World of Pots: My Great America Tour

My trip to the US sometimes in December 2011 brought back a lot of fond memories. My son was working in Texas then. My wife and I visited him and together we set off for a tour that brought us from Texas to New Mexico then Houston where we boarded a plane home on boxing day. Places we visited and activities carried out: the Airforce Museum, George Bush Museum, Metour Crater Museum, Carlsbad Caverns, McDonald Observatory, Monahans Sandhills Park, Big Bend Museum and National Park, the Alamo and Japanese Garden in San Antonio, the 5 Spanish Missions in San Antonio, factory outlets in San Marco, Capitol Building in Austin, NASA, the San Jacinto Monument and the Battleship Texas BB-35 in Houston, also attended a Christmas service at Lakewood Church in Houston, finally did some Christmas shopping before heading home from Houston international airport. One place worth mentioning (although all places we visited are interesting and exciting) or rather the highlight of this tour is the Big Bend National Park. The place is vast and full of nature, I mean not spoilt by human hands (in terms of development and the things you find in cities). If you like nature, this is definitely the place to visit. All you need to do is to hire a car and you are free to go wherever you want, stop at the place you want and stay as long as you want. There is no tour guide to hurry you from place to place.There are a few mountain trails that we really enjoyed hiking. It was so full of fun. You have got to be there to experience it. Do you know, the scenes you see in western cowboy films where the red Indians chasing the cowboys on horses, they were all shot here( where they called it the wild wild west). They sure needed such a vast place for all this chasing and gun-fighting. Somewhere in one of the mountain trail, you are sure to meet up with a singing Mexican (a local icon with a great voice) selling souvenirs there. You will be amazed at his singing ability. He appeared many times on You Tube, looks like he has become a celebrity in his own right.

Another great place in the tour is Carlsbad Caverns, a journey underground, some 1037 feet below the surface. We had to drive through the Chihuahuan Desert of the Guadalupe Mountains, rugged mountains and broad plains with cactus everywhere, before reaching the cavern. We knew as we entered the cavern, we would be away from sunlight and the flowering cactus and headed straight into the underground world of gigantic subterranean chambers, fantastic cave formations, and the extraordinary features. We really had no idea what to expect as we walked, crawled and climbed down into the darkness, the wonders of Carlsbad Caverns. As we explored further into the caverns, we passed many large and famous features, like the Bottomless Pit, Giant Dome, Rock of Ages and Painted Grotto. After lunch, we explored the remaining places like Bat Cave , Devil's Spring, Greenlake Overlook, etc. We needed one full day for the trip and were dear tired by the time we reached home. Quite an experience indeed.

When we were at San Antonio, we visited the Alamo, once served as the home to missionaries and their Indian converts.San Antonio and the Alamo played a critical role in the Texas Revolution. We heard of the story of how the Texans holding the Mexican troop until the last man in their 13 day struggle to defend the Alamo from being capture by the Mexicans. Although they lost their lives, this event finally led to the independence of Texax from the Mexican through the Texan Revolution. Beside the Alamo, we took a boat ride on the waterways or canals in the morning. During evening we went back to the same place to take photos. Since it was December, there was Christmas lighting everywhere along the waterways.

You may say sight seeing is tiring. But this was nothing compared to shopping when we were the factory outlets in San Marcos Premium Outlets. There we went from shops to shops looking for those bargain deals, shops like Levis, Cough, Kate Spade, Gucci, etc. By night fall, we were carrying 3 to 4 bags on each hand. Never mind the price, just buy first as you can always return the goods later if you don't like them, a law in the US to protect the consumers.

NASA the Johnson Space Centre, the San Jacinto Monument and the Battleship Texas were the other interesting places to visit in Houston. Will update later.

Here are some photos and video clips for sharing