Xalapa to the Hill Country (Orizaba to Texas)

Greetings all, glad you could join in the fun.
We just wanted to include a bit more of the sights around Xalapa, Veracruz and then on to good ole Texas.
The following are a few pics of the fantastic gardens found in Xalapa.
This garden is the sister garden of Fairchilds in S. Florida.
I hear they have the largest collection of pine trees in Mexico. (click on pics to enlarge)....

 

 This garden is right in central and is loaded with palms and huge sycamores. 

 

Can you find the zip-liner??

 

From another park on a mountaintop we snapped this photo of Pico de Orizaba looming above all in the far distance.

(Back in the USA) First camp spot in the Hill Country of Texas ....
Garner state park and the Frio River...

The Frio River is lined with huge old cypresses.....

Second spot was sort of a strange place called Utopia along the banks of the Sabinal River.....

And then on to Lost Maples State park.

Lost Maples has some nice hiking along big boulders. We even saw our first porcupine! Didn't know they were such great tree climbers (sorry no picture of the little critter though)

Our pasta diner one night was laced with these fresh pink pine nuts from back in Mexico. Allot of work but yummmmmy!

We had timed our trip through the Hill country just right (Apr-May), as the wildflowers were in full bloom.....

Our 4th spot was at Kerrville-Schreiner Park, just outside the town of Kerrville. One day in Kerrville the ole Vanagator had a big kiss with a telephone pole, which sent the bike rack clear thru the rear window into the bed! We ended up staying here about a month waiting for a new window sent from California. All in all, not a bad place to hang out for awhile.

It's right near the beautiful Guadalupe River. Great day for a swim!

It's a nice town with a round library a few miles from the park.....

The town also has a nice nature center along the river. It has a nice collection of plants and trees and uhhhhhh...

We slowly pulled out of Kerrville on our 25th anniversary with some some fond memories....and a new back window!


Excited to return to Mexico, we went through ole Hondo, Texas where you better slow down.....

The Hill country surprisingly proved to be a very beautiful place. Not the kind of scenery one would expect to find in Texas. Huge cypress trees along some really nice rivers, hills, long horn steer and incredible wild-flowers.
Well, until the next post y'all.....