Mountains, mountains and more mountains ...

I've been enjoying our last few weeks here.  We've taken several interesting day trips.  Also, had some pleasing times here in town.  For instance, yesterday was extra special.  The Church of Christ here in Ft. Davis had a community lunch following everyone's church services.  All churches in town begin services at 11 a.m. so it works out well.  It's an annual thing they tell us.  In Ft. Davis there are Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Church of Christ, Catholics, and a non-denominational cowboy church.  They served smoked brisket and ribs!  Yum!!!  Helpings were generous and everything was delicious.  (I'd love to have the recipe for the potato casserole they served!)  And the desserts were pretty special, too.  As we were leaving I stuck my head into the kitchen to give my thanks and regards to the head chef (who did the smoking) and asked him if he was from their church (COC); he said, no, he was a PresbyMethoBaptaEne!  Got a good laugh out of that!  It was a fun day.  Met some very interesting people, too, sharing lunch with two very interesting couples.  God is good!

It started raining after we got back to our rental and it's been raining, lightly, ever since.  They really need it here.  There's a burn ban in effect and it's posted everywhere.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be clear and we're going up the the MacDonald Observatory for the day.

Well, here's some of the places we've been with just a small selection of pictures.  I must say, I have tons of pictures from most of these places though ... Don't want to bore you with all of them of course, so here goes.

We took a hike at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center & Botanical Garden.  Here's looking east toward Mitre Peak from a rocker on their back porch.  They have a really neat desert garden trail which we took and a great bird watching blind that we enjoyed.  Their cactus green house is unique and I took tons of pictures in there!

We toured a mining exhibit at the nature center which was sort of interesting if just for the rock samples alone.  Here's the recreated casa dinamito (dynamite house).

I've gotta show you two interior shots of the best business in town, BeaTea. K.  I've been there two times now and have my eye on one more thing to bring home with me ... so I gotta go back!  It's just packed with neat 'stuff'!  I did buy a lovely piece of hand-dyed fabric from Kenya.

A side room at BeaTea. K.  I LOVE the coiled laundry hampers!!!

We went to Valentine one day.  The drive was enjoyable.  Not much there but I thought this church was special.  Other than the school, it's about the nicest building in this small, dying town.  Saw four really beautiful quail right before I took this picture but they scattered into the desert before I could take their picture. 😩

One day we went to Fort Davis State Park which is about 3-4 miles out of town.  Went up what they call the Skyline Drive.  Wow!  And I must add I've used the word "wow" so many times Wendell is probably sick of hearing it.  The panoramic view from up there is amazing.  Wow!  The tall mountain is Mt. Livermore.  And the small white 'smudge' is their large adobe pueblo-style inn.  Wow!

Looking south from the old CCC shelter at the end of Skyline Drive in Fort Davis State Park.  When we got back to the bottom of the mountain, we went into the Interpretive Center and enjoyed a film about the CCC in America during the Great Depression.

A very eclectic antiques shop in Alpine in an old home.  Front view.  I took lots of pictures here!  Ended up buying an old canteen that we found on the front porch.  Cool!

Another pic inside this antiques shop.  Lots of western ware!  We spent a lot of time here!

Another shot inside the antiques shop; I was especially taken with this unusual rock fireplace (actually, every room had a fireplace).  Outside the chimneys were the same material that was inside, so this chimney was this white stone, another adobe brick, another plain red brick, etc.  Unique! 

Well, I'll stop here.  Probably post just a little more later in the week.  We'll be preparing to leave for home late in the week.  Say a prayer and send us positive thoughts for our trip back to Indiana!  I'll probably be ready by the time we get packed ...  know what I mean?  😃