It still looks like New Mexico, but its Texas:
Its been a month since I up dated this blog. I am discovering that a month is too long. So much has happened and we have seen and done so much it will take a short book to review it all. The good thing is that there was nothing momentous but just a bunch of really great days in our new life.
Out of Utah we went south to Williams AZ. We had a nice place to stay and Williams was a cute town on the Historic Route 66. You guys are too young to remember, but Route 66 was my generation's road to the promised land. It went all the way across the country and you could get on it and drive to total freedom. Usually you pictured yourself in a Corvette like the two free spirits in the TV show "Route 66", who just drove from one Route 66 town to the next getting their "kicks on Route 66". I never actually drove on Route 66 till I was 66 so I missed the whole adventure thing, and experienced the Retirement on Route 66 thing. Anyway Williams is a tourist trap built around the nostalgia of Route 66.
Best part of our Williams visit was having Becca, David, and Emme fly out for a visit. We were very excited to have them come and we had a fun time visiting Bearizona and the Grand Canyon while they were here. Bearizona is a wild life park where you drive through and see from your car (up close) local wild life. Bears, buffaloes, wolves, panthers and the like. Very fun and interesting.
Then we took the Grand Canyon Railway to the Grand Canyon. Its a train ride from Williams to the Grand Canyon and back. Of course there are lots of cowboys (good'uns and bad'uns) thrown in for entertainment. There was beautiful scenery along the way and once we got there. Once again my first glimpse of the canyon took my breath away. God is one magnificent artist on a "grand" scale.
The best part of their visit was, according to Emme, the six mile hike up a small mountain. Dave, Becca, Emme, and I (also Mimi for some of the way) hiked up Davenport Hill Trail. We had a beautiful day for a hike and some willing participants. Davenport Hill trail was about 6 miles long with about a 1000 foot vertical climb. We (adults) went just about that far, but Emme did about twice that. She ran much of the way, dancing and singing, throwing rocks at every tree, inspecting the scat on the trail, and collecting a number of walking sticks for her mom and dad. All in all it wore us (olders) out just watching Emme, dancing much of the six mile trek, but it was really fun.
Needless to say that after we put the Hillins on a plane back to Texas we rested a few days in Williams before heading East for the first time in several months. Ruidoso NM was our next destination, but along the way we stopped to "Stand on "the" corner in Winslow Arizona", and visited the Petrified Forest while we camped in a candy store parking lot. The next day we camped behind a gas station/ grocery/ cafe/ motel in the big city of Datil, NM, while we went to look into deep space at the Very Large Array, a radio telescope with an effective "viewing lens" twenty-seven miles across. The VLA was where Jodie Foster filmed the movie "Contact" All very cool places to visit.
On the recommendation of Buck Buchannan we stayed at the Eagle Creek RV Resort in Ruidoso. He knew the owner from when he lived in Ruidoso. It was great. We had what we thought was the best spot in the park and the city itself was great.
We had, just outside our window, deer, wild mustangs, lots of birds we had never seen (Granny would have loved it) and even a skunk. We never saw the bear they promised, but we always looked carefully before we went out after dark. Pam's high school friend Pat, who lives in Ruidoso seven months a year, came out and visited our "Nest", then she showed us some of the town. We attended a parade celebrating something, went to a chuck wagon cook out with great entertainment and did some Christmas shopping along the streets of the old town. We were initially going to stay only for a few days, but liked it so much we extended to nearly two weeks and we will be back.
From Ruidoso we traveled to Carlsbad NM. Of course, we went to see Carlsbad Caverns. On day one, after setting up house, we went out to watch bats fly out of the cave at sunset. They did not disappoint, and we saw maybe 30 to 40 thousand bat fly out into the night to find dinner. There was also a Ranger who gave a program about bats. They are very cool animals, and not nearly as scary as we have been trained to believe. On day two we got an early start and went back to actually walk in the cave. We took the self led four hour walking tour, including walking a mile down into the cave and circumnavigating the "Big Room" (equal to 14 football fields long). It was amazing. Kind of like an underground Bryce National Park (think hoodoos) experience. It was breath-taking and mystifying. How did all those strange shapes happen, and how long did it really take. We took tons of pictures, but there isn't much to reference the size and shape of all those stalagmites and stalactites so you need to see for yourself. You have to put it on your bucket list.
Out of Carlsbad we headed for Alpine Tx. This is our first time back in Texas in four months and we like it.We are staying at the Lost Alaskan RV Resort. I have no idea where the name came from, but if the Alaskan came here he was definitely lost. This is the Big Bend country. We were going to go down and stay in Big Bend National Park but our extended stay in Ruidoso changed that plan. We will be making a day trip down there, but for now we are getting ready to visit Ft Davis, the McDonald Observatory, and go on a search for for mysterious Marfa Lights. We have been told the Marfa Lights are much brighter if you take a bottle of wine when you go to look for them.
I guess that catches us up for now. We are looking forward to being back at our home base the first week of November, and we are anxious to see all our children and grand-children. We are having lots of fun and adventure, but we miss our kids. So until next time, these are just the ramblings of an old Rockin' RoVer, rocking and roving on. Thanks.
Its been a month since I up dated this blog. I am discovering that a month is too long. So much has happened and we have seen and done so much it will take a short book to review it all. The good thing is that there was nothing momentous but just a bunch of really great days in our new life.
Out of Utah we went south to Williams AZ. We had a nice place to stay and Williams was a cute town on the Historic Route 66. You guys are too young to remember, but Route 66 was my generation's road to the promised land. It went all the way across the country and you could get on it and drive to total freedom. Usually you pictured yourself in a Corvette like the two free spirits in the TV show "Route 66", who just drove from one Route 66 town to the next getting their "kicks on Route 66". I never actually drove on Route 66 till I was 66 so I missed the whole adventure thing, and experienced the Retirement on Route 66 thing. Anyway Williams is a tourist trap built around the nostalgia of Route 66.
Best part of our Williams visit was having Becca, David, and Emme fly out for a visit. We were very excited to have them come and we had a fun time visiting Bearizona and the Grand Canyon while they were here. Bearizona is a wild life park where you drive through and see from your car (up close) local wild life. Bears, buffaloes, wolves, panthers and the like. Very fun and interesting.
Then we took the Grand Canyon Railway to the Grand Canyon. Its a train ride from Williams to the Grand Canyon and back. Of course there are lots of cowboys (good'uns and bad'uns) thrown in for entertainment. There was beautiful scenery along the way and once we got there. Once again my first glimpse of the canyon took my breath away. God is one magnificent artist on a "grand" scale.The best part of their visit was, according to Emme, the six mile hike up a small mountain. Dave, Becca, Emme, and I (also Mimi for some of the way) hiked up Davenport Hill Trail. We had a beautiful day for a hike and some willing participants. Davenport Hill trail was about 6 miles long with about a 1000 foot vertical climb. We (adults) went just about that far, but Emme did about twice that. She ran much of the way, dancing and singing, throwing rocks at every tree, inspecting the scat on the trail, and collecting a number of walking sticks for her mom and dad. All in all it wore us (olders) out just watching Emme, dancing much of the six mile trek, but it was really fun.
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| See Emme sprinting ahead? |
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| Victory ( imagine theme from Rocky playing) |
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| That's the corner |
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| One of 27 antennas |
Needless to say that after we put the Hillins on a plane back to Texas we rested a few days in Williams before heading East for the first time in several months. Ruidoso NM was our next destination, but along the way we stopped to "Stand on "the" corner in Winslow Arizona", and visited the Petrified Forest while we camped in a candy store parking lot. The next day we camped behind a gas station/ grocery/ cafe/ motel in the big city of Datil, NM, while we went to look into deep space at the Very Large Array, a radio telescope with an effective "viewing lens" twenty-seven miles across. The VLA was where Jodie Foster filmed the movie "Contact" All very cool places to visit.
On the recommendation of Buck Buchannan we stayed at the Eagle Creek RV Resort in Ruidoso. He knew the owner from when he lived in Ruidoso. It was great. We had what we thought was the best spot in the park and the city itself was great.
We had, just outside our window, deer, wild mustangs, lots of birds we had never seen (Granny would have loved it) and even a skunk. We never saw the bear they promised, but we always looked carefully before we went out after dark. Pam's high school friend Pat, who lives in Ruidoso seven months a year, came out and visited our "Nest", then she showed us some of the town. We attended a parade celebrating something, went to a chuck wagon cook out with great entertainment and did some Christmas shopping along the streets of the old town. We were initially going to stay only for a few days, but liked it so much we extended to nearly two weeks and we will be back.
From Ruidoso we traveled to Carlsbad NM. Of course, we went to see Carlsbad Caverns. On day one, after setting up house, we went out to watch bats fly out of the cave at sunset. They did not disappoint, and we saw maybe 30 to 40 thousand bat fly out into the night to find dinner. There was also a Ranger who gave a program about bats. They are very cool animals, and not nearly as scary as we have been trained to believe. On day two we got an early start and went back to actually walk in the cave. We took the self led four hour walking tour, including walking a mile down into the cave and circumnavigating the "Big Room" (equal to 14 football fields long). It was amazing. Kind of like an underground Bryce National Park (think hoodoos) experience. It was breath-taking and mystifying. How did all those strange shapes happen, and how long did it really take. We took tons of pictures, but there isn't much to reference the size and shape of all those stalagmites and stalactites so you need to see for yourself. You have to put it on your bucket list.
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| That hole below is the cave mouth. See the person near bottom? |
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| Stalagmites 50 to 60 feet tall |
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| Mimi is in the pix |
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| This is called a Curtain |
Out of Carlsbad we headed for Alpine Tx. This is our first time back in Texas in four months and we like it.We are staying at the Lost Alaskan RV Resort. I have no idea where the name came from, but if the Alaskan came here he was definitely lost. This is the Big Bend country. We were going to go down and stay in Big Bend National Park but our extended stay in Ruidoso changed that plan. We will be making a day trip down there, but for now we are getting ready to visit Ft Davis, the McDonald Observatory, and go on a search for for mysterious Marfa Lights. We have been told the Marfa Lights are much brighter if you take a bottle of wine when you go to look for them.
I guess that catches us up for now. We are looking forward to being back at our home base the first week of November, and we are anxious to see all our children and grand-children. We are having lots of fun and adventure, but we miss our kids. So until next time, these are just the ramblings of an old Rockin' RoVer, rocking and roving on. Thanks.
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