San Antonio part 2

The activities for kids at the Witte Museum gave each a chance to learn about mechanical and electrical properties and principles.

Bike ride

Canal Control

Climbing tree

Tree house

The bike ride is like a zip line while riding a bicycle. The kid pedals in order to back out to the left end, then pedals the other direction to return.









The canal control game has various ways to allow or prevent water from flowing in various directions. Used for irrigation projects.










The climbing tree gives kids a chance to see how well their climbing skills work, with very little risk.

Pulleys

The tree house shows how others may have lived in woodland conditions.









There are three pulley arrangements, using blocks to lower the effort required for lifting. With one block, the effort is halved, but the speed is doubled. With two blocks, the effort is one-third, but the speed is longer still. There is also a three block pulley.








Lots of fun, even to watch.

San Antonio

Stayed in San Antonio for the day. The first visit was to the University of Texas Institute of Texan Culture. It's an amazing place with information and displays about all the cultures/nationalities that contributed to Texas' history. Here's what the museum says about itself: "Visitors to the museum will learn the stories of immigrants from around the globe who settled in Texas and contributed to what is today the 15^th largest economy in the world."

It is quite extensive and has displays that are amazing. It's evident that much effort (and money) went into preparing everything. The Indian section pointed out through numerous displays the various Indian cultures that played a part in Texas' development. The northern part of the state had many characteristics of the Plains tribes, the eastern of the tribes east of the Mississippi, the western of the southeastern New Mexico tribes, and the southern part of the Mexican tribes.

Diorama of Mogollon-like Indians

There was a display of stratigraphy and how it assists in archaeology excavation analysis.

Stratigraphy display

There was an innovative display of the peoples inhabiting the Texas area over the years, showing the year periods and a replica of the spear points used.

Early Peoples

Later Peoples

It's an impressive Institute and moreso because it was funded by the University.

We also went to the Witte Museum. It offers free admission Tuesdays from 3-8. The people in the area know about this, because the lines began forming about 2:45!

Museum entrance

Their exhibits focus on Texas animals, hydrology (exp. the San Antonio river), terrain, birds and more. You can spend an afternoon easily in this museum. There is an additional section designed as a learning tool for kids. There are many mechanical and electronic gadgets that teach principles by trying them out.

Ft. Stockton to San Antonio

The drive to San Antonio was long and uneventful, except for the wind. We've had high winds, with gusts to 45 mph, for the last three days. Last night, when I got in the car, I couldn't keep the car door open long enough to get in, for 30 seconds or so! I'm talking high winds!

The western Texas area has more vegetation than we're used to in Tucson, AZ and NM, but there's little civilization. The ground is covered with white stones, about baseball size. Apparently, the glaciers came down this far, scraping rocks off as they grew and depositing them as they withdrew.

San Antonio has the Alamo and River Walk as attractions.

Entrance to Alamo

This is the entrance to the Alamo. It is maintained by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, which was named by the legislature at the turn of the century to be responsible for the property.

The site has been restored and expanded in the past century and is in remarkably good shape. The walls appear to be the original construction, which, if true, is amazing for a nearly 200 year-old building.

The crucial battle for independence, fought by Texans and assisted by volunteers from many US states as well as some from London, Scotland and Wales, was in 1836. Losing the battle allowed Santa Ana and Mexico to maintain that portion of Texas. Subsequent battles defeated Santa Ana and resulted in cession from Mexico to US of Texas, NM, AZ, CO and CA.

The Gadsden Purchase of 1854 turned over to the US the small slice of AZ that now includes Tucson, Nogales and Yuma. The southwest border of AZ it tilted up *rather than being horizontal) so as to prevent Yuma from becoming a seaport for commerce. Another win for the railroads!

The Alamo today includes exhibits of weapons used in the day, flags of the states from which volunteers came, a model of how the Alamo was shaped at that time and more.

Back of Alamo

The DRT has acquired over the years a sizable portion of ground, which today is a large park, with some buildings, a museum and a store.

The museum used to be the Long Barracks, which held the soldiers and others associated with the fort. Today it is a museum displaying the history of the Alamo, the battles, who was involved and what they wore and fought with.

Long Barracks

The grounds have several Live Oak trees, one of which was particularly interesting because of its extreme breadth and age. Planted in 1905 when it was 40, today it has branched out over a considerable area.

Live Oak

Another attraction in San Antonio is the River Walk. The San Antonio river is channeled into a loop around a portion of downtown. The periphery of the river has been built up with restaurants, bars and other tourist services.

River Walk

One of the fun things you can do is take a boat tour around the river loop. I takes about a half hour.

Boat tour

That's it for tonight!

Carlsbad to Ft. Stockton

Most of today was spent at Carlsbad Caverns. We arrived early, like 8:45 AM, which turned out to be a wise move. The crowds really get thick later in the day.

Admission is modest, $6, but my Golden Age Pass (now called Senior Age Pass) paid for both of us. What a deal! Free into all National Parks and Recreation areas!

You enter the cavern in two possible ways. The more interesting way is through the natural entrance, a big hole in the ground. The cave was originally discovered in 1898  by a guy who saw what he thought was smoke in the distance. As he approached, he realized that the smoke was really thousands of bats exiting the cave. They do this at dusk to pursue insects.

  

The other way is by elevator, a direct shot to the Rest Area, 750 feet below the ground. It only takes about a minute. 

We entered through the natural entrance, which involved descending some 300 feet down a sloping paved path. As you descend farther into the cave, you are relying on the artificial light provided by the lights strategically placed by the park. They are situated so that the light never shines in your face (in contrast to the kids with flashlights!) and artfully display the various formations in the cave.

There are many different types of formations: stalactites (hanging from the ceiling), stalagmites (rising from the ground), columns, soda straws, draperies and more. Here are some examples.

Column

Drapery

Flowstone

Soda straws

Stalactites-stalagmites

The cave from natural entrance to Rest Area is about 1.5 miles and takes an hour or so to get through, depending on how many pictures you take.It takes another hour to go through the Big Room.

The Rest Area is the only place that has bathrooms (below ground) and also offers food, drink and clothing. This is where you take the elevator up to the surface, if you are done touring, or where you meet your tour, if you pony up for a tour. We did the King's Palace tour, which was well worth it. There are many formations, better ones than in the main cavern.

The final step was to get in line to board the elevators. This was about 2 PM and the line was quite long. It took 45 minutes to get through the line waiting to be elevated! As we were leaving to go to our car, there were people just arriving to visit the cave. Little did they know they had perhaps 1 hours to trek through the cave before being kicked out!

We learned that there are 171 known caves in the Guadelupe mountains, one of which is Carlsbad Caverns. Quite amazing!

Fort Stockton is not much of a town. There are many motels, but few nice restaurants. The Army built a fort in the 1860s to protect the citizens against Indian attacks. There was a parade ground and perhaps as many as 8 buildings. It doesn't appear today that there was a wall or other defensive protection, but there must have been. The buildings have been reconstructed and the parade ground probably looks much as it did 130 years ago.

Tucson to Carlsbad

This trip starts in Tucson and ends in Tucson, with stops along the way to Destin, FL, where my granddaughter is to be married June 5. She and her fiance live in Indianapolis, but decided they really like this beach town on the Gulf. So off we go on the 1,800 miles to Destin.

Today's journey took us to Carlsbad, NM. Tomorrow we'll visit the Caverns, which we've been to before, but not for quite a few years. I don't suppose it's changed all that much!

The drive along I-10 was uneventful, thank you very much! We stopped for lunch in El Paso, where the newspaper said they had gone without rain for 114 days. I thought we had it bad in Tucson, but southern New Mexico and that little corner of Texas are brown all over, except where a river is flowing or was some time ago.

Carlbad, NM is a town of motels and gas stations. Surprisingly, the motels have rather high prices, at least the ones we usually stay at. Construction on the main drag through town is at a fever pitch, probably one of the few available jobs other than the Caverns.

The gas prices are lower than Tucson, to my amazement, at $3.44 (plus the ubiquitous 99 cents, of course).The first station I saw with that price had to be cash/debit, I thought, but as we continued driving, almost all stations were charging the same price. We had filled up in El Paso at $3.69, so I wished I had waited. With Carol's car, we get 45 mpg, so the difference in price isn't for all that many gallons.

The first time I came to the Caverns was with my parents, on a 3-week vacation trip. At that time, the cave was not electrified. There was a ranger at the head of the tourists with a flashlight, who would turn on electric lights for a portion of the trail and the ranger at the end of the pack would turn them on as we passed through. The second time here, the cave had been completely electrified and the tour was self-conducted - no rangers needed.

That visit also involved visiting another cave nearby that then was called New Cave. The entry was at a level on the mountain that required making a steep, strenuous climb to the opening. The cave had no lighting and everyone had to bring a large flashlight.

National Geographic has written about a third, more extensive cave called Lechiguilla, which has the most wonderful formations. In order to preserve the formations, the cave has never been open to the public, and probably never will be.

That's all from Carlsbad.

AZ Airplane Expo

Marana Regional Airport hosted an Expo with several airplanes, hoping to sell one or more. I didn't buy anything, resisting the sales pitches manfully!

Cessna had several. All 3 are fixed gear.

Cessna Skylane
159 knots, 20,000 ceiling, 1,000 load
Pilot and 1 passenger

Cessna Corvalis
179 knots, 25,000 ceiling, 1,100 load
Pilot and 1 passenger

Cessna Skycatcher
Pilot and 1 passenger

Beech King Air
300 knots, 35,000 ceiling, 3,800 load
Pilot and 6 passengers (?)

Beech Baron
200 knots, 20,000 ceiling, 1,600 load
Pilot and 5 passengers

Piper Matrix
200 knots, 25,000 ceiling, 1,400 load
Pilot and 3 passengers










The panels on each are about the same - all digital.

Mooney and Cirrus were no-shows. Mooney stopped production and Cirrus is under way to be purchased by a Chinese firm.

I didn't get any prices, but I'd have to win the lottery to buy one, I'm sure!

I asked about hangars. A small one costs $425 per month! Not a cheap hobby! Only feasible if it's used in business and best of all if someone else is paying the bills.