State: New Mexico
Where we stayed: Los Suenos de Santa Fe RV Park in Santa Fe We decided to take a day trip up to Los Alamos and Bandelier National Monument. As we headed up into the mountains, I had to pull over to soak in the gorgeous view. As I was looking out, we spied a few bird soaring above (anyone know how to tell the difference between a hawk and falcon?).
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State: New Mexico
Bandelier National Monument Where we stayed: Los Suenos de Santa Fe RV Park After visiting Los Alamos, we drove over to Bandalier National Monument. This hike was unlike any I had done before. We all had a fun adventure climbing up the wood ladders to see the ancient cliff dwellings. Even Emmett managed to climb up and down all the ladder (ack). Then we had to run back to the visitor center so Emmett could get his junior ranger badge before the office closed. We actually just missed it by a few minutes, but Ranger Jeff stayed late and swore Emmett in. Thanks Ranger Jeff! State: New Mexico
Where we stayed: Los Suenos de Santa Fe Rv Park The weather looked clear for a few days so we decided to head north to Santa Fe. We wanted to visit Taos also, but unfortunately it was too chilly. It was fun to see the pueblo style architecture in Santa Fe - nearly all the buildings had flat rooves with rounded edges, were earth toned and felt a little more authentic than that Barvarian town we visited in October. Instead of colorful Christmas lights, most of the buildings had quaint looking luminarias sitting along the rooflines (think brown paper lunchbags with a white light inside). I didn't find the capitol city to be particularily kid-friendly, but we did have a nice day walking about town. We checked out some sculptures along Canyon Road which is known for having a concentration of art galleries. State: New Mexico
Carlsbad Caverns National Park Where we stayed: Whites City RV Park We stayed at the only rv park in the area - Whites City RV. Our first mistake was to pull in after dark to a place we had never been before. After making a wrong turn which led to a little offroading in the rv (holding on hoping we wouldn't tip over during each bump), a few phone calls to the office and the use of my handy dandy cell phone flashlight feature, we found our way into a campsite. If you are only going to be in town for a couple days and plan to just go to the caverns, then this is the place to stay. It's about an eight mile drive to the visitor center. We did drive drive twenty miles to the town of Carlsbad, NM to do some grocery shopping. It was the saddest Albertson's I had ever been to, and driving through I was happy not to be staying in town. Our first day in town, Matt took the big kids on a special 5 hour tour of Slaughter Canyon Cave. A deal at $7.50 for each kid. This tour was an hour's drive from the visitor center, requried a hike to the cave and then they spent about two hours in an unlit cave (they wore headlamps to see). Unfortunately for Emmett the Explorer, the minimum age was eight, so he had to stay home with me doing laundry. A huge thumbs up from Matt and the kids. State: Texas
Guadalupe Mountains National Park Where we stayed: Whites City RV Park After our morning hike and rock collecting at Rock Hound State Park, we headed out toward Carlsbad Caverns. Matt booked the last tour of the season for Slaughter Canyon Cave so we had to rush to get to Carlsbad. Below is a pic of us heading east toward Las Cruces, New Mexico. Those are the towering Organ Mountains in the distance. State: New Mexico
Deming, NM Where we stayed: Rock Hound State Park We pulled into the state park as the sun was setting and only found one open (kind of lopsided) spotl. But it was either this, drive futher in the dark or Walmart parking lot. We were so happy to deal with a little slant. A neighbor gave us some extra wood and Matt build a roaring fire. We made some s'mores and got to see zillions of starts come out above the New Mexico sky. You'd think we would have campfires every night, but surprisingly a lot of campground and rv parks don't allow fires, or sometimes just charcoal ones in a raised grill. State: Arizona
Queen Mine Tour Where we stayed: Tombstone RV Park and Campground When Matt and I drove from California to North Carolina in his Toyota pickup truck (before the days of smart phones), the book Road Trip USA was our guide for things to see and do on the way. We bought the new version of the book and I still use it for lots of ideas. One of the stops we made when driving cross-country years ago and this time, was at a town in a small artsy town in southern Arizona called Bisbee. Queen Mine Tour Bisbee has a great mine tour. We took the first tour of the morning at 9am and thankfully only had to share the lobby the big school group that arrived after us. Our guide into the mine was a retired police detective, judge and former miner in this mine. Before you go into the mine, they outfit you with a yellow slicker (in case it rains? not sure why but it's fun and looks cool), a flashlight on a rope that tucks into a fashionable leather belt, and a protective hard hat. State: Arizona
Tombstone Where we stayed: Tombstone RV Park and Campground This was one of Kaylie's favorite sthops so far. She loved the old fashioned style of the town and all the details from the wood sidewalks to the stained glass at Big Nose Kate's Saloon where we had lunch. To prepare for this outing, we watched the movie Wyatt Earp. That gave the kids a little background on the famous shootout. The rangers and volunteers at Saguaro National Park take their job overseeing the junior ranger program very seriously. I read in one trip advisor review that the ranger was nice to spend an hour with her son going over his junior ranger booklet. An hour?! That is nice attention if you don't mind hanging out in the visitor center all afternoon (especially if it's 110 degrees outside and the ac is pumping inside). The weather was great and we only had a few hours to enjoy the park and we were trying to get down to Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum before they closed. We had to stress this to the ranger so that we could get out in under a half hour!
We cut it a little close and with only an hour left until closing time and pricey $20 adult tickets, we decided to save the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum for another day. Instead we opted to head back into the national park to do a beautiful hike along a wash and up the side of a mountain for some great sunset views. Thanks to the two random, drum-carrying, twenty-somethings hiking down the path for taking this picture of us. It only cost me a few gummi worms. :) |
aboutI'll be sharing our travel plans, some reviews, cooking ideas (because I know you are all jealous of my easy-bake oven), and ... oh who am I kidding?! I'll be lucky to get our photos posted! categories
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