Subject: MoreTexas and New Mexico So Far
Howdy you all,
So, we left Big Bend National Park and headed towards Guadalupe Mountains State Park, both in Texas. On the way we stopped at the MacDonald Observatory and took a tour. There have a dozen or so huge telescopes, and it was super interesting. One of the telescopes, the Hobby-Eberly, is the fifth largest in the world. The one in the picture is about 38th! Really a neat tour and they had good food at their little restaurant as well!
We also spent one night in a regular RV park so we could do laundry. Regular life must go on and dirty clothes were really piling up. Guadalupe Mountains National Park was beautiful, with lots of hikes and warm weather. We took two of the hikes, each about five miles. The first to a place called Devil's Hall. We saw that snake on the way out! We didn't know it at the time, but it was non venomous. Still scared me to death. We'd also seen a centipede in our campsite earlier and they can really hurt you. Thankfully he left and went and crawled under some other poor guy's truck. Never did find out what happened with that.
Anyway, the second hike was to a place called Pratt Lodge (or Cabin depending on the sign you read). This was in McKittrick Canyon a few miles up the road from where we camped. This guy, Pratt, was a geologist and he loved this canyon and bought lots of land that he later donated to the Park Service. He had this wonderful place built way up this valley all made out of stone and the roof is slate! All the floors and front porch too. It must weight a zillion pounds. It's in a beautiful spot and I'd like to sit on that porch and watch the cougars go by for sure. The whole area is a geologist's dream since all the area used to be just a reef under a huge sea. The desert flowers and cactus are in a super bloom this year. They are amazing and I've taken so many photos of them......a few are included in this email. I guess all that rain that happened earlier this year really brought out the best in the desert. We're lucky to see it this way because it's not the way it usually looks.
Mike and I were both very excited to finally visit Carlsbad Caverns. Coincidentally, we both remember a book from when we were quite young that told a story about the caverns discovery and have always wanted to see them for ourselves. They are so amazing. I took way too many photos and even some video but the pictures don't show much at all. For one thing, you cannot tell how large or small anything is.....there is just no perspective. Let me just say that it was unbelievable. You just have to go see the caverns for yourself!
That winding trail down to the cavern entry just continues down that way inside until your over seven hundred feet below where you started. And in some places the caverns are over one thousand feet deep. The rooms are huge. Very cool. Tonight we're at a New Mexico state park, our second state park in a row. Both have been on lakes. The first one was a damned lake and this one is a sinkhole. Not the kind of lakes I grew up with. We went to a Desert Zoo and Garden today that was also a State Park and I'll post photos next time of our visit there. The photos are still in my camera. We'll probably be in New Mexico for two or three weeks....there is a lot to see. Weather is nice and fairly hot, in the 90's during the day but cool at night. The altitudes are fairly high and we're going higher tomorrow. All is well.
We thought we had a problem with our air conditioning, which we never use except to put a load on our generator which we never use either, but it worked fine when we tried it out tonight. Wheels and tires are holding up and we're about ready for another oil change, but other than that......big rig is doing fine. Sure hope oil is cheaper in the US than it was in Mexico!!
Till next time......so long. Gayle and Mike (of course, he's sleeping - it's after 9:30pm!!!)
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