There and Back Again

We are back from our travels safe and sound! It was quite the trip, but as always, it is nice to leave and nice to come back home.

It was quite the drive coming and going (two days one way), but we didn't feel it much going because we were only just starting our adventures and were eager to see new places. Here are some pictures of our drive out:
(To enlarge, double click)



On the second day, we stopped at Roswell, New Mexico before going to our cabin (sorry, no pictures from that). Roswell is a UFO town, so that means that they had alien stuff...everywhere. It was quite funny though! If you would like to actually figure out why it is a UFO town, you can probably Google Roswell, New Mexico and find a whole bunch of stuff, because apparently there was a mysterious crash there that was cleaned up very fast and made sound like no big deal. But of course, no one really knows....well, someone does know, but that doesn't mean they are going to let on! ;)



Carlsbad Caverns! This was really cool. We went about 1000 ft. down into the mountains in a cool elevator to the caverns. Back in the 1800s, a 16 year old boy looking for his cow saw bats fly out of this small mountain\big hill where no one knew there was anything. He had a small light and a rope ladder and went in there all by himself to check it out. That would have been pretty scary, but it was cool hearing about it.

Apparently, there have been movies made in these caverns, such as the old "Journey To The Center of the Earth," "The Book of Eli" had a small section, and Tom Cruise just used it for a Mission Impossible movie, along with numerous other movies.

At one point, the guide turned out the lights so we could see what it really would look like in there, and pulled out a lighter for an example of how much light the 16 year old boy would have had the first time going there. It made me think of poor Bilbo Baggins in the Goblin's mountain and what he must have felt like because I could not even see my hand in front of my face! How he would have spent days wandering around by himself and then coming up to a cold lake seeing big eyes and hearing Gollum come up with his snake voice. I think I would have been creeped out.

Anyways! We also did a self guided tour of a huge room down, down in the caverns. Here are the pictures that managed to come out with the help of my "Manual" setting that was fun to experiment with.



After being in New Mexico, we drove to Colorado to a really cool little house. There is a lady that has her own in-home business for massage therapy and a nice plot of land. Her and her husband have another little blue house that they rent out to others, which is where we stayed.

I cannot capture her beautiful yard! I really felt like I was in a Tasha Tudor book. She has beautiful flowers and plants everywhere, and there was just something about the atmosphere that I cannot explain that was just beautiful. That is when I think it would be such fun to be able to watercolor! Now I really want to go read Tasha Tudor or Beatrix Potter...




The next day, we drove to the Mesa Verde National Park to check out the old cliff dwellings of the Anasazi Indians. It was quite amazing seeing the structures of this people's homes from hundreds of years ago that still stand.

After going to Mesa Verde, we later that afternoon climbed the very large and very steep hill behind the very cute house. (we got to stay two nights) This was one of my favorite things to do, because it was really like an adventure that we had wanted to do. Who wouldn't when we had been passing so many hills and such and were in an adventurous mood! Joanna and I didn't make it all the way to the top like Jeffrey did, but we made it most of the way, and it was preeetty cool!




We went to a few different towns in Colorado (please forgive me, when there are so many different places and information at once, it is hard to keep track!), and one thing I loved about going through Colorado was all of the wild flowers! I just love flowers, and the wild ones are the best. :)

Colorado is also one of the most healthy states in America, so we passed many, many bikers! (I thought of Neil :) There were also many options for health stores and groceries, and it was just obvious that many of the places we passed that people enjoyed being out and active (which probably wouldn't be hard in Colorado).



ATV riding! (they are just large 4 wheelers) We went to St. Elmo to do a 56 mile loop. We came at a good time of year because all of the snow had finally melted a couple weeks before hand (bleck!). We saw amazing sights, and were guided by aspens, wild flowers, and deep blue sky. A very nice combination! We also got to feed the chipmunks at the little town of St. Elmo before leaving on ATVs. This has been one of the things that St. Elmo has been known for for many years.

It was quite an amazing experience! And we only felt the affects a day or so afterwards.

More driving through Colorado. This was when I was actually starting to get nauseated from driving through loopy mountain roads.

This was mine and Joanna's first sighting of snow....ever! In our life. It was an old and crotchety patch over the Loveland pass, but it was our first! I have always wanted to make a snowball, and I got to make plenty and throw them at everybody! It was fun.

We also drove to Mt. Evan's. It is over 14,000 ft., which was the highest Joanna and I have ever been. It was cold, especially for shorts, and to top it off we got some rain and then hail. Yes, up 14,000 ft. up in the air!

One thing that amazed me was all of the bikers we passed going up and down the mountain. That is no easy thing! And when we made it to the top, we met two guys that had just come up. One of them is 80 years old, but did not look it. I was amazed at seeing an 80 year old just go up a mountain on his bike, especially seeing that the air gets thinner the higher up you go.

In Denver, we went to go see the Denver Broncos practice. Joanna and I were excited because it was the first actual football playing we had seen played in person. It made us want to play, but we had to just content ourselves with watching.

The last two pictures I have in this folder are the only ones of the drive home. I put them on so you could see what it was like going through some of Texas.

Not all of the beautiful places and things we did were captured on my camera, but I'm sure you got most of it. :)

We were so fortunate to go on such a wonderful trip, and that we have friends that wanted to share that with us! Thank you so much, McBurney's, for the wonderful experience and flashbacks! :)