August = HOT

Hey! So while I enjoyed the July heat, the August heat is not so cool. It's been over a hundred pretty much everyday, and maybe goes down to 80 in the night. Still... that's really hot. Instead of the pleasant being in a car feeling, it's more like I live in an oven.

Besides the heat though, life in Texas goes on. I spent the first week at an eye conference in San Antonio. It was fun to be in a big city and be with other Air Force optometrist, several right out of school like me. San Antonio has a river walk running through their downtown with lots of places to eat and a few shops. We spent most evenings there, enjoying the range of eating establishments - from authentic mexican cuisine to a British pub to a dueling piano bar.

(riverwalk)

I also got to stop by the Alamo... unfortunately I couldn't get there during the day to check out the basement. ;) I'm glad I don't live in a big city, a little too hectic for me!

I have started noticing some differences that comes with living in Texas (besides all the boots and hats and y'all's). The sky is blue here the majority of the time, like without a cloud in it. It's rare to have gray days. People drive slow in town, but once you get outside of city limits, it's a whole different story. The speed limit changes fast, ranging from 50 to 70mph on the country roads. And people drive fast for the most part. Probably because this state is huge, it's the only way to get from point A to point B in a timely manner. What I like is that the vehicles who chose to go slower are really considerate and get over. Like they drive on the shoulder until you get past. It's so nice. The scenery also changes pretty fast. About 30-40 miles west of here it becomes very lush and green, then a little farther it's dry flat prairie land, then mountains (little ones), and so on. It makes driving more interesting. I did see my first armadillo... he was dead by the side of the road, but I saw one! It was about the size of a raccoon. And while everything in Texas is bigger, the deer are not. I saw a few by the side of the road and they were scraggly and little. Like goat size. Michigan wins for deer!

Today I went north and found a huge wind-turbine field. It was beautiful! I took about a billion pictures of them, which doesn't capture how cool they were up close. I love wind energy. I think it is peaceful.

That's all the Texas updates I've got for now. Maybe I'll jump over to facebook and post some pictures. :)