San Antonio

My trip to San Antonio last week was a success. At first I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to see everything that I wanted to, but when I thought about it a little more I think I did pretty well considering that I had to sit in a meeting room from 8-4:30 on Tuesday through Thursday. I got overstuffed on barbecue, saw the Alamo, went to the art museum, went on a ghost tour with a group including one seriously stoned chick, had the best homemade corn tortillas I've ever had, went to both local brewpubs (can you believe there are only two? But that beats Dallas by two!), and saw four mission churches from the 1700's.

I also squeezed in a couple of workouts, and the work part was fairly interesting. It was also interesting to see how much more that Spring has sprung down there, but I guess being 300 miles further south will do that.

Bird Time

In addition to pear blossoms, I also got to see a couple of cool birds last week. The first was a pair of bluebirds. Unfortunately in the photo you can't really see the blue color since I was pretty much looking at him from the front.

A split second after this photo, the bird took off in a big hurry. I wasn't sure why until I saw a hawk come swooping low overhead. Don't worry, he got away in time.

Then last Friday morning I heard an owl behind my house. I hear them from time to time, but the only other time I tried to get a photo of one it flew away as soon as I opened my back door. This time I was able to get a photo. Made me late to work, but it was worth it.

Snow Redux

This was quite the surprise - we got more snow last night. Actually, they had been forecasting snow on Saturday for a couple of days, but seeing as how the high temperature on Friday was 73 degrees I really wasn't expecting much more than flurries or a dusting. It turned out to be several inches! I was actually mowing my yard on Friday night because some of the weeds were starting to get a bit tall. I've actually seen snow falling here on April 1st, and one year it snowed on Easter, but I've never seen this amount of snow so late in the season. Weird.

Pear Blossoms

Damn I'm having a hard time keeping up with posting to this blog. But I'll keep on trying.

There's a blossoming pear tree that I've been wanting to take some photos of, and today I finally got around to snapping a few.

The Gorge

Another place that I knew I wanted to visit while I was in Oregon was the Columbia River Gorge. I drove through there on my one prior visit a number of years ago, and it left a big impression on me. It's an impressive place, especially to a flatlander like me. I find the geologic history of this area fascinating as well.

The whitecaps are a clue as to how windy it was up here. I was very glad that there was a wall keeping me from blowing away.