Hanging out in Balmorhea

Anna and I took a day off today and to  just hang out. I walked around the campgrounds this morning and checked out the pool. The pool is fed by an underground artisan hot spring that actually begins on the other side of the Apache mountains.  The temperature varies between 72 to 76.  It did not feel all that warm to me but perhaps it is because it has been so cold here and as the pool is huge, there is a lot of surface area.  Anyone taking a swim now would have to share it with a lot of ducks.

This is a picture of a  portion of the middle of the  pool. It actually  branches out quite a ways  on both sides.

We drove into Balmorhea to see if we could find a post office. We hit the jackpot. We not only found the post office but for the very first time we actually found one with a staff working in it.  This was a first for us. We had  been sending postcards to friends our entire trip and since we had no idea how much postage was required we had just been putting two stamps on thinking that that would for sure  be enough for. The lady informed us that we were wrong. How red were our faces when we realized that we had been mailing postcards with insufficient postage? They were very red. Our apologies to those who had to pick up the rest of the postage at the other end.

Balmorhea is a quaint little town and has a lot of interesting buildings so after driving down main street we parked the car and started walking. We came across the dog below yesterday also. He just seemed to be wandering around town looking for a friend.

 

He found one of course, even if just for a little while.

 

This beautiful old stone church looked like it had been standing there forever.

 

We tried a couple times to visit the  store below  but it was never open. The figures you see in the picture are all made out of scrap metal and wire. Someone had a lot of imagination. The figures even have toenails.

 The one on the left seemed to be standing guard.

 

 

The front of the store was  very uniquely decorated. 

 

 

 

The one below is my favorite. It just goes to show that anyone can become an entrepreneur! I love it!

 

 

 

Since tomorrow is my birthday Anna took me out for lunch at "The cutest little restaurant in Balmorhea".

 

 

 

 

It was a Mexican restaurant and the food was excellent. The decor was very nice also.

 

 

 

 

 Even the bathroom was remarkable. I have never seen a sink like this so just had to get a picture of it. I am likely the only person ever to take a picture in their bathroom. I just could not resist.

 

 

 

We decided to catch up on the  laundry and found this charming little laundromat.

 

 

The inside of the place was not nearly so charming as the outside.  The condition and prices of the laundromat left a lot to be desired but at least now we have clean clothes.

 

We finished our day by driving out to Balmorhea Lake.  This is a very popular lake for fishing.

 

The water that flows into the swimming pool at our campsite, also flows into this lake.

 

The  drive back to the campsite gave us a chance to have one last look at the scenery before calling it a day.