mud or if it’s always like that.  People hardy seemed to mind as there were all kinds of activities going on from people jumping off the rope swing, hanging out under the waterfall, playing water volleyball or floating in every kind of blow up you could imagine.  And, of course, country music blaring.  This is Texas afterall. (Don’t be fooled by these pics.  They were taken at dusk and people were headed home). 

The grounds include a butterfly garden that is breathtakingly beautiful.  Yes it attracts lots of butterflies! 

Now, the camping is another story. People are camped in tents hodgepodge throughout the park with cars parked everywhere.  There is an RV area, where we are located, which is just a place where the RV’s are lined up in a row.  At least we are parked under beautiful shade trees which definitely helped in the Texan sun.  I’d give this place a C+.  I expect it would be completely different on a weekday, but then again it’s summer, hot and we’re in Texas so who knows.  

McDonald Observatory and Driving thru West Texas

Seminole Canyon State Park, Comstock, TX

The McDonald Observatory sits in the Davis range in the Chihuahuan desert in West Texas.  It sits beneath some of the darkest skies in the continental US.  It has nine primary research telescopes with varying capabilities and purposes.  Do you remember the radio spot on NPR called StarDate?  Sandy Woods narrated, in the most calming voice, each day’s astronomy tip - with a little space music in the background. Ned and I loved this 1 minute spot broadcast from the McDonald Observatory and couldn’t wait to visit. We spent 3.5 hours at the observatory. 

The first hour was sitting in a lecture on solar viewing.  So cool to learn about sun spots, solar flares, northern lights and to view the sun through different telescope filters. 

We then hopped on a shuttle to view two of the telescopes. The Harlan J. Smith Telescope has two different configurations for observing distant planets and other space objects. The 107-inch mirror and corresponding lens can direct light to attached instruments or to independent instruments stationed in a room one floor below the telescope.  Ned got to control the 160 ton instrument! 

The Hobby-Eberly Telescope is one of largest in the world. The main goal of this telescope is to make a three dimensional map of the universe when it was about three billion years old and measure its expansion rate since that time. This is where I tried to grasp the concept of dark energy.  This telescope supports a mirror with a 36-foot diameter comprised of 91 hexagonal segments (each one individually controlled) and a 160,000-pound telescope.  It was hard to get your brain around this one with all those mirrors.  Our guide, Thomas, was incredible!  So knowledgable, funny and patient explaining everything.  

The view from the Harlan J. Smith Telescope was pretty great.  We could see a mountain range in Mexico, over 100 miles away.

We went thru the town of Marfa, but because we spent so much time at the observatory we didn’t have time to visit the Chinati Foundation, a contemporary art museum.  (Anyone watching the Amazon show “I Love Dick” with Kevin Bacon?  It takes place in Marfa.)  I was expecting the actual town of Marfa to have more of an artist vibe. It actually didn’t look much different than most of the sleepy West Texas towns we roll through. Next time we visit Marfa we’ll also have to spend the night to hopefully see the ghost lights.  Top pic is the viewing area for the ghost lights.  

On our drive thru this very sparsely populated area of Texas we did drive through some artsy towns.  We got a chuckle out of this proletarian statement in response to the Prada Marfa art from the day before.  It was just an abandoned shack on the side of the road.  Good one. 

Our camping spot tonight is overlooking the high desert.  I think this is our last night of desert camping. Tomorrow we head for hill country. It’s about 9 pm and the temp is 92 degrees. The sun gods are definitely smiling on me. 

West Texas - A little bit of everything

Davis Mountain State Park, Fort Davis, TX 

I woke up a bit before the sunrise and was able to snap this picture.  It was a gorgeous cool morning and the only thing up were me and some bunnies.  

A bit later Ned and I decided to ride our bikes around the park and learn about some of the history here.  (Yeah, I rallied not even hung over!).  The state park was originally known as Camp Furlong.  It housed General Pershing’s troops of nearly 10,000, several tanks and some of the original military aircraft. This was circa 1916.

The local park ranger, Martin, was a real sweetheart.  The visitor’s center doesn’t open til 9, but he opened it up just for us and gave us a personal tour. Those early morning bike rides definitely pay off!  

Pancho Villa had attacked the town of Columbus and killed a bunch of people. The car in the lower right corner is riddled with bullets from a family trying to escape.  Their big mistake was turning on their headlights.

General Pershing spent two years tracking Pancho Villa thru Mexico, but never found him.  There’s a lot of controversy around why Pancho Villa attacked this area.  One conspiracy theory is that the U.S. wanted to get troops in training for WW1 so they paid Pancho Villa to provoke a war. Another theory is that someone sold him bad ammunition and he was seeking revenge. 

Here’s a picture of General Pershing and Pancho Villa hanging together several years earlier.  So they clearly knew each other and were thought to be friends. You be the judge. (Another item to add to my reading list - learn more about Pancho Villa).  Anyone have any good recommendations? 

We crossed over the Rio Grande heading into Texas from NM. 

Our first big outing of the day was heading to El Paso to take the Wyler Tram up to the top of the mountain to get an epic view of El Paso.  We decided to take the long way and go along Skyline Drive.  It didn’t disappoint as far as the view went.  Good thing too cuz the tram that we were hoping to take was closed today.   

Before we left the sprawl of El Paso we visited a tortilla factory in an industrial neighborhood.  It was a crack-up.  The tortilla making was done the for day, but you could walk up to a counter and get whatever Mexican food was still available. Imagine a couple of hot dishes in a steam table. Apparently they sell out before noon most days.  Ned had a brisket burrito and I had a red chili colorado burrito, the only two options still available.  It was delish!!!  Nice soft homemade tortillas with authentic spicy Mexican food.  It was nothing like our big American burritos.  They were about 1/4 of the size and rolled up tightly with the meat inside. Yum! 

Next stop the first cold springs of the trip, at our beloved Balmorhea!! This would be our 4th or 5th visit here. It’s touted as the largest outdoor swimming pool, but has a huge section for scuba divers. Doh! It was just closed on account of some structural issues. Onward to Plan B. 

What we did come across on our way to Fort Davis was the iconic Prada Store in the middle of nowhere.  If you don’t know about this, it’s a 2005 contemporary art statement. We must be getting close to Marfa.  

Fort Davis National Site was established in 1854 to protect travelers on the San Antonio - El Paso Road. Troops from the post helped bring about the peaceful settlement and development of the region.  It was deactivated in 1891.  We toured a couple of the buildings. Mainly it just made me glad I’m not an enlisted soldier living in the 1860’s.  

We got a sweet campsite under a big tree at Davis Mountain State Park. 

Ned honing his washer toss skills for the big family reunion in August.  Note to Josh and Marlina, the curse of the red washers has been broken. My best score yet:).  There was a huge transformer powering three counties that blew this afternoon.  We don’t have cell and I have no idea if the wifi will be back up, so this posting could be a day late...   

Tombstone, Bisbee and Mexico

Pancho Villa State Park, NM

We left our mountain paradise campsite and headed for the OK Corral.  The last time we were in Tombstone was on our first road trip 10 years ago. Our first stop this morning was Boothill Graveyard. It was originally laid out as a burial plot in 1878.  Because of the may violent deaths of the early days, the cemetery became known as Boothill Graveyard.  Buried here are outlaws with their victims, suicides, hangings (legal and otherwise), along with the hardy and refined elements of Tombstone’s first days.  We had a fun time roaming around and reading the markers along with their stories. 

3 Fingered Jack Dunlap - one of a band of train robbers, attempted to rob an express car. He was critically wounded and his friends left him to die. He was found and brought to Tombstone, where he lived long enough to inform on his friends.  (Karma dude)

George Johnson - innocently bought a stolen horse and suffered the consequences.  (Note to self: Never, ever buy an iphone at night in a back alley) 

Mrs Stump - died in childbirth, from an overdose of chloroform, given to her by her doctor.  (The world needs more midwives...)

We wandered around town and visited a couple of western shops, but my favorite part was trying my hand with a Ruger Vaquero .45 six shooter.  I got 5 out of 6 right thru the heart and the other one pretty darn close.  Not bad for an Ol’ lady whose previous experience was at the Disneyland Shooting Gallery.  I had no idea guns were so heavy! 

.  

We eventually made it to Bisbee.  A cute town that is a cross between Downieville and Ashland.  An old copper mining town that is now more bookstores, coffee shops, art galleries and vintage shops. I could easily have spent a few days just hanging here.  We were hoping to visit a bean-to-bar chocolate maker, but they are only open on weekends. Such is the life of chocolate makers.  

In the middle of nowhere, close to the border between Arizona and New Mexico is the historical monument to Geronimo, the last Apache Chieftain.  He surrendered near here on Sept 6, 1886 to General Miles.  “The surrender of Geronimo in Skeleton Canyon on that historical day forever ended Indian warfare in the United States.”   Love finding these nuggets while wandering the country.  

We made it to Pancho Villa State Park in late afternoon.  One could either bake in the blazing hot sun or make a run for the border.  We chose the latter, after all street tacos and tequila were calling. Ned here...I’m taking over for Debi.  The margaritas got the best of her.  Why does it take us hours of waiting in the airport when we arrive at Puerto Vallarta or Cancun, and all we got, walking into Palomas, Mexico was 5 different guards waving us through?  We didn’t even show our passports.  Anyway, we went to the Pink Store, which Debi had read about, checked out all their amazing, colorful Mexican handicrafts, and then ordered a delicious Mexican dinner inside the same store. Their margaritas were delicious!  After a while, we bought a few items, wandered the Main Street and walked back into the US of A.  We had to show our passports to get back in, but that was pretty much the whole process!  What a fun way to go experience Mexico for a couple of hours, and then get back to our road trip!

It’s pretty hot here at the campsite, but  at least it’s beautifully landscaped with native plants. Apparently, this state park used to be a military base from 1916 set-up to combat Pancho Villas’s raids into the U.S.  The US had planes, an army and tanks but were never able to catch Pancho Villa. Viva Pancho! If Debi sobers up and isn’t hurting too bad by the morning, we plan to bike around the park and explore all the historical displays.

Biosphere 2 & Saguaro National Park

Patagonia Lake State Park, Nogales, AZ

The first outing of the day was visiting Biosphere 2.  Built in the late 1980’s it was created to study and research self-sustaining space-colonization. It’s planet earth’s largest closed ecological system. 1n 1991, 8 scientists lived in it for two years. They were sealed off from the outside world, grew their own food, nurtured different habitats to produce oxygen and ran a series of experiments.  Even though they made it 2 years it was considered an epic financial and scientific failure. (That’s my editorial comment). It cost $150 million to build, encompasses 3.14 acres and included several biomes as well as the technosphere - which is the technology to make the whole thing work. 

We’ve done countless tours over the years, but our guide, Jason, was one of the best. He definitely knew his stuff.  The University of Arizona now operates the biosphere. The tour was focused on the ecology,  technology and current research in the biosphere and hardly anything was mentioned about the human part of the experiment. We toured the 5 biomes; rainforest, desert, savannah, ocean and mangrove.  Hopefully the pics showcase each one of these biomes.

We also toured the belly of the beast and went underground to see all the technology it takes to run this baby including the air flow system, heating and cooling, water management and “lungs”.  The lung part was definitely my favorite.  “As the air inside the facility expanded it would flow through underground tunnels into the lungs. Each lung contained a large weight hanging from a rubber sheet; as the air expanded during the day the increased pressure would raise the weight into the air. In the evening, as the air cooled, the weight would pull the rubber sheet back down and push air back into the facility, thereby equalising any pressure difference as it appeared.”  The rubber sheet weighs 10 tons and the weight is a large aluminum disc.  

The tour took a good 2 hours.  UofA is continuing to do some interesting experiments, mainly focused around microbes and climate change. I am most fascinated by the human side of the original experiment and definitely want to read more about the 8 scientists’ experience. My understanding is that there was a lot of fighting, it didn’t end well and some suffered from PTSD and depression.  Oh, and for those wondering what Biosphere 1 is...it’s planet earth, where we currently reside.  

After a picnic lunch in the van, we headed toward Saguaro (pronounced Sa-WAH-row) National Park East. Our plan was to bike the 8 mile loop.  Best laid plans.  We got there about 1ish and it was in the 90’s with the sun blazing down.  The ranger discouraged us from biking the route so instead we drove it. 

Honestly, I was underwhelmed.  Almost all of the saguaro are gone.  Pictures from 1936, when the Park was made into a National Monument, showed a much more abundant cacti forest.  We saw more saguaro driving the backroads yesterday than at the National Park.  I think Anza-Borrego State Park has a better showing of a cacti forest, albeit without any saguaro.  So where have the saguaro gone?  Turns out freezing temperatures for more than 20 hours kills them.  There were several major freezes in the 1960’s.

I did enjoy learning specific things about the saguaro. Ned and I noticed yesterday birds nesting, with a hole, in a saguaro.  Just like a bird house.We thought that was cool, but didn’t know if we were just imagining that.  Turns out a woodpecker drills the initial hole, then other birds use it for nesting when the woodpecker is done. Also, who knew a saguaro had a skeleton of wooden ribs?   They also live for over a hundred and fifty years.  Here’s a  really interesting display that shows the insides of a saguaro.

Tonight we are camped at Patagonia Lake State Park.  We managed to grab a sweet spot right on the lake.  First thing we did was cool off.  Ned took the temperature of the water of this mountain lake. It was 67 degrees.  We thought of it as training for the cold springs. 

Music of the World

Picacho Peak State Park, AZ

We enjoyed the beauty of the desert this morning.  It was quiet and still with the occasional sounds of doves.  We were also entertained by quail and bunnies scurrying thru our campsite.  Last night the coyotes put on quite the concert, howling to each other. It’s early in the season so there are some flowers still in bloom. Just love the sights and sounds of the desert. 

One of our rules of the road is to take two lane highways or back roads whenever possible. This usually takes a bit more time, but the journey is worth it.  Today this took us well off the beaten path. Once we crossed over the Colorado River most of our scenery consisted of blooming Saguaro cacti with a backdrop of jagged mountains.  

Our big outing for the day was visiting the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. We spent almost 4 hours here!  It was amazing, if not overwhelming.  There are over 10,000 instruments displayed. It is very cleverly divided into different regions of the world, Asia, Latin America, Europe, Caribbean, The Oceanas, etc. I believe almost every country of the world is represented!!  

We were given headsets and as you walk up to the flat screen display, the headset automatically begins playing a selection of music. There was every single kind of instrument you can imagine and then some.  Nose flutes?  Who knew.  

Because music and dance are so closely intertwined many of the displays also showcased elaborate costumes. I think this was one of my favorite features. 

There were also rooms that had the music divided by genres, such as jazz, folk, country, and other obscure categories I had never heard and instruments we had never seen before. So fun to hear what they sounded like filmed in their native environment.  

We really enjoyed the experimentation room where we got to play all kinds of instruments.  We beat on drums, strummed exotic harps, banged gongs, and tested out the ethereal theremin (as featured in The Beach Boys, Good Vibrations). 

We spent so long at the museum we pulled into our campground at dusk.  We are camped at the base of Picacho Peak.  Here’s a shot of our site this evening looking out over the valley.  A nice quiet ending to a music filled day.  

Heading Out on Our Own

Black Rock Canyon Campround, Joshua Tree National Park

We enjoyed a slow moving Sunday morning under blue skies and warmer weather.  Josh started to lead us in a yoga morning stretch on the beach, but Marlina and I eventually went rogue and just began doing our own thing.  Sorry Josh we really do appreciate your enthusiasm and technique.  We reluctantly said our goodbyes mid day and Ned and I headed out solo for our adventure.  

As we headed over the mountains on our way into the desert I said to Ned, “Hurray, that should be the last of the cold or fog we should experience for the rest of the trip!  I’m putting away my sweatshirts and coats and only living in shorts, flip flops and bathing suits from now on.”   Well, the gods smiled down on me and laughed.  We had heard about a small town called Oak Glen and thought it would be fun to stop there and walk around.  By the time we reached it the only thing we saw was thick fog and temperatures plunging to the 50’s.

Oak Glen is touted as being a scenic loop of cherry and apple orchards, much like Apple Hill outside of Placerville.  Because we literally couldn’t see, we decided to pull into an apple farm restaurant and have a late lunch.  If we believe the signs, one can walk around a 14 acre village dotted with crafts and other folksy items.  We settled on admiring the kitschy displays thru the windows as Ned ate the biggest chicken pot pie I have ever seen!  Apparently, if you can eat everything on your plate seconds are free.  Neither of us found out if that was true.  

They are also famous for their mile high apple pies made with 5 pounds of apples.  We didn’t bite.  

By the time we left the restaurant the fog had lifted and the sun had begun to burn thru. The drive back down into the valley was amazing. We couldn’t believe we had missed so many apple orchards, bucolic farms and gorgeous flowers.  Just love this poppy field we came upon.

We finally made it Joshua Tree National Park about 4ish and thoroughly enjoyed the temperature in the high 70’s.  I’m not going to say a word if I’m enjoying the warmer weather just in case the sun god is listening in.