Sunmart 50km Event and Christmas in The Woodlands

John once again competed in the Sunmart 50km event in Huntsville State Park and finished in a great time of 6hr 50mins – what can I say, his amazing support team (me) helped him over the line - actually it was part of his training schedule for the 100km walk in April next year. He's well on track to zoom through the NZ Trailwalker....... The state park is absolutely beautiful (although it was exceptionally cold!) full of majestic pine trees and a magnificent lake and lots of trails covered with cushy pine needles and numerous boardwalks to keep you above any muddy sections. It’s the perfect setting for a long walk or any walk – very peaceful.












On our journey home to Houston we stopped in The Woodlands, a ‘suburb’ developed in 1973 on 28,000 acres of forest land. What an amazing place – with waterways, sculptures, fountains and of course Christmas lights! We walked around Waterway Park where we met a lovely lady, a Woodlands employee, whose job it is to answer any questions people might have and she filled us in on all the background of this beautiful place and made some suggestions to make our short stay as action packed as possible! So following her advice we jumped aboard the free trolley that drove us through some of downtown and then dropped us at the huge mall where we relaxed over a nice evening meal. We then boarded a water taxi which gave us a very informative guided tour while meandering past all the extraordinary Christmas decorations along the banks of the waterway finishing at the main fountain in Waterway Square. This fountain is similar to the famous Bellagio fountain in Las Vegas (on a much, much smaller scale of course!) and each night the fountain's columns of water do a colorful, choreographed dance with water shooting as high as 75 feet in the air – and at this time of year it dances to Christmas carols – so festive!

We were still 30 miles from Houston so headed home after the wonderful experiences of Hunstville and The Woodlands.