The lone star state
So Texas it is, where the scenery starts to change! And it seems to get more and more dry as we pass along. It didin't seem that dry yet in Houston, but driving there to Austin it really started to show. Those green forest has change in to fields and the scenery is more and more brown now.
We wanted to stay as much with couchsurfing as possible, but since traveling makes you kind of loose track of dates, we were a bit late on finding those. I think labor day weekend might have effected on it as well, since so many people had already made plans. So in Houston and Austin we stayed in a motel, which was fine as well, but it is always much more interesting to stay with other people. In Houston we only stayed for the night, we might have been there earlier, if we wouldn't have stood in a traffic for several hours. So from Houston then we continued early and had first stop at Jacob's well, which is one of those natural parks that have underground caves as well. Water was clear and nature just beautiful. Even tough we couldn't go swimming (place was packed) it was so nice to sit there and soak your feet in the water.
After that we headed to to Austin and went almost straight to this one bar we had heard about from a guy in New Orleans hostel. It was called White Horse and there were many live bands for that evening and people were dancing a lot. It was very country style (which was excactly what we were looking for) and it was amazing to watch how people were so relaxed and open!
It's a good reminder to see people so open; even though I think I'm open, sometimes that finnish (a bit closed up and reserved) way still comes to visit. But people were definitely super nice in Texas and I loved the atmosphere in Austin.
Next day then we were supposed to visit another natural park, which was called Hamilton pool, but it was so full when we got there that they coudn't let us in. Luckily our next destination was on the same way so we headed then to check longhorn caverns. There was some amazing underground caves that we got to visit and see those awesome shapes and formations of rocks. It was also very hot day, so cooling down in the caves was pretty nice as well!
From there we drove back to Austin, with some stops on the way. The route was small, curvy and super beautiful so it was nice to stop once in a while and enjoy the view.
I also read earlier that day one popular thing to do in Austin, which was watching the bats take off under this bridge at sunset. So we of course wanted to see that and it was definitely worth it. We weren't only ones there, in fact the bridge was totally full of people and there were lots of people watching it from a boats as well. When we heard that there would be bats coming under the bridge we never assumed that it would around 1,5 million of those! It looked really crazy and especially when you see a black clouds in the distance and know that its performed by thousands of bats.
After the bat watch we went to this one very cute bar which had all kinds of games in there. So we played this game where you have this circle on a end of string which you have to be able to throw to a hook an a wall. Met some very nice people there as well and got to taste some local cider :)
Next morning we woke up early to make it to the Hamilton pool. Well we did got there this time, even though there was people already waiting for it to open. It was again very beautiful spot surrounded by nature.
After that we had a long drive ahead of us; 10 hours on a road that looked excactly the same for the whole way. After that 10 hours we ended up in El Paso. It was kind of a small town, which is right on border of Mexico and New Mexico. So on the other side there was Mexican city Juarez which has been told to be one of the most dangerous citys. Many people from Juarez come every day to work in El Paso and then head back to Mexico. We did cross the border as well, but didin't go any further than the main street in there.
In El Paso we also got to visit on a shop which made boots. They were making those right there and it was so cool to watch them doing it.
In El Paso we stayed with this guy Alan through couchsurfing and his generosity was something to admire. Unfortunately he was very busy working so didin't got a change to hang with him more, but he was so trusting to give us his keys so we could come and go as we wanted. I wan't to think as well that even though you can find millions of bad things that could happen, but trusting people and their humanity's let's you see how much we have that in the world as well!
Next one would be New Mexico and actually finding route 66 :)
We wanted to stay as much with couchsurfing as possible, but since traveling makes you kind of loose track of dates, we were a bit late on finding those. I think labor day weekend might have effected on it as well, since so many people had already made plans. So in Houston and Austin we stayed in a motel, which was fine as well, but it is always much more interesting to stay with other people. In Houston we only stayed for the night, we might have been there earlier, if we wouldn't have stood in a traffic for several hours. So from Houston then we continued early and had first stop at Jacob's well, which is one of those natural parks that have underground caves as well. Water was clear and nature just beautiful. Even tough we couldn't go swimming (place was packed) it was so nice to sit there and soak your feet in the water.
After that we headed to to Austin and went almost straight to this one bar we had heard about from a guy in New Orleans hostel. It was called White Horse and there were many live bands for that evening and people were dancing a lot. It was very country style (which was excactly what we were looking for) and it was amazing to watch how people were so relaxed and open!
Next day then we were supposed to visit another natural park, which was called Hamilton pool, but it was so full when we got there that they coudn't let us in. Luckily our next destination was on the same way so we headed then to check longhorn caverns. There was some amazing underground caves that we got to visit and see those awesome shapes and formations of rocks. It was also very hot day, so cooling down in the caves was pretty nice as well!
From there we drove back to Austin, with some stops on the way. The route was small, curvy and super beautiful so it was nice to stop once in a while and enjoy the view.
I also read earlier that day one popular thing to do in Austin, which was watching the bats take off under this bridge at sunset. So we of course wanted to see that and it was definitely worth it. We weren't only ones there, in fact the bridge was totally full of people and there were lots of people watching it from a boats as well. When we heard that there would be bats coming under the bridge we never assumed that it would around 1,5 million of those! It looked really crazy and especially when you see a black clouds in the distance and know that its performed by thousands of bats.
After the bat watch we went to this one very cute bar which had all kinds of games in there. So we played this game where you have this circle on a end of string which you have to be able to throw to a hook an a wall. Met some very nice people there as well and got to taste some local cider :)
Next morning we woke up early to make it to the Hamilton pool. Well we did got there this time, even though there was people already waiting for it to open. It was again very beautiful spot surrounded by nature.
After that we had a long drive ahead of us; 10 hours on a road that looked excactly the same for the whole way. After that 10 hours we ended up in El Paso. It was kind of a small town, which is right on border of Mexico and New Mexico. So on the other side there was Mexican city Juarez which has been told to be one of the most dangerous citys. Many people from Juarez come every day to work in El Paso and then head back to Mexico. We did cross the border as well, but didin't go any further than the main street in there.
In El Paso we also got to visit on a shop which made boots. They were making those right there and it was so cool to watch them doing it.
In El Paso we stayed with this guy Alan through couchsurfing and his generosity was something to admire. Unfortunately he was very busy working so didin't got a change to hang with him more, but he was so trusting to give us his keys so we could come and go as we wanted. I wan't to think as well that even though you can find millions of bad things that could happen, but trusting people and their humanity's let's you see how much we have that in the world as well!
Next one would be New Mexico and actually finding route 66 :)
Comments
Post a Comment