Franklin Mountains State Park, El Paso, TX

No photos for this one, because we didn't have our cameras yesterday and forgot them today. Yesterday we drove up into McKeligon Canyon, part of Franklin Mountains State Park, which was very beautiful. There's a really nice amphitheater up there where they do productions such as Viva El Paso! There is also a venue for having major parties, plus picnic areas. The amazing thing to me was the number of different flowers blooming.

Today we went back to the Franklin Mountains State Park, this time on Trans Mountain, and hiked a short way up the Smuggler's trail. Once again, what we saw was just amazing. At least half a dozen varieties of daisies, plus several other things, such as flax, wild radish, verbena, a low bush that had Phacelia type inflorescences, and a white-flowered bush. The most surprising to me was a true fern, which was easily identifiable as Astrolepis cochisensis ssp. cochisensis.

Walking this trail revealed the amazing variety of plants that survive and thrive in a desert environment. The mountains that look barren from a distance are anything but.

We also had a bird sighting: an orange-crowned warbler. This trail is definitely worth a visit.

Big Bugs Exhibit - San Antonio Botanical Garden

The Big Bug exhibit runs between September 6 and December 6, 2009, and is well worth seeing. We have seen it twice and it looks like we'll be seeing it again this Saturday. The artistry of the work is wonderful. All of them are made of wood - including the spider web, which has been stained and varnished. Despite the construction material and the size, they are very accurate depictions of the insects (and spider). We are very much looking forward to our third visit within a month.

San Antonio Botanical Garden 2009 Part 1

There were far too many photos for one episode of the blog, so I'm doing a second part. That doesn't jive with the title of this episode; the problem is that I uploaded the later photos first, and the earlier ones later. Sorry about the confusion.

One comment to give perspective: the lizard in the photo was maybe 2-1/2 inches long. Cute little guy!

San Antonio Botanical Garden 2009 Part 2

We spent parts of September 17 and 18 at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. The first day it was Harry and I; the second day we had kids and grandkids with us.

The botanical garden is an amazing place. Even in mid-September there was a profusion of blooms, including many things I don't recall seeing before. This despite the drought San Antonio has been experiencing. There were some places where this showed, most notably the dry fountains. The lake in the area showcasing the different regions of Texas appeared to be pretty much unaffected.

Besides all the gorgeous flower displays, there was plenty of wildlife to watch. There was the squirrel who was in a tree above us when we stopped to rest on a bench for a few minutes, who was eating a nut & dropping pieces on Harry's head. There was a great egret who was just hanging around at the lake, staying very visible. There were fish in the lake, turtles (mostly red sliders) that would come around looking for handouts, along with the usual ducks and other common birds - even eastern cardinals, which I really don't expect to see in Texas.

The garden has a special display going through mid-December of Big Bugs, which warrants a separate blog entry. The botanical garden has become my favorite place to visit in San Antonio.