Amazing desert scenery

We have seen amazing views as we drive through the desert, like this yucca plant, and mountains!

Rianna's Photo

Rianna is getting very good at taking photos which are one arm length away.  She can while away many hours in the truck, just taking photos!!  (This one is at the Alamo)

Sean's Mug Shot

David took this "mug shot" of Sean - see what happens when he gets the camera??

Natural Bridge Caverns

There are many underground caves and caverns in Texas.  About 10 miles north of San Antonio are the Natural Bridge Caverns.  They are quite impressive, going down over 200 below the surface.  There were many different features that we learned about inside the caves, which were discovered in the 1960's.

It was quite a hike down, and then back up again, but it was well worth it!!

Remember the Alamo

The Battle of the Alamo is an important historical, event, particularly to Texans.  There were huge line ups to go into the Mission and the museum.  But it was really interesting to learn about another era of history, the Mexican-American conflict.  At night, when it is lit up, the Alamo looks particularly beautiful!

The trees in this area are hung with white lights, which are still beautiful, but not quite as nice as the ones along the river.  

Most of the office buildings in the downtown area were lit up in various ways for Christmas,

all in all, a very impressive display!

Happy New Year from San Antonio

After a quick over night stop in Houston, we are now in San Antonio, Texas!  We came here to celebrate New Year's Eve, as we work our way home.  The area of downtown San Antonio is beautiful, with a slow moving river winding it's way through the restaurant on shops.  This "river walk" is a three mile loop which is bordered on both sides by a walking path, and beautiful trees.  The bald cypress trees, whose needles are a beautiful rust coloured shade, are hung with draping lines of coloured lights.  At night, these lights hang over the paths and river like twinkling rainbows.  

Throughout the day and evening, slow moving river boats take tours along the river.  We did an
evening tour so we could glide along under the lights, and it was absolutely wonderful!

On New Year's Eve, there was a party downtown, with thousands of people, carnival rides and games, food kiosks, and amazing fireworks.  It was a great party, but we were also left wondering what New Years would be like in New Orleans, where even a Saturday night was an excuse for a party!

Hurricane on the Bayou ( Time for an educational blog again)

The Mississippi is a huge river (3d largest in the world, I think) and empties water from three provinces and fifteen states into the Gulf of Mexico.  It is the colour of café au lait, filled with the silt from thousands of miles.  Every year, with the spring floods, these nutrient rich waters would add a layer of rich soil to the floodplain at the bottom of the river.  In the 1930’s and 40’s they started “managing” the river – putting in canals and levees to contain the river, keeping cities from flooding, and using the water for agriculture.  These things were important, but at the time they had no way of foreseeing the problems that these man- made changes would bring.

Over time, this has actually caused a huge loss of natural wetlands along the Gulf Coast.  This area was full of cypress trees, and they acted as a buffer zone, holding the land in place, and slowing down the winds from hurricanes.  In many ways, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina was made worse by mankind messing with nature. 

We watched a movie about this, at the Imax theatre, which was very educational – hopefully everyone who lives down in this area will learn these lessons about what  needs to be done to reset the natural balance of water and land.  The bayou is a beautiful 

place, hopefully one that will be protected, and in turn will protect others.