Day Thirteen - Carlsbad

Carlsbad Caverns was just as I remembered it. Driving all the way to Carlsbad was worth the exhaustion. Plus, we were able to leave the cat at the hotel until we were done with our tour. Otherwise, we would have had to drive all the way back to Roswell.

This was the last stop on our trip and realizing that was a bit of a downer, but it was also exciting because I realized that we had had such a wonderful trip.

Anyway, on to the pictures...



Not the main sign, but the first one we saw.



All the kids inside the caverns. Next time we go to a caverns park, I am going to buy a much nicer camera with a professional flash. The camera we brought on this trip took great pictures until we got into the caverns.



Ellen has such a pretty smile. :)



I think this was called The King's Sword.



This was the King's Column. I think.



I couldn't help think of my grandmother. If you read the first paragraph, you see a reference to "the jumping off place." She always referred to out of the way places as "the jumping off place."



Ellen again. This one was on the King's Palace tour.



A fond farewell to the park.




THE BEST SIGN OF THE WHOLE TRIP!!!

That ends the photos. I will make another post with some final thoughts about our trip.

Day Twelve - The Long Trail

This was the longest travel day of the trip. It was originally planned for about 723 miles but it ended up around 780 miles. We set out from Page, AZ bound for Carlsbad, NM. The morning we left, we realized that we were going to travel right through the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Parks. Naturally, we couldn't pass these up and that added time. Right after we left Flagstaff, we passed a sign for Walnut Canyon National Monument. This ended up being an area where Indians lived in caves. All in all, it wasn't worth our time, but I am sure it is a nice place if you have the time to explore it.

The big surprise came after we left Walnut Canyon. We passed a sign for the Meteor Crater. I knew this was in Arizona, but I had no idea it was so close to I-40. This was a very unexpected but excellent surprise. We stopped here and got a lot of pictures. This was the windiest place I have ever visited in my life. There were times when I thought I wasn't going to be able to stand up.

Anyway, on to the photos...

As I said, this was a nice place but we just didn't have time to do it justice.

Walnut Canyon.

The kids at the Meteor Crater. This is at the visitor center.

This is a wide view of the crater. It's really not much more than a dent in the ground, but it's very big and very unique.

You can see the effects of the wind. See how it blew out James' and Jane's shirts.

These logs are just lying around. I would like to know more of the history of this park. How these pieces of the trees got to where they are.

More logs.

Interesting rock formations in the Petrified Forest.

More rock formations.

I liked the view of the layers on this one.

The Painted Desert. We took a number of photos, but this was the best one.

Our next-to-last state sign.

A magnificent sunset on the way to Carlsbad. We passed through Roswell, NM on the way to Carlsbad. The city is near a military installation where conspiracy theorists say that the US is holding an alien. Roswell has embraced that culture and there are lots of alien pictures around the town. Also, the local McDonald's has a play area that's shaped like a flying saucer. It looked like fun.

This was just too cute and a great way to end this post.

Tomorrow...the Caverns.

Day Eleven - Grand Canyon, Part Two

Yesterday, we went one way on the South Rim Trail. Today we went the other way. Essentially half the trail each day. At the end of each half of the trail was a shuttle bus stop so we could walk until we dropped and then had a nice bus ride back.

On to the photos...

Another nice photo by the wife.

The kids and the canyon.

More canyon shots.

We liked this one because of the defiant little tree growing out of the rock in the middle of the picture.

More flowers.

And more canyon shots.

And more flowers :)

I am sure that all these photos look completely different at various times of day. I liked the contrasts in this one.

Another grand scope shot.

And still more flowers.

Some wildlife.

And another great shot by the wife.

And the last of the flowers.

After we were done with the canyon we needed to stop by Tuba City, AZ to go to a Radio Shack. These rock formations were on the highway to Tuba City.

Tomorrow...The long and winding road.

Day 10 - The Grand Canyon, Part One

How can you not be excited about the Grand Canyon?? I was really looking forward to it. The scale of this park is unbelievable. There is no picture that can capture just how big this park is.

The typical park entry sign. We bought a Interagency Pass and it paid for itself on this trip alone. There aren't any national parks around Houston, but there are a number of parks in National Forests that the pass will get us into. Worth the money.

Our first view of the canyon from The Watchtower.

I will post as many views of the canyon as I think you can stand. They are all spectacular.

The kids at one of the overlooks.

My wife took a bunch of pictures of the flowers around the canyon. This was her best one.

Another flower picture.

We did some climbing on the side of the canyon. We didn't bring any equipment but the kids did a great job with their feet and fingers. They only slid down a few hundred feet once. I was able to help Ellen back up to the rim of the canyon.

More flowers.

The left picture was of one of the large formations near the center of the canyon. One of the old-timers there said he called in Solomon's Temple. I thought that was a neat idea. The right picutre was of a little visitor we saw along the path. There were a lot of squirrels in the park.

More pictures tomorrow!