Greetings From San Miguel De Allende, Mx

What a great spot on our blue planet this is!  The bus ride down from San Antonio turned out just fine. Before I left Denver a friend of mine (Jill) said she'd be praying for me, I thanked her and requested that besides for my safety etc. she pray that I have a seat on the bus ride by myself.  Well, prayers were answered beyond my wildest dreams, the bus had only five passengers the entire 18 hour ride!  The border crossing went well, no bribes required, no drug war violence seen, and we pulled into San Miguel just about on time.  Busses in Mexico are a good way to go. They are modern, clean, spacious, comfortable and show movies!
San Miguel is a lovely town of around 130,000, set on a hillside, cobblestones streets line with beautifully colored stucco buildings, dotted with deeply shaded plazas, churches, markets, galleries, cafes, and a corner Starbucks, where I am now to hop on the net to make this post. Lest you thinks its full of other gringo chain outlets its not, just this one Starbucks.

La Casa, Michele on the Front Porch

My cousin Michele and her husband John have been coming down here from St Paul, Mn for more than 20 years, gradually building a home here on a peaceful bit of acreage about 20 miles outside of town.  It's finished now and my aunt and I are now lucky to be roommates in the guest quarters.  She and I are sitting here together so I won't go on too long with this post, not wishing to be rude. So enjoy the photos, there's a lot to photograph here!

The Art Museum Of San Antonio

The Museum is a great example of reuse of a historic building, in this case a Texas icon, The Lone Star Brewery.  Prohibition rendered the brewery economically inviable and by the 60's it was abandoned. Fortunately for San Antonio a decision was taken to renovate it as a museum. I spent a good three hours there yesterday, exploring the art and architecture. A big surprise was their collection of Greek and Roman statuary.

Greetings From San Antonio, Texas

Flew down here yesterday on Frontier Airlines (a bargain at $81), took the city bus ($1.25) to The Bullis House Hostel/ B & B ($25).   I'm staying here in San Antonio, trying to figure out how to take a bus down to San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico.  So far it's a bit obscure.   My cousin Michele and her husband and my aunt spend winters down there, and I'm going for a visit (if I figure out how to get there!)  The Bullis House was built in 1909 for US Army General Bullis, Fort Sam Houston is across the street, and it's quite a grand house, in somewhat of a transitional neighborhood. Last year at this time I was on the Queen Mary 2, on this day docked in Muscat, Oman, heading to Hong Kong.  This year, quite a different deal!  
My cousin Seanna  came from SM de A to here just last week on the bus, but the bus co that she took says that even though they come here from there they don't go there from here!   How that works I can't even imagine.  Fortunately two of Seanna's boys live here, and I'll hook up with them tonight and together we'll figure this out!

In any case, two weeks from now I have a ticket from Leon (2 hours from SM de A) to Houston on Aeromexico ($221).    You may ask why I didn't just fly from Denver to SM de A.  Very expensive, and a completely bizarre schedule, over night in both directions.   I have no particular desire to see Houston, but New Orleans is a short Amtrak ride away, so I'll spend a long weekend there, then on Weds. 16 Feb I have a sleeper lined up on the Sunset Limited going all the way to Los Angeles- two nights all meals included for $350.  The Sunset Limited is America's longest operating train, since 1894 and travels NO to LA via Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.   I like the train!   In LA I'll stay with my brother and sister for a bit, and may work at my brother Brian's house on a small addition.    Wish me luck!

Three More Denver Images

Next Week It's Big Air, 110 Foot Tall Ski Jump In Civic Center Park, Denver

Daniel Libeskind Designed Denver Art Museum

Denver Is Too A Cow Town

Another View Forward

Back Out On The Atlantic, A Stormy November Day Inside And Out Onboard QM2

Illuminations is the planetarium/ lecture hall/ movie theater on board, and is quite beautiful and popular

QM2 Tonight Departing Fort Lauderdale As If In A Dream

Views Of Downtown Denver On A Sunny Snowmelting Kind Of Day

View From The Chairlift At Echo Park, A Small Area Just 35 Miles West Of Denver

Christmas Lingers On At The House In Lakewood, We Exchanged Gifts There Just Last Night, Went Skiing Today

Happy New Year To All

The light in Denver is most certainly crisp today, as is the vegetation. After a frigid start to the New Year, it's sunny in the 30's today so not too bad!    These photos I took downtown today.   Cheers!