Sometimes there is beauty right in front of you and you don't even know it. I was reminded of this lesson last week during our school vacation. After spending a great week with my brother's family exploring Houston (NASA's Mission Control, George Ranch...), Elisheva and I took the kids last Wednesday for a couple of days to San Antonio, a 3 hour drive west. Who would have thought that one of the most charming cities in the country is sitting right in the middle of the biggest state, which is right in the middle of the country, albeit all the way at the bottom?
We had a great time in San Antonio. The kosher restaurant (Green) was very good. We went to the top of the Tower of the Americas, shopped at the Mexican Mercado, got our Texas pride thing in (that is really big around these parts) by visiting The Alamo, and enjoyed strolling through the artist colony at La Vilitta. But the two best parts of our trip, the Riverwalk and the Natural Bridge Caverns, really brought home the idea that sometimes, if you dig a little beneath the surface, you can find hidden gems.
San Antonio is not a huge city. But what makes it special is that below street level there is a river, shaped like a horseshoe, that wraps throughout the city, with cafes and shops surrounded by beautiful trees (which they light up at night) on either side. So while the city moves up above, just a few steps down you enter a scenic, peaceful, environment (at least this time of year when the temperatures are cooler and the crowds sparser). We took a boat tour around the river and saw the sights, and enjoyed walking around as well. The arched walking bridges over the river were a great place to just hang out and do some people watching. So in the middle of a small city in the middle of the Southwest, beneath street level, is one of the most beautiful spots in the country.
On our way home we drove a little north towards Austin (another city we have heard great things about but have not yet visited), and stopped at the Natural Bridge Caverns. This is basically a huge set of underground caves that take about an hour to walk through, which are full of the most beautiful stalagmites and stalactites you can imagine. These caverns, which you have to visit to really understand just how incredibly massive and beautiful they are, were just sitting there, growing more impressive with each drop of water, until they were discovered by 4 college kids back in the 1960's. It was an incredible tour and once again reminded me of the beauty that often lies right beneath the surface if we are willing to do a little mining.
You see, often we tend to make quick judgments, surface level ones, without even giving the person, the place, or the opportunity a chance. I'm sure many of us have felt at times that others didn't fully appreciate our own abilities or potential as well. Imagine for a moment if each of us wore a miner's helmet, flashlight attached, and began each day with the attitude that we were looking for greatness, that we would dig for it, work for it, sometimes even get dirty in order to find it. I bet you we would find hidden gems all around us, and maybe even in ourselves. Digging beneath the surface isn't always easy. But as we were reminded last week Deep in the Heart of Texas, there is great reward for those who are willing to try it.
