Almost home

The last wildlife we will see is Texas wildlife. Here are the horses on Tom's place. They are so beautiful and look so peaceful grazing.

The drive into Texas was uneventful as you might imagine if you've ever driven through West Texas. It is flat, brown and nothing to break the monotony of the terrain except anticipation of a visit with the Bristow family.

Mindy LOVED Tom's place! She ran and ran! She was free! We were worried a couple of times that she might be lost because she was running so far away...out of sight. But after a while she would come running in with a big smile on her face (yes, dogs can smile!)

We had a wonderful visit with Tom and Henrietta. Luckily, Laura was off Tuesday and Wednesday so was able to spend time with us. Matt was off Wednesday too so we had a rousing game of Hand and Foot in the afternoon. It was so good to be with family again.

Addie was adorable, as usual and kept us entertained.

Today we will drive on to Meridian and visit with Bill's aunt and cousin. We haven't seen them since Wyatt's wedding three years ago. We are really looking forward to visiting with them tomorrow. Then HOME!! Sleeping in our own bed again...showering in our own shower...cooking in my new kitchen again AND seeing our kids and grandkids! Life is good!

This has been the best trip of our lives and we have done some amazing things and seen how spectacular our country is. Thanks for sharing our first RV adventure with us.

Carlsbad and beyond

Carlsbad was really wonderful. It was much more developed and commercialized than I remembered but Bill assured me that it is normal after 50 years for things to change. Thanks, I needed that! Anyway, there were now 6 different tours you could take. Three guided tours that were all sold out or three self-guided tours. We elected to take the lower tour where you take the elevator down 800 feet and tour down there and then take the elevator back up. Otherwise you could walk the tour that descended 800 feet in about a mile. Either one would be beautiful but the easier one sounded better for our tired old bones!

This picture is "the Lion's tail". It is a natural formation that gets bigger at the bottom. Really nice.

This formation is a huge column that is shown in most pictures of Carlsbad. It is huge! The light in these pictures is without a flash. I hate to use a flash when it bothers everyone around you trying to enjoy the wonderful sights with the lights they have artfully placed. Sadly, not everyone shared my view and several flashes from other cameras blinded us for short periods.

These formations are called draperies. They are so graceful and hang in folds just like fabric but they are translucent, white and with the lights behind them almost glow. These are my favorites.

I said that Carlsbad is much like Cathedral Caverns outside Huntsville but 10 times bigger. Now I realize that 100 times bigger is more like it. It's a wonder I have any breath left after so many breath-taking things we have seen in the last couple of months. I am a little sad to see then end of this trip but at the same time am getting anxious to be home.

I couldn't leave New Mexico without eating a Lotaburger!! I remember those from when I was a kid in Albuquerque. I programmed Lottaburger into the GPS and came up blank so I figured that it was gone like so many other things there. Notice the difference in spelling? Well, on the highway in Carlsbad there it was! It was close to dinner time (well, it was close enough!) so we had a Lotaburger after all and it was as good as I remembered! Life is good!

We drove to Abilene today, not on the interstate. As we neared the end of our drive on 180 we came upon mile after mile of beautiful windmills. I took many pictures from the moving motor home so they aren't the best pictures. Try clicking on the picture to see it bigger. Last summer Clem was working on these very windmills! Wow. I saw them through different perspective thinking of him on top of one. Very cool.

Tomorrow we will get to Ferris to visit Tom and his family for a couple of days. Family time!! I'm looking forward to that!

Aliens

Today we drove from Albuquerque to Roswell and then on to Carlsbad. It was a nostalgic drive for us because we drove this route many times while Tom was a student at NMMI. Clines Corners is where you turn toward Vaughn and the road from Vaughn to Roswell is long, straight and boring! There is absolutely nothing to see and the road is absolutely straight. When I was in high school and Tom was a cadet I would load the car with girls and go to the dances in Roswell. It made Tom and me both very popular! Him because I brought dates for his friends and me because the dances were nice and Tom provided dates for all my friends.

This GPS scene stayed the same for miles and miles! No turns, to houses or towns and not many cows to see. So while I have this picture with not much to say about it I will tell you that Bill and I spent our honeymoon in Roswell and even went to a dance the night we got married. Then the next day we went back to Albuquerque and he went back to work (he was a PFC in the Army stationed at Sandia Base). Those were the days, my friend!

I thought you may not believe the GPS so I took this picture out the front window. See? Nothing to see! The only thing to break the pattern were the three trains that were going by so I took a picture of that. It is always pretty to see the LONG trains on the flat mesa.

Here's the train. Move on down the page and you will see the UFO Museum. It was pretty cool. All new since we used to go to Roswell. Back in the 60's nobody talked about the UFOs or mentioned them at all. I thought maybe it was too soon after the event but Clem said they just hadn't figured out that they could make a buck from it yet. He's probably right.

This is a building at the New Mexico Military Institute. I put it in for Tom. He will remember it. NMMI has grown (hasn't everything!) It is still a beautiful place.

Okay, I skipped to the good stuff. Here is photographic evidence of UFOs. The museum has lots of pictures and newspaper articles and hand written statements from people who have been abducted. It even has a wall dedicated to removing alien implants people have turned up with. I took lots more pictures but I will only put a couple here. You get the idea.

This little guy was the last thing we saw. They don't pretend it's real but it is kinda cute.

Tomorrow we will tour the caverns and go to a park close by. I'll have lots of pictures of those.

We are getting closer to home and home is sounding really good to me.

Albuquerque

It's been very strange to be back in Albuquerque and see the differences that have occurred since I was here last. It's been a long time but still I wasn't prepared for so many of my favorite places to be gone...not just changed but gone! I went to high school here and a bit of college at UNM. Both schools are still here but vastly changed. Bill and I met at a drug store where I worked and it is gone. Our first apartment is gone, I mean the whole building is gone. The hospital where Clem was born is gone. Sandia Base has been taken over by Kirtland Air Force Base and so many of the old buildings have been erased and new ones built in their place. I knew it wouldn't be the same but still it is strange to see that so many things are just gone.

The picture above is a petroglyph. There is a whole park devoted to the many petroglyphs that have been found and now are part of a national monument on the northwest end of town. We lived here for years and never heard a word about petroglyphs! Anyway, it is interesting to see and we spent some time in the park.

This is Sandia Mountain as viewed from across town. It is still beautiful! They didn't change the mountain, by golly! When I was a kid it was what anchored me. We lived just at the base of the mountain so if I headed toward the mountain I knew I would get home! I have no sense of direction so it was helpful to me.

When we went up on the mountain Mindy finally found some wildlife that she could chase. It was a squirrel and she had a great time barking and chasing it up the tree. What a hunter!

This is the sign at the entrance to our rv park. It is so typically New Mexican that I loved it. The sun symbol is what I expected to be on the welcome sign at the border but instead there was a string of chili peppers. What? This is what should be on the welcome sign.

The sign leading to Sandia Crest is really classy. The cut metal signs are so popular in the west and we have seen some really nice ones at ranch entrances. The ram in this sign is beautiful but I don't think there are any big horn sheep in the whole state. It's pretty anyway.

We went searching for a couple of ghost towns that we used to go to many years ago. Even that has changed. Golden, which was an old mining ghost town with quite a few old houses and stores now has new houses and residents! Madrid, which used to have a few people but was mostly a ghost town, is now a bustling tourist trap. Lots of artsy crafty stores and taverns. Very cool.

It has been interesting to see Albuquerque. It's a wonderful city but has no resemblance to my old hometown. I guess I couldn't expect it to stay the same...I didn't.

Oops!

Okay. It hasn't been our best day. We pulled in to get gas just fine. When we pulled out there was a cement barrier that caught on the back, bottom door and bent it out. We managed to get free and pulled around back to assess the damage. We were able to remove the door and secure everything inside that compartment and be on our way. We will worry about getting the door fixed later (maybe in Dallas or even wait till we get home).

The mountains changed so much in a few miles and we saw all these "almost" caves! The rock was almost white which was such a change from the reds and yellows we have seen lately. It was beautiful and I began to get excited about being back in New Mexico! It's been years since I was here and I am anxious to see some of our old haunts.

Oh, shoot. I see that I reversed the pictures but I don't want to take the time to fix that. See below where we successfully entered New Mexico. The sign was different than I was expecting but still nice. When we came to the welcome center it was closed! No NM information or welcome from a nice worker to welcome us back to our old stomping grounds! Oh well. We stopped in Gallup and will go into Albuquerque early tomorrow. It will still be good to see it again.

Interesting day. Everything is fine and LIFE IS GOOD!

Oops! I deleted the New Mexico sign. I won't fix that either. It's been a long day and I am going to sit still until time for bed and let tomorrow be a better day.

Car Show on Route 66

This is just a small sample of the awesome cars we saw at the car show. I put more Fords on than others for Buddy. There were several for sale, even a beautifully restored old Mustang that I will buy for him when we win the lottery (it has to be the really BIG lottery, though). It was nice. Mindy and Bill made friends up and down the street while I snapped pictures.

Have you heard that Obabama will be here tomorrow to see the Grand Canyon? We are leaving in the morning, hopefully before he gets here with all the traffic tie-ups that will cause! Albuquerque will be our next main stop but it may take us a couple of days to get there. Looking forward to seeing our old stomping grounds!

We got the time zone right but nobody told us that Arizona doesn't go on daylight saving time so we arrived an hour early for the play. Poor Mindy got dropped off at doggy day care early too. Anyway the little production was cute with cowboys and horses and cap guns. Then we all boarded the train for our 2 1/4 hour ride to the Grand Canyon. We opted for the luxury car with continental breakfast. It was really nice and we met some great people and had a nice time riding on the train.

What can I say about the Grand Canyon? It is spectacular! I've seen it in pictures but still couldn't imagine how breathtaking it really is. The ride here on the train was flat and even though we were climbing to higher elevation you couldn't tell it by looking. What must the early settlers have thought when they came to this HUGE canyon with little warning that it was there. I can't imagine.

We asked another tourist to take our picture and here it is. I didn't know my hair was blowing so bad or I would have fixed it or borrowed Bill's hat but anyway here is proof that we stood in this amazing place.

This is a picture of the whole train as it went into a turn. I am standing out on the back deck leaning out to take this picture! It was such a beautiful sight that I didn't even think about the perils of falling overboard!

Oh no!! The train is being robbed! We saw the robbers riding by on horses to rob the train! The train stopped to let them on! Jack (the guy who took care of us on the train) said that the union won't allow the cowboys to jump from a horse onto a moving train so they now have to stop the train to let them on. I thought this was funny! Anyway they walked through the whole train and people gave them money (you didn't have to but who is going to NOT give them a dollar or two?) It was a fabulous day! We were all exhausted and fell into bed early. Woke this morning to BIG wind. Glad we aren't leaving till tomorrow.

Hoover Dam

Yesterday we went to Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. On the way, right beside the road was a herd of big horn sheep! We have looked for them in every park but didn't see any. I didn't think we were going to get to see any on this trip and suddenly...there they were! Beautiful animals! Who knew that we would see them here?

I loved the guy on a rope! The rope work involved in building the dam must have been spectacular. Clem would have been right there, dangling!

This is the dam. I didn't take the tour because it was hot, hot, hot and I didn't want to leave Bill and Mindy out in that while I toured the inside of a dam. I know it was interesting but Bill had already seen it and I didn't want to take the time to see it so we went on to Lake Mead.

The lake was beautiful and people were taking full advantage of it. There were different roads for personal craft, sail, fishing or swimming. We went to the water and Mindy and I waded in a little ways. The water was cool and felt so good. I wished I had my swim suit but had to be happy with cool toes only.

It was a nice day but we have had enough of the extreme heat! On the the Grand Canyon!!

Cirque du Soleil

I don't know what I expected when we got Cirque tickets. I've seen cirque acts on tv so I sort of knew the type of acts. I knew that it wasn't a Ringling Bros. type circus but I didn't know that it is a spectacular, beautiful story production that lasted 1 1/2 hours of breath taking scenes and heart stopping dance/gymnastics/music and amazing stage movement! I can't begin to describe how wonderful it all was!

When we arrived there were gracious people at every turn to point us in the right direction to our seats. They were dressed in wild hats and robes. This picture is one of those guys with the stage in the background with steam lit behind him. I only took a few pictures and put the camera away when it really started. I'd love to have taken hundreds of pictures but I didn't.

This is a picture of the wall around the audience. It went all the way around the room and there are pipes around what looks like rooms (enlarge the picture and maybe you can see what I'm talking about). At the beginning there were guys who came out of the wall and swung out on ropes and scaled the walls like spiderman. All during the production different ones would come out and shoot arrows at the stage (I think that was an illusion but it was GOOD) or beat drums or some other interesting thing.

This is the opening scene. I had to put the camera away after this so as not to distract people behind me. The entire stage came up out of the floor and was a ship with a full sail which, after a major battle, sank. The stage turned sideways several times during the production and the performers climbed or swung on ropes to peform. The entire thing was breathtakingly beautiful and moving. I thought of Clem often during the production because the rope work was so intricate and amazing and he did some work for Cirque (almost ran away to join the circus!) The rope work was spectacular!! Amazing!! I can't think of enough adjectives or adverbs to describe it all. Let me just say that I am so glad we went. It was a wonderful evening.

Las Vegas, Baby!

This was our first view of the city as we drove in. A bit smoggy but still beautiful! It is very HOT here! Everyone says, "yes, but it's dry heat" but I gotta tell you it is still HOT!

We drove the strip and parked at the MGM Grand to get our tickets to the circus for tonight. I never felt so much like a small town girl. I stood in the lobby gaping and gasping just watching people and trying to take in the opulence of it all!

The is the MGM Grand. There is a huge parking garage just outside so it was easy to get in and out. I finally found a slot machine that was nicer to me...no I didn't win but I played for a long time on my $2! I had it up to $30 at one time but of course pissed it away trying for the "big win". It was fun and I could finally see how people could sit and play the slots for hours.

This is the lobby. There are shops lined up and the casino right there. So many people rushing about like they had someplace important to be. I was glad not to have to be any place but right in my people-watching spot!

We drove up and down the strip and in that miracle mile we went to Paris (Eifle Tower), New York (Statue of Liberty) and Egypt (pyramid and Sphinx) and saw all the famous casinos that are always in the movies. It was sensory overload!

There was a huge roller coaster behind some buildings and I could see people riding it. I couldn't help but think of Cameron and know that he and Savannah would be in line for a ride for sure!

What an amazing place this is! Tonight we will see the Cirque du Soleil at the MGM Grand. I can't take pictures so don't count on any pictures of it from me but I'll buy postcards and tell you about it tomorrow.

Bryce Canyon

Our Bryce Canyon day turned out much different than we expected but was a wonderful day! We went into the Bryce Canyon National Park (thank goodness for the park pass which got us in free instead of paying another $25) but there were so many cars and people in the park that the rangers were blocking off overlooks because there wasn't room for any more cars. We made it into the main area but there was no place to park so I jumped out and took pictures (they are a little further down the page) and then we left the park for other adventures.

This picture is Devil's Garden. It was 15 miles down a dirt road. We engaged the 4 wheel drive so we had a little more traction on the washboard but it was dusty, rattly all the way! It was worth it to see this beautiful formation. If you look closely you can see Bill and Mindy at the base of the first formation (hopefully if you click the picture you can get a bigger version).

On the way we saw this stick fence. There were metal fence posts spaced out for stability but it looked so cool! I don't know what it is used for but there were cattle along the road also behind mostly stick fences. Where they got all those sticks is a mystery to me since there were no trees in sight except scrub bushes.

We left Devil's Garden and headed on down the dirt road toward "Hole in the Rock" which was another 40 miles. After about 15 or 20 miles of bone jarring, teeth chattering road which was getting worse every mile, we turned back. A hole in a rock just wasn't worth it! We were covered in dust by the time we got back to the highway. We decided we could visualize a hole in a rock and skip the actual experience!

Another side road into the mountains and we saw this beautiful deer or elk (we couldn't decide which it is). It posed for me to take many pictures of it. I think it was wondering what tourists were doing off the beaten path!

The spikes are called hoodoos and are formed by wind and water. They are so gorgeous and surprising! This picture was at Red Canyon before you get to Bryce. There were two short tunnels through the red rock we drove through. I wish I could put more pictures but you get the idea. Bryce is the main attraction but there are hoodoos and beautiful scenes all around!

The stripes are caused by a difference in the iron content. The redder the rock, the more iron and the whiter the rock the less iron. Alabama must be full of iron too!

This is one of the pictures at the overlook at Bryce Canyon. I took so many pictures and they are all beautiful. Now I'm wondering why I chose this one for the blog. It doesn't show how vast the red formations are in the canyon.

Tomorrow we will move South to Zion. They say it is different from Bryce but beautiful in a different way. I am in awe of our wonderful country and so grateful that I am seeing these wonders for myself.