For lunch today we went about 3/4 of the way to the top of this mountain that they call chipinque. It is sort of like a state park. There is a hotel at about 5000 feet. The food was pretty good, the atmosphere was very rustic. The inside of the main dining room was basically like a log cabin type construction.
The view was pretty decent. Even on such a hazy day. Some of the houses that line the hills on the way up are very incredible. Somebody down here is making a lot of cash. I just realized that this is not the picture I wanted to upload. Too late now, I don’t want to fix it.
What surprised me the most about this place was all of the oak trees that you see once you get a few thousand feet up. There are not too many big trees in Monterrey. I assume that none of the trees you see are hardwoods. But, there are oaks everywhere on chipinque. I am not sure what variety of oak they are, the leaves are a lot different than anything I have seen in the midwest.
I think that it was about 15 degrees cooler up there than it was in the city today. Very comfortable. If you need a place to stay in Monterrey, but don’t want to stay in the city, I recommend the hotel. There is a nice playground for the kids and the trail that goes to the top of the mountain is very close.