Weather Report

Cold weather has finally arrived. The forecast is for all week. Fortunately I have some winter clothes to wear. This is the holiday season. I am looking forward to celebrating Christmas with family members. Love to all, John.

Looking forward to Christmas

Jamie, our grandson, has been overseas for two years. We are looking forward to seeing him at Christmas time. He will come with his parents, Michael and Katrinka. Nancy will join us from Austin. We also will visit with Arnold and Dorothy Snygg and Cathy and her husband. We will be joined by Bob and Cindy Peterman and Karen and Jack. All in all it will be a family Christmas. Verna will join us on New Year's Day. Love, John.

Thanksgiving

Verna invited a group of us to Austin for Thanksgiving Dinner. Nancy went with me and when we got there Karen and her son Jack were there, and Tania and her daughter. It was a magnificent feast. After it was over I realized that Verna had not eaten any turkey. I asked her about it and she said that she had become a vegetarian. Then I realized that she had cooked the turkey only for us meat eaters. Think about it! She cooked a big meal for us meat eaters.

Santa Elena Canyon

Touring the Big Bend Park is mind blowing, but there is one part of it that is truly unique. That is Santa Elena Canyon. This canyon is a narrow rift between two towering cliffs and is eight miles long. It is 1300 feet deep and still getting deeper. The first group to go through this canyon in a boat was a special expedition in 1875. Several people have died since then while attempting to navigate this narrow canyon. We went down and looked at the entrance, but decided against trying to navigate it. The Rio Grande runs thru this canyon from west to east. This does not keep the river from flowing to the Atlantic. This canyon is thousands of years old.

Back Home

This is Monday night and we just got back from Big Bend. Bob and Cindy Peterman, O.L. Peterman from Maryland and myself. We went on a Star trek at the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis and then went into the Big Bend Park. The chili cookoff in Terlingua was over. I will report on the Observatory and then on the Big Bend. Stay tuned.

Fort Davis

We are off to Fort Davis. The main objective is to visit the McDonald Observatory. They now have four telescopes you can look through. The night tour will accomodate about 12 people at a time. Jupiter still has one volcano that is erupting. You will also be able to see a landscape of Mars and a closeup of our moon. After that we will tour the Big Bend Park, stopping en route to sample some of the chili at the cookoff in Terlingua.