As we drove across the wide expanse that is Texas, we made time to swim at Balmorhea State Park. This was a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) project to build the world's largest (3.5 million gallons) swimming pool fed by the San Solomon Springs. The water was crystal clear and refreshing. Most exciting was that there were fish and turtles in the pool swimming alongside us. We snorkelled and swam around before showering in the bathhouses and heading on our way.
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| Good morning from the Texas oil fields. |
We continued our drive. Drive, drive, drive. We listened to an interesting podcast by the Washington Post on national parks called Field Trip to help pass the time. We recommend.
Eventually we arrived at the Caverns of Sonora. We just did a cave tour yesterday but this one sounded too good to pass up. The Caverns of Sonora is ranked as one of the premier show caves in the country, known for having over 95% of the cave still actively growing, featuring an astonishing density of rare helictites, stalactites, and stalagmites. It was indeed astonishing. While I remain loyal to Carlsbad Caverns, the boys flipped their loyalties deciding that the Caverns of Sonora is tied with Diamond Caverns in Kentucky as the best cave in the USA.
Sonora was completely jam packed with calcite crystals in concentrations and formations that we have not seen in any other caves on this trip. The cave was well developed with stairs, metal handrails, concrete pathways and electric lighting and was extraordinarily preserved. Very few of the cave formations were broken and we saw rare formations like dog-tooth spar, amazingly long soda straws, coral trees, and fish tail helictites. Wow. It was incredible and absolutely worth the stop.
