Yesterday we stopped by Guadalupe Mountains National Park in far western Texas. We did not have much time, but we did Junior Ranger stuff and took a short, very warm trail. Along with the cacti and the wonderful view of the mountains we saw a few lizards and a six-inch yellow centipede
. We would like to visit - and hike - in the park again someday, perhaps in a different, cooler season. The picture is of El Capitan, a sheer rock formation that is connected to the highest point in Texas: Guadalupe Mountain. After that we drove through the western Texas desert to head home - beautiful, but also a little scary in its emptiness. The van thermometer reached 112 at one point on I-10. It was interesting to watch the dust devils - one was probably hundreds of feet tall. The saddest sight to my eyes was probably an abandoned orchard with dead trees, empty buildings, and a dust devil swirling in a nearby field.
When we went to Alaska years ago and saw the awesome tress and mountains I got the opinion that it would have been more dramatic for me if I had not been living in Seattle for several months and seen familiar things. I think something similar was at play this weekend - it would have been a little more dramatic for me if I had not seen dry weather, reptiles, and cacti in central Texas for the past several months. However, I did notice that Austin looked to be drying up (grass fading, etc.) when we left town, but as we returned from western Texas it looked lush and green by comparison! Overall, it was a great Fathers Day weekend.
Today is Juneteenth, a celebration of freedom from slavery that I had never heard of until the Texas move. I guess it started in Texas, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth. There have been a lot of crickets around near the UT-campus: in our offices, in our labs, etc. Here is an article about a person that I often see on the bus ride home:
http://www.austin360.com/recreation/rundberg-running-man-entertains-traffic-as-he-gets-2274182.html.
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