Spelunking The Most Beautiful Cave In The World

 

All roads in Arizona lead to Tucson – at least for me. I lucked out again and got a site at Catalina State Park which is nestled up against the Catalina Mountains. I had been hearing for years about the Mt Lemon scenic drive which goes up the backside of the Catalinas. Scenic drive is right. You start off in the desert and within an hour you have ascended almost 8000 feet into pine country. In fact, at the top of Mt Lemon, there is a ski resort. The ski resort and the restaurants were all closed up on top, but the drive itself was worth it. Half of the time you are driving along, looking down out of the passenger side at certain death , the cliffs are so high. The other half of the drive, you are nestled up tight against the cliff walls that rise up hundreds of feet. I must mention that I also got to see my Cousin Ann one more time which was, as always, most enjoyable.

Those gorgeous Catalinas

See the road way down there wrapping around the HooDoo?

I must mention that I also got to see my Cousin Ann one more time which was, as always, most enjoyable.

The first night after I left Tucson, I made it as far as Deming, New Mexico. I spent the night at a rest stop along the interstate. This rest stop was rather unique in that they had places for campers to spend the night that were pullouts away from the general rest stop busyness that rest stops are. Not only that, but each pullout had a little shelter that housed a picnic table. It felt like having an extra room.

Boy, Texas is big. My son told me that if you drive from El Paso, the westernmost city in Texas to the Pacific Ocean, crossing three states and ending up at the Pacific Ocean that it will take about the same amount of time as driving straight across the great state of Texas from El Paso to Houston in the east. Crazy.

After driving for several days (it seemed longer than that), I ended up at the Caverns of Sonora in Sonora Texas. It is a National Natural Landmark and they had RV sites where we could camp. It was literally a five minute walk from my campsite to the cave's entrance. I had to laugh when I read a quote about the cave - “This is the most indescribably beautiful cave in the world, its beauty cannot be exaggerated, not even by a Texan” It might not be the most beautiful cave in the world, but it comes pretty darn close. Of course my pictures do not do it justice. 

Peafowl Krewe

Bossman and his Minions
It was so windy there that he had trouble walking with that big tail of his.
It kept blowing him off course.

Bacon Ribbons
Seriously that is what they called these types of formations

This was sort of spooky - coming around a corner and having a face leering at you.

This is a clear pool of water with a green bottom.  
Before the cave was protected,people would throw pennies in the pool
which turned the pool bottom green