I have moved around a bunch and have lived in many different regions. Some of those residences have been in areas where the weather can often be unfriendly; on the cold side. Northern Germany, Idaho, Eastern Washington and Alaska. All wonderful and their changing seasons always pleased me.

Since my arrival in San Antonio, while there have been a few epic rainstorms, the weather has leaned towards, hot, sunny and humid. I'm not against those things, of course, but the frequency of the hot days and days in which I sweat too much come far too often for my taste. When the recent chilly days passed through and brought some early morning fog, I headed to the downtown canyons to take a peek.

Had I gotten downtown earlier, I'm certain that the fog and mist would have been even stronger. Despite my tardiness, it was still a treat to see the tops of the bigger buildings obscured by the low clouds. With such shallow cover, city noises seemed to be dampened. There's a strange type of echo where the noises roll a bit then get swallowed up by the void. It's eerily comforting.

I'm not certain if it was this phenomenon that kept the city's visitors speaking in hushed tones or simply the less-than-postcard-perfect weather but those that were out in the morning light seemed almost reverential to nature.

You'd think it odd coming from a California boy but too much sun bogs me down. I get headaches from the light flares, I don't handle prolonged heat well and, this is unproven, there's something about living in harsh, cold environments that toughens people up and weeds out the weak and silly. Where you find heat and sunshine, you'll find more people. Where you find chill, fog and sleet, you'll cross paths with folks that either HAVE to be out in it or WANT to be in it. I want to be in it.

Now, a bit of fog on a 53 degree morning isn't like haddock fishing in Alaska but it was sufficiently out of the ordinary that it seemed reason enough to make a trip to the concrete canyons of downtown San Antonio

And what canyons they are. It seems that as the city grew, the low, flat plains made it more worthwhile to build the newer, taller buildings outside of the city center. It seems that most of the buildings from the early part of the 20th Century have been left intact and the ones added to it seem to have a similar feel and look to them. Everywhere you look, you see the familiar orange stones. Very seldom will you see sleek marble or shiny steel. Sure, here and there but it seems rather tastefully done.

I dare to say that many of these buildings are on historic registers. There is certainly a large number of history plaques about, more per Sq/ft than I've seen in the US. Seeing as the city is approaching its 300th anniversary, that's understandable. So much richness!

And lastly ... don't forget to look up!

A Foggy Morning Walk