Things we saw*

*Also known as "I'm too damn tired to post much else tonight."

Sometimes you've just got to pull off the highway. Like when you're driving along in the desert and all of the sudden, off to your left you see a sprawling field of intense yellow. When you pull on to the shoulder, put it in reverse and then go down the dirt road, you discover a field of sunflowers pointed east at the morning sun.

You catch your breath. Then you move on to Balmorhea State Park where there's a big spring fed pool that's so clear and lovely it looks like it's made of blue jewels. On the grounds of the state park is this: Not a view one would expect in the desert, making it that much more amazing and lovely.

Speaking of views, here was one of my favorites--the view from the patio of our room: The Marfa Courhouse, water tower and, of course BH. It is the rainy season right now in that part of Texas. And while we were there, we were treated to gorgeous storms, rolling in for miles. Ironic, isn't it, that to view a decent rain, I needed to travel to the desert...

And after the rain, apparently there's almost always a rainbow there. We saw several including a double rainbow, and this succinct, intense and very determined little rainbow-lette pushing its way out of the dark storm clouds:
When it rains, the reptiles get happy. This was one of the happier fellows we met. (Notice the goddamned cigarette butt in the upper right of this photo...grrrr.)

And then, yesterday during the nearly 450 mile trip home, I just marveled at the diversity and beauty of the state I was born in, amazed by the fact that there are still LARGE parts of it that I have yet to experience, and wondering why in the hell it took me nearly 40 years to see this part of it.

Oh yes. We will be back.