The Alamo. Don't Mess With Texas.It's 6:40 am, I just slept 4 hours of very poor sleep, and we have an 8 hour drive ahead of us today, so I'm going to make this fairly quick. Any spelling errors...blame it on the sleepyness.
Monday morning we left Austin to investigate San Antonio, TX. Despite earning ourselves a $30 parking ticket for an expired meter (it was only a few minutes! grr), San Antonio was an early trip highlight. We first walked to Alamo Plaza and spent time learning about/discovering/exploring the Alamo. This was way cooler than I had expected.
After a much-needed ice cream break (If you ever find yourself in Texas, pick up some Blue Bell ice cream. It is UNBELIEVABLE), we hit the riverwalk area and were blown away. The river walk is essentially the shady, tree-covered string of restaurants, hotels, art installations, etc, that line the San Antonio River. Definitely one of the most beautiful things I've seen in an urban environment.
We went into the Hill Country west of San Antone and floated the Frio River. The river was running a little shallow, so there were some parts where we had to get out of our tubes and walk. However, it was still a beautiful float through the canyons, and a great way to spend a hot summer afternoon. We were definitely beat by the end, but a hot meal and a shower got us back on the road.
We spent the next million hours driving through the desert of West Texas. I've seen desert before, but this was something else: almost complete desolation. There'd be a town of a thousand people or so every 80 miles. Life is a different thing entirely out here. The landscape is beautiful in its desperation. This was Lizzie's first foray into the desert, and she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
We landed for the night at Guadalupe Mountains National Park/Carlsbad Caverns National Park along the Texas/New Mexico border. We saw the flight of the bats from the caverns on Tuesday night - unfortunately picture taking was not allowed, but believe you me - seeing a swarm of several hundred thousand bats silhouetted against the dusk....it's an unforgettable image. Wednesday morning we went down into the caves, and were amazed at their depth. Cavernous is the only word to describe it - it was like being on the coolest Disneyworld ride of all time. One of my favorite national parks that I've been to, it was something else.
We're currently in Santa Fe, a town filled with art galleries and artist types, etc etc etc. We found a great restaurant called The Pantry that might have the best chocolate cake in the entire world. No joke. It's that good.
Momentarily, we are headed north into the Colorado mountains to arrive at Grand Junction, CO, where we are picking Lizzie's younger sister Micayla up at the airport. Caylie has apparently become jealous enough of our trip that she has decided to join us for a leg of it! She'll be road adventuring with us for about the next ten days or so, as we wind our way across Utah, culminating at the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas.
Internet-wise, I'm not sure what the week ahead holds. Hopefully we'll be able to find internet access somewhere, but we are heading into some pretty serious high desert country, so there may be a few days to a week of radio silence. But fear not! We'll have more pictures and stories for you soon .
Love from the road,
Tom
P.S. I sat on a cactus at a Guadalupe Mountains National Park whilst setting up the tent for the night. Lizzie had the supreme honor of pulling the multitude of thorns out of my ass cheeks. It was an inspiring and glorious test of the limits of our friendship. Also: it was just plain hilarious.
P.P.S. Here is a link to pictures from Austin, TX to Santa Fe, NM:
P.P.P.S. Here is a link to pictures from Bonnaroo (You may need to copy/paste it into your URL toolbar):
This is all so fabulous! Lol, Lizzie I'm from the desert, it is a bit scary especially in the summer, lol. SO I just left you a message and I want to join the train! Just for a couple weeks or two and I will photograph you guys and your amazing journey. I really would love to join up for a short bit so let me know if it's a possibility. <3, the fran.
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