2013 Texas, New Mexico Adventure (The first two days)

We had a wonderful trip recently, visiting with our oldest son and his family, with many adventures in Texas and New Mexico!
First I-20 Nature Preserve  Midland, Texas. http://www.i20wildlifepreserve.org/  .

We saw a roadrunner right here.  We also saw a Hawk, two Dessert Cottontail, dragonflies, butterflies, a Mourning Cloak, and woodpecker. 

 

Herb Robert blooming at I-20 Nature Preserve in Midland, Texas.  February 13, 2013.

 

After lunch we went to the CAF AIRPOWER MUSEUM   http://www.airpowermuseum.org/  also in

Midland Texas.  There is so much to see here, lots of history.

 

 We ended this day with dinner at KD's Bar-B-Q always a tasty and filling meal.  (http://kdsbarbq.com/)

 

 

The next day we took off west ~ 180 miles to Carlsbad, New Mexico.  We visited the Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

 We took the natural entrance down into the cave.

 See the hole at the bottom?  You walk on the paved, serpentine, walkway into the cave.

 A pretty awesome place.  After being in the caves for two hours we came out into the sunshine again.  We sat on the back of Andrew's truck and had lunch.

 

Our "picnic table" what beautiful vistas from this place.

 

After lunch we popped back into Texas to do a hike at the Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

Starting at the mouth of Pine Spring Canyon, we hiked Devil's Hall trail, this trail follows the dry wash through the canyon to a narrow section where the ravine cuts through thin-layered limestone and is bordered by sheer cliffs 100 feet high.  About 4.2 mile round trip.

 

Hiking in a canyon is different than hiking through the woods, of course, I would never give up the woods, but for some reason I do enjoy wandering through these rocks.

 

What a day, such fun but in two days I have had a whole week's worth of adventures.  Now we have a 170 mile trip to Cloudcroft, New Mexico. 

 

We stop off at the No Whiner Diner in Carlsbad.  Good food.

It was late when we arrived at The Lodge Resort and Spa situated at 9,000 feet on the Sacramento Mountains.  This place could be an adventure all on its own.

http://www.thelodgeresort.com/index.cfm

 

 

Here are some sunset pictures from up in the tower of the Lodge.

 

 

 

I was going to try and fit the whole week of this trip in one post but as I work on it I research the places we went.  So I get a little side tracked.  I'll try to finish this soon. 

 If you ever want to have fun out west just call up my son, he is a fun tour guide, and since he is a geologist, he has interesting information about the mountains and pretty much everything you see. Thanks Andy.